Saturday, June 23, 2007

Peru Update: Cameron Diaz Edition

Cameron Diaz's bag emblazoned with Maoist slogan raises eyebrows in Peru - International Herald Tribune: "AGUAS CALIENTES, Peru: Actress Cameron Diaz appears to have committed a major fashion crime in Peru.

The voice of Princess Fiona in the animated 'Shrek' films may have inadvertently offended Peruvians who suffered decades of violence from a Maoist guerrilla insurgency by touring here Friday with a bag emblazoned with one of Mao Zedong's favorite political slogans.

While exploring the Inca city of Machu Picchu high in Peru's Andes, Diaz wore over her shoulder an olive green messenger bag emblazoned with a red star and the words 'Serve the People' printed in Chinese on the flap, perhaps Chinese Communist leader Mao's most famous political slogan.

While the bags are marketed as trendy fashion accessories in some world capitals, the phrase has particular resonance in Peru, where the Maoist Shining Path insurgency brought Peru to edge of chaos in the 1980s and early 1990s with a campaign of massacres, assassinations and bombings."

Photo of Aguas Calientes taken by yours truly.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jeez, that was a bad idea. Shining Path had some mean mofos.

Unknown said...

I have a feeling Cameron doesn't know about Shining Path.

Anonymous said...

Well, Diaz has been mocked in films, by non-intellectual-heavyweights themselves, for ditziness.

But she's no Hilton. By which, I mean she actually has some talent (as an actress, rather than as a goodwill ambassador).

Unknown said...

She manages to stay out of jail, too.