MARIA ELENA MOYANO

• MARIA ELENA MOYANO (2008) series –  1/25
• Serigraphs – 19.7 x 27.6 inches (70 x 50 cm.)
• Numbered – original artist signature – watermark – certificate
• Hand printing over cotton paper.

Maria Elena Moyano was a Peruvian woman, activist, and human rights defender, who fought for equal rights as a neighborhood leader, especially for women’s rights.

At the beginning of the ’90s in Perú, the terrorist organization Sendero Luminoso, started a series of assassinations, attacks, and threats. In September 1991, María Elena, being president of the Popular Federation of Women of Villa El Salvador, her district, challenged Sendero with a public march called “Against Hunger and Terror.”  Twenty thousand people participated, especially women. María Elena was accused of being a government agent, in an attempt to discredit her. Her response speech was incredibly upfront and antiterrorist, for which she was assassinated by an execution command from the terrorist group on February 15, 1992, at the age of 33.

Thousands of people attended her funeral. Her people baptized her “Mother Courage” and said goodbye to her under the slogan, “And they did not manage to kill her.” The death of María Elena Moyano has been engraved in the minds of many Peruvians as a symbol of strength and love for their homeland.

“In 1999, filmmaker and great friend, Alberto ‘Chicho’ Durant, invited me to his home to see the movie ‘Coraje’, an unmissable biographical film about María Elena Moyano, directed by himself. María Elena was always an outstanding social justice fighter. With that courage, she faced Sendero Luminoso who had no qualms about ending her life in an act of cowardice and implausible cruelty.

All Peruvians must keep the image and memory of María Elena alive, especially in times of violence and struggle like those we are experiencing right now. The power of peace is in equality and respect”. —Cherman