(Note: Some issues of Weekly News Update On The Americas did publish any
news on Peru hence the missing numbers, eg. #389 and #393. - ATS)
-----
NSN Weekly News Update #387 - Excerpts On Peru And The MRTA
(...)
Peru: Ports, Protests And Pardons
During a visit to the port city of Chimbote in the
northeastern Peruvian department of Ancash, President Alberto
Fujimori was greeted with a noisy protest by thousands of local
residents - workers, retirees, students, homemakers - who were
protesting unemployment, low wages, attacks against the press and
the firing of three judges from the Constitutional Court (TC).
The protest was so vociferous that Fujimori started fumbling his
words and had trouble finishing his speech, in which he was
announcing the inauguration of the new High Court of Justice
building in Chimbote. After unveiling the plaque on the new
building, an enraged Fujimori was finally forced to ask local
bishop Luis Bambaren for permission to get in his vehicle and
leave. The protest lasted about an hour; it ended after Fujimori
left the area. [La Republica (Lima) 6/28/97]
Fujimori then flew to the far northeastern port city of
Paita, in Piura department, to inspect a fishing plant at the
port. Warned that an angry crowd was awaiting him in the city
with demands for solutions to the damages caused by El Nino - an
ocean current and weather phenomenon which has caused serious
losses in farming, fishing and other industries - Fujimori left
directly from the port without entering the town, further
enraging the protesters. [LR 6/28/97] [On June 20, Fujimori
declared a 120-day state of emergency in nine departments to
combat the effects of El Nino. The departments are Tumbes, Piura,
Ancash, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Arequipa, Moquegua, Puno and
Tacna. [DESCO Resumen Semanal #924, 6/18-24/97]]
At least 14,000 people marched on June 26 in the
northwestern Peruvian city of Chiclayo, Lambayeque department, to
protest the Fujimori's "arbitrary and authoritarian" government
and demand long-awaited public works. The march took place as a
24-hour departmental civic strike was being held in Lambayeque to
demand completion of the Olmos hydroelectric and irrigation
complex, delayed for over 50 years, and several other
infrastructure projects. Organizers insisted the civic strike was
not political, although Agence France-Presse's coverage suggested
that the two actions were coordinated in promoting both political
and civic demands. [Diario Las Americas 6/28/97 from AFP; LR
6/24/97, 6/27/97]
On June 25, the Peruvian government granted pardons to and
released from prison 116 people who had been unjustly imprisoned
accused of terrorism or treason, primarily by military courts in
summary trials. Although the pardons do not erase the offense
from the criminal records of the people who were released, the
Congress is currently considering several bills that would clear
the records of those pardoned. The pardons were granted based on
the recommendations of a special commission named last August to
review cases. The first pardons were granted in October of 1996
after heavy pressure from human rights groups. The process of
pardons was suspended during the more than four months from Dec.
17 to Apr. 22 when rebels from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary
Movement (MRTA) were holding 72 hostages in the Japanese
ambassador's residence in Lima. On June 27 Fujimori said he would
now allow the process to be extended; Belgian priest Hubert
Lanssier, the most active member of the special pardon
commission, had been pressing for an extension until at least
this August of the time allotted to process the more than 1,000
cases remaining for review. None of those pardoned are considered
to have any links with the MRTA or Peru's larger rebel group, the
Peruvian Communist Party (PCP, better known as Sendero Luminoso
or Shining Path). [El Diario-La Prensa 6/26/97 from AFP; LR
6/28/97]
(Source: Weekly News Update On The Americas #387 - June 29, 1997)
Nicaragua Solidarity Network Of NY
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-----
NSN Weekly News Update #388 - Excerpts On Peru And The MRTA
(...)
Peru: Who's Next? Reporters Picked In Victim Lotto
Journalist Luis Angeles Laynes, political editor of the
daily Lima newspaper Ojo, was attacked and beaten in public by
three assailants with a military appearance who tried to abduct
him on July 1. A group of passers-by stopped to help Angeles and
prevented the abduction; the assailants escaped in a car. The
attackers seemed uninterested in Angeles' money, credit cards or
other belongings. Agustin Figueroa, director of the National
Journalistic Enterprise which publishes Ojo, said on television
that Angeles had been receiving death threats for the past 6-7
months from individuals thought to be linked to the government's
intelligence services. Figueroa noted that attacks on journalists
seem to occur when President Alberto Fujimori is out of the
country. [La Republica (Lima) 7/2/97] [Fujimori left Peru on July
1 for a one-week visit to Japan. [LR 7/1/97]] On July 5 Angeles
blasted ruling party congressperson Daniel Espichan Tumay for
claiming the assailants were common criminals. [LR 7/6/97] A
police source who insisted on anonymity charges that Peru's
intelligence forces have launched a plan called "Azar" - meaning
chance, as in gambling - designed to intimidate members of the
independent press and of the opposition. The plan involves hiring
common criminals to beat up journalists; the victims are picked
by lottery. [El Diario-La Prensa 7/4/97 from AFP]
During the week of June 23 Fujimori extended for 60 days a
state of emergency in three Amazon provinces "which continue to
be a scene of isolated operations by terrorists and drug
traffickers." The three provinces are Coronel Portillo and Padre
Abad, both in Ucayali department, and Puerto Inca, on the eastern
edge of Huanuco department. [Diario Las Americas 6/28/97 from
AFP]
Peru's Congress voted on July 3 to extend the time granted
to a special commission charged with reviewing the cases of
innocent people convicted of terrorism in summary trials [see
Update #387]. The commission was set to end its work on Aug. 15;
the deadline has now been extended to Feb. 28, 1998. [ED-LP
7/4/97 from AP] [Note: Update #387 states that commission member
Hubert Lanssier had been pressing for an extension until at least
this August; it should have said beyond this August.]
(Source: Weekly News Update On The Americas #388 - July 6, 1997)
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-----
NSN Weekly News Update #390 - Excerpts On Peru And The MRTA
(...)
Peru Rocked By Revelations Of Authoritarian Abuse
Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori's popularity has fallen
to the lowest level of his seven-year administration, after
various government abuses prompted the resignations of four
ministers and demonstrations in Lima by thousands of protesters.
During recent weeks, anti-government protests have grown, sparked
by the dismissal of three Constitutional Court judges who opposed
Fujimori's effort to run for a third presidential term in the
year 2000, military harassment of the opposition press, and
revelations of abuses by Peruvian intelligence services,
including the torture of former intelligence agent Leonor La Rosa
Bustamante for leaking information to the press [see Updates
#383-386]. On July 13, the administration's troubles increased
when Television Channel 2-Frecuencia Latina reported that
Peruvian intelligence services had illegally recorded phone
conversations of 197 people, including cabinet ministers,
Congresspeople, judges, and journalists, under orders from
National Intelligence Service (SIN) adviser Vladimiro Montesinos.
Most of the journalists targeted (including reporters from the
New York Times and Argentine daily Clarin) had covered one or
another of the allegations into wrongdoing by Montesinos, the
intelligence services, or the military.
That same day, the government revoked the Peruvian
citizenship of Frecuencia Latina's majority owner, Israel-born
Baruch Ivcher Bronstein, on the grounds that he had failed to
renounce his Israeli citizenship. Ivcher was naturalized in 1984;
his channel has reported on illegal enrichment by Montesinos and
torture by the intelligence service, prompting a May 23 military
communique naming him as a traitor - since that time Ivcher has
been living in Miami [see Update #386]. Since foreign nationals
are barred from owning a majority interest in Peruvian news
media, the move would effectively force the sale of the
television channel. [New York Times 7/15/97; Clarin (Buenos
Aires) 7/18/97]
Condemnations of the move - widely seen as unconstitutional
- were immediate: opposition congressperson Fernando Olivera said
the revocation was part of the Bulldozer Plan, designed by the
SIN to obliterate anything standing in the way of Fujimori's
reelection. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 7/14/97 from AFP] On July
14, former United Nations (UN) Secretary General and 1995
presidential candidate Javier Perez de Cuellar said, "This is a
strike against the independent press... We are living in a
permanent state of coup d'etat." U.S. State Department
spokesperson Nicholas Burns called the revocation an attack on
press freedom; U.S. Ambassador Denis Jett called it a bad sign
for foreign investors; and Human Rights Watch/Americas also
attacked the move.
Most importantly, Foreign Minister Francisco Tudela resigned
on July 14, officially due to "personal circumstances". But
Tudela made it clear that he opposed the Ivcher action. A
proclaimed presidential candidate, Tudela was one of the cabinet
ministers whose phone was ordered tapped by Montesinos.
[Washington Post 7/18/97; NYT 7/15/97; Clarin 7/18/97] He was
also one of 72 hostages held for four months by leftist rebels
from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) at the Lima
residence of Japan's ambassador to Peru. All but one of the
hostages were freed when military troops launched a surprise
attack on the residence and killed all 14 rebels [see Update
#378]. One of the phone conversations recorded by the SIN between
two unnamed diplomats revealed that Tudela didn't agree with the
execution of the MRTA members, to whom he referred as "those poor
kids". [ED- LP 7/15/97 from Notimex] Earlier this year,
responding to criticisms that Peru's government restricted
freedom of the press, Tudela had told an Organization of American
States (OAS) assembly: "[I]n Peru freedom of expression, personal
freedom, is unrestricted." [ED-LP 6/8/97 from AP]
On July 15, about two thousand people rallied in front of
Frecuencia Latina to demand that the government drop its case
against Ivcher. [ED-LP 7/16/97 from EFE] On the evening of July
15, Fujimori appeared before the press to explain the recent
occurences. He dismissed the wiretapping cases as being "an old
habit" of some intelligence agents, and went on to charge the
opposition with "using the favorite technique of totalitarians:
brainwashing" by "mounting a sophisticated psychopolitical
campaign" to convince the public that the country is not a
democracy. He asserted that the principal proof that democracy is
alive and well in Peru is that there is a strong and vocal
opposition that is neither jailed nor persecuted. [La Republica
(Lima) 7/16/97]
Unimpressed, Defense Minister Gen. Tomas Castillo Meza,
Justice Minister Carlos Hermoza both resigned on Thursday,
Castillo reportedly resigning to protest the torture of La Rosa
as well as the revocation of Ivcher's citizenship. Fujimori
hurriedly appointed new ministers, shifting Gen. Cesar Saucedo
from Interior Minister to Foreign Minister, appointing Gen. Jose
Villanueva Interior Minister, replacing Hermoza with lawyer
Alfredo Quispe Correa, and appointing businessman Ludwig Meier to
fill the post of Fisheries Minister, which had been vacant for
several months. [Reuter 7/18/97; LR 7/18/97]
10,000 to 20,000 people demonstrated in Lima on July 17,
including construction workers, students, teachers,
professionals, and the unemployed, opposing the government's
economic policies. After police tried to disperse the
demonstrators with dogs and water cannons, the marchers broke
into the Plaza Mayor across from the presidential palace,
chanting "Down with the dictator!" and "Fujimori, get out of the
country!" About 500 heavily-armed riot police guarded the palace,
where Fujimori was present, while soldiers stood on the roof and
a police helicopter flew overhead. Smaller protests were also
held in the southern town of Ica and the port of Chimbote. [ED-LP
7/18/97; LR 7/18/97; Clarin 7/18/97; NYT 7/18/97; Reuter 7/18/97]
Meanwhile, the military made an unusual show of support for
the president as Armed Forces head Gen. Nicolas Hermoza told
Fujimori at an impromptu ceremony on July 17: "We want to
emphatically express our subordination, loyalty and disciplined
support... [Y]ou can be absolutely convinced that in the armed
forces and national police force, you have the firmest pillars to
defend democracy and the Constitution." [LR 7/20/97]
Peru: Fujimori's Support Crumbles In New Polls
In two polls taken in Lima by Peruvian polling firm IMASEN,
one immediately after the revocation of Ivcher's citizenship and
one on July 17, only 19% of respondents had a favorable opinion
of Fujimori - a drop of 11 points from the week before - against
74.8% unfavorable. IMASEN's director, Giovana Penaflor, said that
the firm expected Fujimori's approval rating to continue to drop
until a satisfactory explanation was made for the revocation and
the wiretappings. According to the polls, 94.3% of respondents
want a thorough investigation of the wiretapping allegations, and
80.5% want Montesinos to leave the government. The polls also
showed that 61.1% of Lima residents consider unemployment the
country's main economic problem and demand a change in the
neoliberal economic model. Another poll taken by EIPIM on July 18
showed even less support for Fujimori, with 17.5% giving him a
favorable rating against 77.3% unfavorable, and 92.1% supporting
the anti-government protests and the same number supporting the
journalism of Frecuencia Latina. In this poll, 82% said that the
question of Fujimori's reelection should be decided by a
referendum, while only 14% disagreed. [LR 7/20/97] An earlier
poll showed disapproval ratings for Armed Forces head Nicolas
Hermoza and Montesinos at 67% and 79%, respectively. [LR 7/16/97]
The repercussions continue: Lima's stock market dropped 6.5%
during the week [though most Latin American markets declined; see
related story on Brazil]. [LR 7/20/97] Lima mayor Alberto
Andrade, of Fujimori's Change-90 coalition, has called for
Montesinos to leave the government, saying that he has become an
"unlucky figure" for the government. [LR 7/18/97] Even the U.S.
mainstream media - historically Fujimori's staunchest backers -
are having doubts: a July 18 Washington Post editorial stated:
"It is as though he has decided to confirm his critics' gravest
charges of an anti-democratic, authoritarian bent" and briefly
mentioned his Apr. 23, 1992 "self-coup" before concluding that
Fujimori "still has a chance to restore his good name".
(Source: Weekly News Update On The Americas #390 - July 20, 1997)
Nicaragua Solidarity Network Of NY
339 Lafayette St.
New York, NY
10012 USA
Tel: 212-674-9499
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-----
NSN Weekly News Update #391 - Excerpts On Peru And The MRTA
(...)
Peru: Where Was Fujimori Born?
Embattled Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori faced new
challenges to his authority this week. Lima weekly Caretas and
television program En Persona revealed evidence that Fujimori's
birth documents had been tampered with, and that he was actually
born in Japan rather than in Peru. Only Peruvian-born citizens
are eligible to become president, and presumably he would be
required to step down if the charges can be proved. Pictures of
Fujimori's baptismal record show clearly that his birthplace had
been whited out and replaced by writing in different ink and
handwriting. Also, when Fujimori's mother Matsue Fujimori first
entered the country in 1934, she indicated that she was traveling
with two small children. (Fujimori's father had married Matsue
Fujimori in Japan in 1932 after making a small fortune while
working in Peru.) Reporter Cecilia Valenzuela said she had been
investigating Fujimori's birth place - long the subject of rumors
- for five years. [El Diario-La Prensa 7/25/97; Clarin 7/25/97]
Cardinal Augusto Vargas Alzamora, archbishop of Lima,
confirmed that the record had been altered without the
authorization of the Catholic Church, which would have been
standard procedure if the original had contained a simple
mistake. Sandro Fuentes, lawyer for the Fujimori family, said the
record would be submitted to analysis by independent experts.
However, there's also the official list of passengers on the ship
the Fujimoris used to cross from Japan to Peru, the Fujio - none
of the Fujimoris' names appear, but four names have been crossed
off, which could be the two parents and two children, including
the future president. [Clarin 7/27/97]
Officials from Fujimori's Change 90-New Majority party
(C90-NM) dismissed the charges: congressperson Edith Mellado said
if the president had been born in 1934 rather than 1938 as he
claims, "he would be 63 and he doesn't look that old", while
fellow congressperson Jose Barba called the affair a "plot of the
opposition" to "bring about a coup d'etat." [In fact, disgraced
former president Alan Garcia (1985-1990), interviewed from his
exile in Paris, recently called for replacing Fujimori and
dissolving Congress.] But a poll conducted by EIPIM on July 25
and 26 found that 80.7% of respondents thought an immediate
investigation into Fujimori's citizenship should be carried out.
[La Republica (Lima) 7/27/97; ED-LP 7/22/97] The Japanese
government declined to comment on the matter or to indicate
whether it had records related to Fujimori's birth. [La Republica
7/26/97]
Ironically, Fujimori's current nosedive in popularity was
keyed by his stripping foreign-born Baruch Ivcher Bronstein of
his Peruvian citizenship in presumed retaliation for corruption
charges aired by the television station he owns, Frecuencia
Latina. [see Update #390]. Only Peruvian citizens are allowed to
own media outlets, leading to fears that the government will
forcibly take control of the station, which has become a symbol
for freedom of the press in Peru. Dozens of journalists and
thousands of supporters have set up a vigil at the station, and
Ivcher's four daughters are staying in the building around the
clock. (Ivcher remains in Miami after being threatened by the
military in May.) The station's news director Ivan Garcia said,
"The only way they'll get in here is by using tanks to blast
through the door or helicopters to come in through the roof."
[New York Times 7/22/97]
Meanwhile, about 1,000 students attempting to reach the
Congress building to protest the repeal of their transportation
subsidies; they were repelled by police using water cannons.
After the protest, Lima councillor David Quintana said he would
extend the current 50% subsidy for higher education students
until the end of August. [ED-LP 7/23/97]
(Source: Weekly News Update On The Americas #391 - July 27, 1997)
Nicaragua Solidarity Network Of NY
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10012 USA
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-----
NSN Weekly News Update #392 - Excerpts On Peru And The MRTA
(...)
Peru: "Same Old Rhetoric"
Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori delivered his state of
the union address before Congress on July 28, Peru's independence
day, with his popularity at its lowest point in his seven-year
presidency. Rather than address the corruption and human rights
scandals that have plagued his administration over the past
months, Fujimori said that "the subordination of the armed forces
to the president is an indisputable fact", and announced a
package of pay raises for civil servants and tax cuts for
businesses. Public employees including teachers, police and
health care workers would receive a 15% pay increase and shares
in a new $1.3 billion mutual fund, while employer payroll taxes
and some agricultural and consumption taxes would be cut. He also
said his government would respect human rights and the freedom of
the press.
Opposition legislator Jorge Avendano of the Union for Peru
(UP) said, "It was the same old rhetoric. Fujimori only talks
about the great economic successes, which have only benefited a
few, and says nothing about ending the political crisis." Other
legislators spoke of Fujimori's creating a "pinata" to distract
Peruvians from the political crisis. Fujimori did not mention
armed forces head Gen. Nicolas Hermoza or National Intelligence
Service adviser Vladimiro Montesinos - called "the power behind
the throne" by opposition legislators - or the current
controversy regarding the president's birthplace. [New York Times
7/29/97; El Diario-La Prensa 7/31/97 from Notimex]
Responding to charges by journalist Cecilia Valenzuela about
irregularities in Fujimori's birth documents, Pedro Mascaro,
director of the Lima Maternity Hospital, confirmed that an
obstetrician named Julia Pacheco had worked at the hospital in
1938. Valenzuela had disputed that such a person - whose name
appears as attending physician to Fujimori's mother Mitsue
Fujimori de Fujimori - had ever worked for the hospital. Once the
hospital document was released, Valenzuela appeared on television
and said the document raised more questions than it answered,
because Pacheco's signature on the hospital paperwork did not
match the signature on Fujimori's birth record. [Diario Los Andes
8/1/97 from DPA] Meanwhile, journalist Alfredo Barnechea said he
was fired from Lima's Canal 9 because he was investigating the
issue of Fujimori's birthplace. [ED-LP 7/28/97 from AFP]
(Source: Weekly News Update On The Americas #392 - August 3,
1997)
Nicaragua Solidarity Network Of NY
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New York, NY
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-----
NSN Weekly News Update #394 - Excerpts On Peru And The MRTA
(...)
Panama Expels Peruvian Journalist
The Panamanian government has refused to renew the work
permit of Peruvian journalist Gustavo Gorriti, who is currently
co-director of the Panamanian daily La Prensa, and plans to
deport him if he does not leave the country when his residence
visa expires on August 28. La Prensa says it will challenge the
government's order in court. Juan Arias, president of the
newspaper's board, says the directors will back Gorriti "to the
bitter end", even appealing the case to the Supreme Court if
necessary. [Wall Street Journal 8/13/97, La Republica (Peru)
8/15/97; La Prensa 8/17/97]
Gorriti, who has been working in Panama for a year and a
half, sparked the Panamanian government's disapproval by
producing a series of articles on the collapse of the Industrial
and Trade Bank of Panama (Banaico). The articles revealed that
Banaico was extensively used by Jose Castrillon Henao, now in
prison in Panama for drug trafficking. One story charged that
Castrillon gave two checks totaling $51,000 to Perez'
presidential campaign. Perez first denied having accepted any
money from drug traffickers, but later was forced to admit that
his campaign had unwittingly taken the money. [WSJ 8/13/97;
Diario Hoy (Ecuador) 8/17/97]
According to a report published by the Miami Herald on
August 14, President Perez decided to expel Gorriti four months
ago after Nicolas Gonzales Revilla - a cousin of Perez -
complained about the journalist. Gonzales, a principal
shareholder of the group that owns one of Panama's three
television channels, had tried to acquire control of the other
two channels and of the country's only cable channel. La Prensa's
investigation team, headed by Gorriti, reported on the attempt,
and although Gonzales was successful in his acquisitions, he was
reportedly furious. [LR 8/15/97 from EFE; DH 8/17/97]
La Prensa founder Roberto Eisenmann charged on August 13
that a sector of Peru's intelligence services has allegedly been
planning to murder Gorriti in Panama. According to Eisenmann, "An
informal group of the Peruvian army had put a price on Gorriti's
head, and the problem [for the Perez government] was that they
didn't want him to be killed in Panama because of the
international consequences that might incur." Eisenmann said that
President Perez informed his ministers about the plot to murder
Gorriti at the end of a cabinet meeting a few days earlier.
According to La Prensa, Gorriti is the Peruvian journalist who
has most investigated Vladimiro Montesinos, the shadowy Peruvian
intelligence adviser believed linked to drug trafficking and
numerous human rights violations. [Diario Las Americas 8/16/97
from AFP; LR 8/15/97 from La Prensa]
However, Eisenmann believes that the alleged murder plot
against Gorriti "is not true. It's a story made up to try to
justify [to the ministers] an action that was not justifiable" -
Gorriti's expulsion from Panama. Eisenmann also charged that the
Panamanian government initially tried to provoke a split within
La Prensa to prevent the paper from supporting Gorriti; when this
failed, the government ordered his visa withdrawn. [LR 8/15/97
from La Prensa]
Gorriti says he won't leave Panama. "If necessary, I'll hole
up in La Prensa", he says, "though, unfortunately, they don't
have any showers." According to Gorriti, what is happening to him
could happen to any investigative reporter in Panama. "First,
it's a lot of fun", he explains. "Second, you find a lot of
connections between unsavory characters and apparently upstanding
citizens. Third, the establishment can't tolerate you and rejects
you as a foreign body."
In Peru in 1992, Gorriti was "disappeared" by the army for
36 hours before an international campaign forced the government
to release him. Gorriti then left for the U.S., where he was a
senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace in Washington and then a visiting scholar at the University
of Miami's North-South Center. [WSJ 8/13/97]
Meanwhile, on August 15 a Public Law judge in Peru confirmed
a resolution stripping the Peruvian nationality of Baruch Ivcher,
a naturalized Peruvian since 1984 and owner of the television
station Channel 2-Frecuencia Latina [see Updates #382, 386, 390,
391]. Ivcher's defense lawyer says he will appeal the ruling. [El
Diario La Prensa 8/16/97 from Notimex; Diario Hoy (Ecuador)
8/16/97 from EFE]
Peru Rebels Honor Martyr, Red Cross Removes Mediator
On August 11, rebels from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary
Movement (MRTA) seized the jungle village of Chachapoyas, located
in Limatamba district in the Peruvian Amazon, and painted slogans
on the church and municipal building. The rebels then staged a
posthumous homage to former rebel leader Rolly Rojas Fernandez,
known as "El Arabe", who was born in Limatamba. Rojas was
considered the second-in-command of the MRTA's Edgar Sanchez
Commando, which seized hundreds of hostages at the Japanese
ambassador's residence in Lima on December 17 of last year. The
occupation ended last Apr. 22 when the Peruvian government
stormed the building, killing all 17 rebels in a military
operation that also left one of the 72 hostages dead. The rebel
column that entered Chachapoyas was led by "Comrade Percy", who
three years earlier led the takeover of the city of Rodriguez
Mendoza. [El Diario-La Prensa 8/13/97 from Notimex]
Michel Minnig, delegation chief for the International
Committee of the Red Cross (CICR) in Peru, will soon leave the
country, less than a year after having arrived. Minnig was one of
the mediators between the government of Alberto Fujimori and the
Edgar Sanchez commando during the rebel occupation of the
ambassador's residence. A CICR spokesperson would not give
reasons for Minnig's departure from Peru, but said that on August
19 CICR president Cornelio Sommaruga will give a press conference
at the close of his visit to Lima. Sommaruga's principal
objective in visiting Peru was to meet with President Fujimori,
according to a press notice from the CICR delegation in Lima.
[Diario Las Americas 8/16/97 from AFP]
(Source: Weekly News Update On The Americas #394 - August 17,
1997)
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-----
NSN Weekly News Update #395 - Excerpts On Peru And The MRTA
(...)
Peru Rebels Resurface Yet Again
On August 15 a column of the Maoist rebel group Peruvian
Communist Party (PCP, better known as Sendero Luminoso or Shining
Path) kidnapped 29 workers from a company doing oil exploration
in the central department of Junin. Some of those kidnapped were
reportedly foreigners. The General Geophysics Company (CGG) was
doing topography, exploration, and construction of oil wells
under contract for ELF Hydrocarbons Peru in the San Martin de
Pangoa zone, on the banks of the Ene river.
All the hostages were released unharmed on the night of
August 17 after CGG handed over supplies, clothing, radios and
batteries to the rebels. The hostages were taken to a barracks of
the Army Infantry's 31st Division, where they were interrogated.
[La Republica (Lima) 8/22/97; DESCO Weekly Summary #931,
8/13-19/97, from LR, Expreso; El Diario-La Prensa 8/23/97 from
Notimex]
Military sources said that according to the hostages, the
PCP unit that kidnapped them was made up of 30 rebels - four
women and 26 men - all young but looking very worn out and
showing signs of anemia or malnutrition. They were reportedly
badly equipped, with only breech-loading rifles, one AKM rifle
and a machine gun, and wore clothing not appropriate for the
conditions. "They didn't abuse [the hostages]", co-workers of the
hostages said; "they said they were only interested in carrying
out their armed struggle and didn't want confrontations with the
public." [LR 8/22/97; ED-LP 8/23/97 from Notimex]
The kidnapping followed several recent PCP appearances in
the area: on August 10 graffiti referring to the armed struggle
appeared in the streets of San Martin de Pangoa, and on August 5
and 6 another contingent of 10 PCP members entered the village of
El Palomar to carry out propaganda exercises. [DESCO Weekly
Summary #931, 8/13-19/97, from LR 8/17/97]
Police reported on August 22 that they had captured 12 PCP
members in several campesino communities in the central Ancash
department. The arrests took a week to complete; police agents
disguised themselves as campesinos and in some cases infiltrated
places where the PCP members were thought to be carrying out
propaganda and sabotage activities. Among those arrested was a
teacher, Pablo Pedro Blas Livias, who authorities claim was the
link between local rebels and the PCP's central committee.
Authorities said that two of the other detainees, Remigio
Martinez Acevedo and Esteban Carhuapoma Baez, were military
commander and logistics commander, respectively, of the PCP's
central northern zone committee. [LR 8/20/97; ED-LP 8/23/97 from
Notimex]
In other news, an 18-year old female combatant of the Tupac
Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) whose identity has not been
revealed has reportedly died in a clash between the rebels and
Peruvian security forces. The Political-Military Command of the
Huallaga Front reported an armed confrontation between combined
army and police forces and an MRTA column in a village in the
district of Crespo y Castillo, in Leoncio Prado province, Huanuco
department. [ED-LP 8/22/97 from Notimex]
Meanwhile, several dozen people gathered on August 23 in the
Paraguayan capital, Asuncion, in a demonstration against the
presence of Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori in their country.
The demonstrators presented themselves as members of the leftist
Free Homeland Movement; they called Fujimori a dictator,
expressed solidarity with the MRTA and criticized the president
"for keeping many political prisoners six meters underground."
Fujimori was in Paraguay to attend the 11th Summit of Heads of
State of Latin America. [LR 8/24/97]
(Source: Weekly News Update On The Americas #395 - August 24,
1997)
Nicaragua Solidarity Network Of NY
339 Lafayette St.
New York, NY
10012 USA
Tel: 212-674-9499
Fax: 212-674-9139
WWW: http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html
E-mail: wnu@igc.apc.org
-----
NSN Weekly News Update #396 - Excerpts On Peru And The MRTA
(...)
Peru: Tortured Agent To Mexico, Exile To Denmark
On August 27 the Peruvian government authorized the transfer
of former Army Intelligence Service (SIE) agent Leonor La Rosa
Bustamante to Mexico for rehabilitation from her torture by other
SIE agents [see Updates #356, 359, 386]. The authorization,
signed by President Alberto Fujimori, provides for La Rosa to
receive specialized treatment in neurological physical therapy in
the National Orthopedic Institute of Mexico. La Rosa is to be
accompanied by her mother, Leonor Felipa Bustamante Martinez, and
by the neurological doctor Silva Margarita Montano Torres of the
Oscar Trelles Montes Institute of Neurological Sciences. The
Peruvian state will pay $18,690 for travel expenses and all costs
of the treatment. [El Diario-La Prensa 8/28/97 from Notimex]
However, La Rosa expressed surprise at the news on August 27,
insisting that the government had not notified her of the
decision. La Rosa said she had not signed any document agreeing
to be sent to Mexico. [ED-LP 8/28/97 from EFE]
Meanwhile, Peruvian Julian Calero Salazar left the U.S. on
August 24 for Denmark, where he has been granted political
asylum. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
released Calero last February [see Update #370] on $100,000 bail
after keeping him imprisoned for nine months on the request of
the Peruvian government; he was released after the Peruvian
government failed to win his extradition, since it could not
produce any evidence to support its charges that Calero was a
member of the Maoist Peruvian Communist Party (PCP), also known
as Sendero Luminoso or Shining Path. Calero was denied political
asylum in the U.S., however, and was ordered to leave the country
by September 1. Calero's wife, Fresia Calderon, lives in Denmark,
where she was previously granted asylum. [ED-LP 8/25/97]
Exiled Peruvian Journalist Fights Expulsion From Panama
On August 29 Panama's Supreme Court of Justice declared
invalid a writ of preventive habeas corpus filed on behalf of
Peruvian exile journalist Gustavo Gorriti, co-director of the
Panamanian daily La Prensa. Gorriti's visa expired on August 28;
his wife Esther and daughters Galia and Dafna flew to New York on
August 26 so that they would be safe from "situations of violence
or mistreatment" that Gorriti feared might occur if the
Panamanian government tried to deport him. On August 27, Gorriti
brought a sleeping bag to work and holed himself up in the
newspaper's offices, where he remained as of August 31 as his
lawyers prepared the next fight against his ordered expulsion
from Panama. Gorriti's lawyers called the August 29 court ruling
"excellent", since it prevented his immediate deportation. Judge
Fabian Echevers said in his ruling that the Government and
Justice Ministry's Migration Department had confirmed that there
was no arrest order against Gorriti; therefore, his deportation
would be carried out in compliance within constitutional and
legal bounds- -in other words, he will not be arrested while he
pursues legal appeals. [La Prensa 8/30/97; Washington Post
8/30/97 from Reuter]
Panamanian journalists, politicians and others began a vigil
outside the offices of La Prensa in support of Gorriti on August
28. [LP 8/28/97, 8/29/97] Gorriti has also received considerable
international support, and there is speculation that the
Panamanian government may back down rather than risk further
deterioration of its image in the international community.
However, the Panamanian foreign ministry announced on August 25
that President Ernesto Perez Balladares would not meet with a
delegation of Peruvian opposition congresspeople who went to
Panama to ask the government to change its decision and renew
Gorriti's work permit. The delegation was made up of Harold
Forsyth of the Union for Peru (UPP); Javier Velasquez of the
Peruvian Aprista Party (PAP); and Antero Flores-Araoz of the
Popular Christian Party (PPC). [LP 8/26/97]
On August 27, the U.S. State Department asked the Panamanian
administration to halt the deportation order. [Diario Hoy (Quito)
8/30/97 from EFE] State Department officials are also said to be
exerting private pressure on the case, according to La Prensa
correspondent in Washington Betty Brannan. [LP 8/30/97]
When it first announced that Gorriti's work permit would not
be renewed, the Labor Ministry had argued that there were dozens
of Panamanian journalists who could do his job. [Diario Hoy
8/29/97 from EFE, AFP] However, as lawyer Jose Blandon Figueroa
noted at a public debate on August 26, the Panamanian government
has failed to apply the law in other cases of work authorization.
Blandon pointed to the case of U.S. nationals Roberto Cortez,
Kermith Nourse and Niles Higgins, who according to a document
from the Labor Ministry "are not currently authorized to work in
national territory." The three continue to work as air traffic
controllers for the Panamanian government, replacing Panamanians
fired for striking last November [see Update #356]. Blandon, who
is representing the fired strikers, questioned the government's
willingness to allow three foreigners to work without permits
when it had fired 68 Panamanians trained to do the same job. [LP
8/28/97]
(Source: Weekly News Update On The Americas #396 - August 31,
1997)
Nicaragua Solidarity Network Of NY
339 Lafayette St.
New York, NY
10012 USA
Tel: 212-674-9499
Fax: 212-674-9139
WWW: http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html
E-mail: wnu@igc.apc.org
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