OAS / UWinnipeg Mission to Peru
Winnipeg Free Press
April 15, 2006
Axworthy Pleased With Trip To Peru, Despite Bruises
Hopes More Students Will Get To Go
by Carol Sanders
With a few faded bruises and a bump on the back of his head, University of Winnipeg president Lloyd Axworthy returned home from Peru Thursday saying it was well worth the trip.
The former Canadian foreign affairs minister headed the Organization of American States election observer mission to Peru and took four U of W students and a professor with him.
"I think they certainly learned about the experience of a developing country reinventing and reshaping its system of democracy."
On election day in Lima last Sunday, Axworthy led presidential candidate Ollanta Humala safely through a threatening mob. He received word Humala was trapped in a classroom in Lima where he and his wife had just voted. Axworthy, 66, waded through a police line to reach the couple to resolve the standoff.
"I think I was hit in the back of the head with a stone -- lucky for me that's the thickest part," joked Axworthy, who said the protesters weren't targeting him but the presidential candidate he was escorting.
"I'm glad we did it and were able to defuse what could've been an explosive situation. It's not the normal mandate of the head of an OAS mission," he said. At no time were the U of W students in danger, he said.
"We were very careful. All of our students went with veteran observers," he said. "There was some spontaneous combustion that we couldn't account for."
The OAS funded the U of W observers' mission and it was a priceless opportunity, Axworthy said.
"They learned a lot about front-line work by being international observers," he said.
Axworthy said the students also learned something they'd never glean from a lecture or a textbook: what it's like to work in another culture and political system.
"They saw how committed the people in Peru were to make democracy work. Sometimes we take it for granted here when only 65 per cent show up to vote."
Axworthy said the U of W observers may return to Peru depending on when an anticipated runoff vote is held and how it conflicts with their schedules. The students with summer jobs may not be able to get away, he said.
Axworthy said when he was asked by the OAS in January to lead the Peru election observers mission, he mentioned his "day job" as a university president. Axworthy said he and OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza decided to do a pilot project to recruit young men and women from Winnipeg for the observer corps.
There may be opportunities in the future for U of W students to help register voters in Peru, Axworthy said. He said he will meet with students and faculty of the U of W's Global College to talk about working towards democracy in other countries, as well.
The whole point of establishing the Global College was to broaden the experience of local students and take a more active role in the world they're studying, Axworthy said.