In this May 5, 2017 photo, a billboard advertising sunscreen with a woman sunbathing on a beach stands high above a poor neighborhood of cinderblock shack homes along the Pan American Highway on the south side of Lima, Peru, Friday, May 5, 2017. Wilfredo Ardito, a law professor from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru who has studied the country's racism, says that advertising in the Andean nation underscores its great inequalities, showing "the ideal world of happiness in which everyone is white and all of those who are not white have disappeared." (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
carretera 7
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carretera 7

  • In this May 5, 2017 photo, a billboard advertising sunscreen with a woman sunbathing on a beach stands high above a poor neighborhood of cinderblock shack homes along the Pan American Highway on the south side of Lima, Peru, Friday, May 5, 2017. Wilfredo Ardito, a law professor from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru who has studied the country's racism, says that advertising in the Andean nation underscores its great inequalities, showing "the ideal world of happiness in which everyone is white and all of those who are not white have disappeared." (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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    In this May 5, 2017 photo, a billboard advertising sunscreen with a woman sunbathing on a beach stands high above a poor neighborhood of cinderblock shack homes along the Pan American Highway on the south side of Lima, Peru, Friday, May 5, 2017. Wilfredo Ardito, a law professor from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru who has studied the country's racism, says that advertising in the Andean nation underscores its great inequalities, showing "the ideal world of happiness in which everyone is white and all of those who are not white have disappeared." (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

  • In this May 5, 2017 photo, a billboard advertising an airline stands along the Pan American Highway on the south side of Lima, Peru. The billboards advertise products the people living in this area are unlikely to be able to buy or afford. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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    In this May 5, 2017 photo, a billboard advertising an airline stands along the Pan American Highway on the south side of Lima, Peru. The billboards advertise products the people living in this area are unlikely to be able to buy or afford. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

  • In this May 5, 2017 photo, Jose Suarez, from Cucuta, Colombia, moves his wheelchair, decorated with a stuffed animal, along the Pan American Highway lined with billboards advertising rum, lottery and mixed nuts, on the south side of Lima, Peru. Suarez, 58, said he's on a mission to reach Brazil in his wheelchair, after leaving Cucuta in January. The billboard reads in Spanish "Nothing will stop you." (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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    In this May 5, 2017 photo, Jose Suarez, from Cucuta, Colombia, moves his wheelchair, decorated with a stuffed animal, along the Pan American Highway lined with billboards advertising rum, lottery and mixed nuts, on the south side of Lima, Peru. Suarez, 58, said he's on a mission to reach Brazil in his wheelchair, after leaving Cucuta in January. The billboard reads in Spanish "Nothing will stop you." (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

  • In this May 5, 2017 photo, Alejandro Sanchez carries ice cream for sale, along the Pan American Highway where a billboard advertises a bank, on the south side of Lima, Peru. Sanchez, who came here 30 years ago fleeing civil conflict in his native Andean city of Ayacucho, labors in the dusty terrain. Sanchez, for instance, sells ice cream for some $6 a day. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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    In this May 5, 2017 photo, Alejandro Sanchez carries ice cream for sale, along the Pan American Highway where a billboard advertises a bank, on the south side of Lima, Peru. Sanchez, who came here 30 years ago fleeing civil conflict in his native Andean city of Ayacucho, labors in the dusty terrain. Sanchez, for instance, sells ice cream for some $6 a day. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

  • In this May 5, 2017 photo, workers eat lunch in the shade of a giant billboard advertising condos for sale, in a poor neighborhood on the south side of Lima, Peru, Friday, May 5, 2017. The billboards advertise glamorous apartments and other luxury items that loom high above impoverished neighborhoods on the highway leading to Peru's Pacific coast and the South American country's wealthy beach communities. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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    In this May 5, 2017 photo, workers eat lunch in the shade of a giant billboard advertising condos for sale, in a poor neighborhood on the south side of Lima, Peru, Friday, May 5, 2017. The billboards advertise glamorous apartments and other luxury items that loom high above impoverished neighborhoods on the highway leading to Peru's Pacific coast and the South American country's wealthy beach communities. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

  • In this May 5, 2017 photo, a billboard advertising the economic magazine "Gestion" reads in Spanish: "Success is my territory. Growing is an obligation," along the Pan American Highway where a vehicle sits abandoned, on the south side of Lima, Peru, Friday, May 5, 2017. Trash is scattered around the area where people live in homes without potable water and adequate public services, menaced by local gangs that invade and traffic in properties. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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    In this May 5, 2017 photo, a billboard advertising the economic magazine "Gestion" reads in Spanish: "Success is my territory. Growing is an obligation," along the Pan American Highway where a vehicle sits abandoned, on the south side of Lima, Peru, Friday, May 5, 2017. Trash is scattered around the area where people live in homes without potable water and adequate public services, menaced by local gangs that invade and traffic in properties. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

  • In this May 5, 2017 photo, a cyclist passes a billboard advertising a restaurant along the Pan American Highway on the south side of Lima, Peru. Below the billboards are cannibalized cars, piles of used brick and white crosses marking the places where people died along the highway. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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    In this May 5, 2017 photo, a cyclist passes a billboard advertising a restaurant along the Pan American Highway on the south side of Lima, Peru. Below the billboards are cannibalized cars, piles of used brick and white crosses marking the places where people died along the highway. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

  • In this May 5, 2017 photo, a man collects cables for resale, along with other recyclable objects, along the Pan American Highway where a billboard advertises a local airline on the south side of Lima, Peru. Below the billboards are cannibalized cars, piles of used brick and white crosses marking the places where people died along the highway. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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    In this May 5, 2017 photo, a man collects cables for resale, along with other recyclable objects, along the Pan American Highway where a billboard advertises a local airline on the south side of Lima, Peru. Below the billboards are cannibalized cars, piles of used brick and white crosses marking the places where people died along the highway. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

  • In this May 5, 2017 photo, a billboard advertising a brand of deodorant stands along the Pan American Highway on the south side of Lima, Peru. Wilfredo Ardito, a law professor from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru who has studied the country's racism, says that advertising in the Andean nation underscores its great inequalities, showing "the ideal world of happiness in which everyone is white and all of those who are not white have disappeared." (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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    In this May 5, 2017 photo, a billboard advertising a brand of deodorant stands along the Pan American Highway on the south side of Lima, Peru. Wilfredo Ardito, a law professor from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru who has studied the country's racism, says that advertising in the Andean nation underscores its great inequalities, showing "the ideal world of happiness in which everyone is white and all of those who are not white have disappeared." (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Redacción EC
Redacción EC

El camino a las playas exclusivas del sur de Lima es contrastante: mientras los paneles publicitarios muestran paisajes paradisíacos, los pueblos que las rodean están llenos de basura, carecen de agua potable y tienen habitantes que padecen la presencia de mafias locales, que invaden y trafican los terrenos.

El fotógrafo de Associated Press y ganador del premio Pulitzer, Rodrigo Abd, retrató la contradicción de la realidad que muestran estos paneles ubicados en la carretera Panamericana Sur y donde no aparece uno que otro latino y un hombre de color.

En sus retratos se observa carteles que ofrecen departamentos de medio millón de dólares frente a aguas cristalinas, pero debajo de la publicidad se alzan cruces blancas de fallecidos cerca de la autopista, autos destartalados y montículos de desmontes.

Alejandro Sánchez, que huyó de la guerra interna hace 30 años en su natal Ayacucho, se desplaza ocho kilómetros por la Panamericana Sur vendiendo helados. Para él las playas de lujo a las que se dirigen los autos que lo rebasan en la carretera no forman parte de su realidad. Por eso, cuando se le pregunta si podría ir hacia allá, junta las manos y responde: "con suerte puedo juntar el dinero para pagar la comida y los servicios de mi casa".

Como en otros países de Latinoamérica, algunas vallas publicitarias de Perú muestran con frecuencia a personajes de piel clara en este país donde el 93% no se considera blanco, según una encuesta nacional publicada en abril por el Instituto de Opinión Pública de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Perú (PUCP).

Wilfredo Ardito, catedrático de Derecho en la PUCP y estudioso del racismo, dijo a The Associated Press que la publicidad del país "muestra un mundo ideal de felicidad donde todos son blancos y todos los que no son blancos desaparecen". Añadió que la publicidad vial rumbo a las playas del sur de Lima "no se hace pensando en la gente pobre que vive cerca y la ve todos los días, sino en las personas que transitan en los vehículos que pasan".


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