[The newspaper of Lesbians and Gays Against Imperialism in San
Francisco recently argued that the MRTA shared an intolerance of
homosexuality together with Sendero Luminoso, and that the MRTA
had participated in the killing of homosexuals. In order to answer
to similar misconceptions and concerns which have been raised in
the past as well as today, the international representation of the
Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) issued the following
statement.]

     Some years ago, the government of Peru ran a campaign to
claim that the MRTA was homophobic with the intention of isolating
us internationally. This is totally false. We have said so before
and we would like to repeat it now because it's not so.
     We recognize the freedom of persons to choose their sexual
option. And we consider that their capacity of struggle or
submission is what is going to go towards winning posts and
recognition in the struggle.
     In Peru, there exists an organized homosexual movement
whose principal representative is Oscar Ugartache, a distinguished
Peruvian economist, who doesn't argue for neo-liberalism, but
rather he's among the most progressive sectors of intellectuals.
     We measure people by their contributions and not by their
religious, sexual, or cultural options. We've also said various
times that the subject of homosexuality, like many others, hasn't
even been debated fully in the MRTA, not because we're against
doing so, but rather because the dynamic of the class struggle,
the struggle against extreme poverty and the struggle to change
this extreme state, hasn't left us space for these subjects.
Like religion, diverse cultural groups deserve from conscience a
debate and a study, but the truth is that we don't have the
capacity to resolve so many problems at the same time.
     These days, and since some years ago, our essential priority
has been to win back part of the space that we've all continued
losing, independently of our sex - although certainly women,
children, elderly people, and homosexuals are always those who
lose the most. But this is a moment of struggle, to recover spaces
that 20 years ago, when the application of neo-liberalism began,
we already had. When we recover even a part of this space, we
believe that all these sectors will be able to contribute, with
their experience and better knowledge than ours, to the
discussions about the problems they face.
     We're not going to elaborate prescriptions for anyone, since
each individual knows their own problems better than laboratory
researchers. The communities themselves will present the best
forms of knowing the community; let them work and develop
themselves. We, organized women, will do so ourselves.
     Now, since December 17, 1996, we had 14 companeros putting
their lives on the line in front of the world, struggling for the
freedom of prisoners, to open up these spaces of freedom of
expression and thought. The state defeated us militarily, and we
lost some of the best sons and daughters of the people, those who
had nothing more than their lives to offer for the freedom of
other human beings, who were and still are found in conditions
that no human being can stand.
     We ally ourselves with all the peoples and sectors that
initiate a just struggle for the conquest of their rights. We are
totally opposed to the patriarchal society originated by the
appearance of private property, the division of society into
classes, and we think it will only disappear when the causes which
made it appear are ended forever. Of course, this is difficult
when we are in a society that doesn't respect any human rights.
But one has to take steps in this direction.

Hasta la victoria ... siempre!
    
Norma Velazco,
European spokeswoman for the MRTA
May 1997

----
Con las Masas y las Armas, Patria o Muerte ... VENCEREMOS!
MRTA Solidarity Page - http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/mrta.htm

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