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They bounded off buses by the dozens — families from the poor peripheries of Lima, Peru, lured into the city with a free ride, free lunch and free ticket to a city water park.
Some wore church clothes and carried Bibles, having heard there would be a memorial for an evangelical Christian like them. He was murdered in the United States for his beliefs, they were told, though few knew his name.
Many others were more confused. “Who’s Charlie Kirk?” asked Milagros Garcia, 56, sitting on the grass with a plate of chicken on Saturday at the Charlie Kirk memorial in Lima.
“I’ve never seen him,” she added when shown the event’s flier — a photo of Mr. Kirk in front of the Peruvian and American flags. Three women around her concurred.
Like Ms. Garcia, many attendees said they thought they were there for a rally for Lima’s mayor, Rafael López Aliaga, a right-wing politician widely known as “Porky” who is considered a top contender to be Peru’s next president and is expected to soon announce his candidacy. They weren’t entirely wrong.
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