Alan García

[D]efeat the absurd pantheist ideologies that believe that the walls are gods and the air is a god.

Alan García (May 23, 1949 – April 17, 2019) was a Peruvian politician, who served as President of Peru from 1985 to 1990 and again from 2006 to 2011.

Quotes

2000s

• The United States, ever since its founding fathers, has had an ideal, a mission to the world. In the '40s, it sacrificed the lives of many young people to achieve the freedom of the world. Nowadays, we need to focus on democracy and free trade.
  • President Bush Welcomes President García of Peru to the White House (April 23, 2007)

2010s

• Either we come to mutual understanding about Machu Picchu, or we just have to mark them as treasure hunters.
  • As quoted in "Vraťte, co jste ukradli, vyzývá Peru Yaleovu univerzitu" (28 September 2010), tyden.cz
  • Original Czech translation: Buď dospějeme k vzájemnému pochopení ohledně Machu Picchu, nebo je prostě budeme muset označit za vykrádače pokladů.

• And thirdly, [we have] to defeat the absurd pantheist ideologies that believe that the walls are gods and the air is a god. In the end, to return to such primitive forms of religiosity where one is told, “don’t touch this hill because it is an Apu and is filled with millennia-old spirit,” and who knows what else. Well, if we reach that point, we wouldn’t do anything, much less mining. Don’t touch those fish because they are creatures of god and expressions of the god Poseidon. We would return to this, let’s say, primitive animism. Right? I think that we need more education [of these people], but that is long-term work that just can’t be fixed right away.
  • Alan García in an interview with Cecilia Valenzuela (channel Willax) in January 2011, translation by Carwil without Borders, 27 June 2011