Associated Press
AGUAS CALIENTES, Peru — Actress Cameron Diaz appears to have committed a major fashion faux pas in Peru.
The voice of Princess Fiona in the animated "Shrek" films might 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, Diaz wore over her shoulder an olive green bag emblazoned with a red star and the words "Serve the People" printed in Chinese on the flap.
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.
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Nearly 70,000 people were killed during the insurgency.
A prominent Peruvian human rights activist said the star of "There’s Something About Mary" should have been more aware of local sensitivities.
"It alludes to a concept that did so much damage to Peru, that brought about so many victims," said Pablo Rojas about the bag’s slogan. "I don’t think she should have used that bag where the followers of that ideology" did so much damage.
