Tale of Two Lenins

 

Famous historical personalities often have plenty of various monuments dedicated to them, things or places named after them. Sometimes other people get to be named after them as well. Sometimes such people manage to become famous in their own right, and not as impersonators of their famous namesake. Such was the fate of the person of this article.

Name Vladimiro Lenin Illich Montesinos Torres sounds too frivolous even for a one of the Terry Pratchett's stories, yet life is stranger than fiction and such person indeed exist. Unlike Vladimir Illich Ulyanov Lenin, Vladimiro is only famous in his native Peru. Furthermore, unlike original Lenin, his namesake is dedicated anti-communist. 

If you think about it, it's not too hard to guess why his Peruvian parents decided to name their son this way. Socialism and communism are very popular in Latin America, and they likely wished to for him to become Peru's own revolutionary leader who will bring communism to Peru. Fate, or Vladimiro himself had other plans.

Unlike his namesake, Vladimiro became staunch anti-communist and is now famous for being architect of purges during Alberto Fujimori's rule as President of Peru, during which Vladimiro was director of National Intelligence. Even with Alberto gone, Vladimiro continues Fujimorism together with Keiko Fujimori.

This story is one of the examples where children of dedicated leftists end up disillusioned by their parents' ideology and go in the opposite direction. Other such example is Alt-right children of left feminist boomers.

This also shows that children are not guaranteed to follow wishes of their parents and walk the path parents envisioned for them. Even when you name them after a historical person, whose qualities you wished for them to embody, they might become polar opposite of that.

Thus, this is a tale about to Lenin's, one is founder of communism and USSR, opponent of American. The other is anti-communist director of intelligence and pro-American CIA collaborator. Such is life.

Unlike my conservative, patriotic, anti-welfare parents, I personally fight for individual freedom, welfare and European and Western unity against Putin style autocracy.