Newsbriefs
DEPARTMENT OF HUANUCO: Stronghold of the Revolution.
(PCP Regional Committee of Alto Huallaga)
On October 2, 1995, combatants of the PCP clashed with the Army in the
locality of Alto Pacae in the province of Leoncio Prado. Several
soldiers were killed or captured in combat. The Army reported that 3
Maoists known by the names of "Roger", "Elena" and "Dina" were killed
(El Comercio, October 4, 1995). From 6PM October 4 to 5AM October 5,
more than 100 PCP combatants smashed two Army patrols between the
bridge of Aucayacu and the locality of Aspuzana on the main highway
(Carretera Marginal). Fifteen paramilitary and soldiers were
eliminated in combat and dozens were captured. The population welcomed
the entrance of the Maoists. Rallies in support of the People's War
were held in all communities located between kilometers 14, 18 and 21
of "Carretera Marginal", including the villages of Marunilla and
Caimito in the province of Leoncio Prado. Previously, these areas were
under the control of Fujimori's soldiers who are now being expelled.
The Maoists burned one military truck and a gasoline tank used by the
military. [Summary of most newspapers, mainly La Republica of October
6, 1995.] In October 6, 1995 another column of 200 combatants of the
PCP took over the locality of Shamira in the province of Tingo Maria.
The entire local paramilitary ronda and Army personnel were smashed,
including five turncoats supporters of Fujimori's hoax "peace
accords." In the villages of Pucayacu and Cotomonillo, province of
Leoncio Prado, a total of 13 paramilitary and Army soldiers were
executed. Most of the captured paramilitary were freed since they were
forced to join the rondas by the Army. Seven Army garrisons were
burned by the rebels. The youth voluntarily joined the People's Army.
[El Mundo, October 7, 1995]. DINCOTE sources believe that this
overwhelming guerrilla offensive in Huanuco is the response to the
government's propaganda that the leaders of the PCP Regional Committee
of Huallaga have capitulated. [El Comercio, October 7, 1995]
In the face of the bold October PCP offensive, the enemies of the
revolution such as the Kangaroo Congress joined forces in denouncing
this brilliant victory of the people of Peru and its leadership as
"human rights violations" against the ruthless rondas and Fujimori's
Army. It is public knowledge that in these areas the government has
armed and organized paramilitary rondas who serve as a buffer to the
genocidal Army and commit atrocious crimes against the people.
Fujimori declared a State of Emergency in the department of Huanuco.
[Expreso, La Republica, October 8, 1995.]
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SAN MARTIN: Clashes with the Army.
On October 11, 1995, the Chief of the political-military command in
the Huallaga valley reported clashes between the Army and Maoist
combatants in the localities of Alto Uchiza, Buenos Aires, Pacae, Jose
Crespo y Castillo and the districts of Progreso and Tocache. [Expreso,
October 12, 1995] On October 12, 1995, a contingent of the PCP
clashed with the Army during several hours in the locality of San
Antonio', province of Tocache. Other guerrilla actions against
military and economic targets took place in the provinces of Tarma,
Callao, Huacho, Pasco, Trujillo, Huancayo, La Oroya and Huanuco, and
in the localities of Ambo, Yanahuanca, Santa Anita-Lima, and Chilia in
central Peru. [El Comercio October 17, 1995, La Republica October 10,
1995].
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HUANUCO AND EL HUALLAGA.
On October 24, 1995, a communique of the Army's political-military
command reported clashes with Maoist forces in Huanuco and Huallaga.
The Army did not report loses on either side.
Source: Expreso 25/10/95.
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AMAZONAS: Army Arsenal Blown up by Guerrilla Attack.
October 10, 1995. At least five members of the Army and seven other
paramilitaries were severely wounded in a devastating attack by Maoist
combatants to a large arsenal of explosives in the district of Pedro
Ruiz, Province of Bongara, Department of Amazonas. The explosion
followed after a Maoist guerrilla contingent burned the military
installation. PCP commandos cleared the area of non-combatant
civilians before the attack. [Source: El Peruano & La Republica
October 25, 1995]
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AYACUCHO: Bastion of the People's War.
On October 5, 1995 a joint military force of army and police clashed
with combatants of the People's Army in the region of Putajasa,
province de Huancasancos. The Army made unsubstantiated claims of
"capture of terrorists" [Expreso, October 7, 1995]. Fujimori boasted
that three leaders of the People's Army were captured in the province
of Victor Fajardo. A PCP leaflet distributed in the city of Huamanga
denied this assertion [El Comercio, El Mundo, October 7, 1995]. On
October 17, 1995, in Pucayacu, combatants of the PCP ambushed an army
patrol. Two soldiers died and three were wounded. In the People's
Committee of Vizcatan, a column of Maoists ambushed and smashed
another Army patrol. One soldier was killed, three were wounded and at
least 12 Army officers were captured by the Maoists. [Expreso and El
Comercio of October 18, 1995.]
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AYACUCHO. On October 24, 1995, hundreds of Maoist combatants clashed
violently with 1,000 Army soldiers in Vizcatan, Razuhuillca and
Huanta. These are strongholds of the PCP. The Army did not report
loses. [El Comercio, October 25, 1995]
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CENTRAL REGIONAL COMMITTEE (Junin, Huancayo and Tarma)
TARMA. October 17, 1995. In the locality of San Pedro de Cajas,
province of Tarma, department of Junin, a column of 100 Maoist
combatants supported by the local population took over the city. The
walls of the city were sprayed with slogans against the forthcoming
municipal elections. [Expreso, October 18, 1995.]
HUANCAYO. At about 2AM on October 30 several bombs exploded at the
police garrison and Fujimori's political office in the district of
Chongos Bajo [La Republica, November 1, 1995]
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METROPOLITAN COMMITTEE OF LIMA.
LIMA. October 7, 1995. Several military and political actions were
carried out by the Maoist insurgents in most districts of the capital.
The PCP has celebrated its anniversary with an intense activity in the
entire country. In the districts and shanty towns of Lima the red
flags of the proletariat were posted on the rooftops. PCP activists
distributed hundreds of thousands of leaflets in red ink. [La
Republica, October 8, 1995.] At 7:30 PM on October 7, the textile
factory San Cristobal' was attacked, two incinerators were blown up
with explosives. This company has a history of abuses and physical
aggression against its workers. Many of them were recently fired from
their jobs without any benefits. [El Mundo, October 9, 1995]
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LIMA. On October 18, 1995 at 10 PM, Maoist combatants of the PCP
attacked a multinational car assembly plant located at Calle Las
Fraguas in the district of Independencia. The action was in response
to the firing, without benefits, of dozens of workers. The explosion
caused considerable physical damage. [El Comercio, October 19, 1995.]
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Teachers in Struggle.
LIMA. October 25, 1995. More than 200,000 public school teachers
throughout Peru carried out a successful strike for 48 hours. Large
mass rallies were held in major cities of the country and most of them
confronted a brutal military repression. All educational activities
were suspended in the country. The teachers protested against the
policies of hunger and misery, demanded higher salaries and against
the privatization of education. The bases of the SUTEP (teacher's
union) raised the slogan: In support of the People's War, against the
genocidal dictatorship! [Source: PCP Leaflet and Expreso, October 25,
1995.]
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Wave of Strikes Hits Lima.
On October 25, 1995 thousands of teachers and workers from the
hospitals, textile, municipals, banks, fishing industry and
universities paralyzed the city with a massive general strike. Several
demonstrators were wounded with live ammunition fired by the military.
The next day the Army invaded the campus of San Marcos University
where 34 students were arrested and tortured at the DINCOTE
headquarters. Several students are now on hunger strike in protest of
the arrests. [Expreso, October 26, 1995.]
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Faceless Judges Run the Judiciary.
LIMA, October 13, 1995. Fujimori announced that Law 26537, that
"legalizes" the operation of "masked Judges", will be in force until
October 1996. This fascist decree forces political prisoners to be
taken into military facilities to face mock trials before faceless
judges. Masked judges run the judicial system since their promulgation
just after the military coup of April 1992. It is unlikely that these
torture centers be closed in the foreseeable future. We remind our
readers that in December 1994, Fujimori and his Foreign Minister
announced at the UN Human Rights Commission Against Torture in Geneva
that this Nazi-like system of justice would be dismantled by July 28,
1995. Does Fujimori have any credibility? Didn't he boast that the
People's War would be defeated by July 1995? Didn't he say that the
poverty level in Peru will be reduced in half? Where are the million
jobs and the empty talk of "technology-jobs-honesty" offered in his
electoral campaign of 1990? Lies! [Sources: Expreso, Gestion, October
14, 1995.]
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The Municipal Electoral Farce, the Boycott and Imperialist IBM
LIMA, October 11, 1995. The Board of Elections (National Office of
Electoral Process) chose multinational IBM to run the data processing
of municipal elections in Peru. [Expreso, October 12, 1995] The
candidates to the municipality of Lima are known enemies of the
people, both are representatives of the Peruvian big bourgeoisie.
Jaime Yoshiyama, a crony of Fujimori, has the backing of SIN, the Army
and the comprador bourgeoisie whereas Alberto Andrade running as
"independent" is backed by forces of the oligarchy such as Apra, Perez
de Cuellar and the Revisionists (United Left). [Note: The election was
won by Andrade who immediately praised Fujimori. The PCP has called
for the boycott of this electoral circus held in November 1995.]
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Washington Embarrassed by Puppet's Law of Impunity
On November 3, 1995, Reuters reported that the US Congress will
suspend military aid to the Peruvian army in 1996. Peru's army along
with the armies of Sudan, Zaire, Liberia, and Guatemala have been
known to commit atrocious crimes against the civilian population. This
"aid", of course, does not include the antinarcotics cooperation which
is a cover being used by the US to combat the People's War. In an
interview to EFE, George Vickers of WOLA (a group of US scholars on
Latin America) reaffirmed the fact that the Peruvian regime maintains
its policy of human rights abuses. The regime's latest hallmark was
the Law of Impunity. This Congressional action is surprising since it
shows that the dictatorship is losing the support even from the
Republican controlled Congress. WOLA stated that it is unlikely that
Clinton will release the 30 million in military aid which would be
used mainly to purchase spare parts and to train officers in Peru.
Does it include the training of Peruvian death squads at the Army
School of the Americas in Georgia? In the past, there have been
posturing threats to suspend US military aid. For example after the
military coup in 1992 and the shooting down of a US military plane in
Northern Peru, but which was quietly reinstated under other
provisions. The US threat to cut military aid seems hypocritical.
With regard to the current Congressional action, Fujimori stated, "in
the face of the international narcotic trafficking, the cut in
military aid is minuscule, we will use our own resources." This
clearly shows that the Peruvian military as an institution is involved
in narcotrafficking in the Huallaga Valley and that the US drug policy
in Peru is a complete failure. Fujimori is right on this point, the 30
million military cut is "peanuts" or symbolic considering the
approximately 1.5 billion dollars in income obtained from the drug
business. A Fujimori's crony, Alfonso de los Heros, a former Primer
Minister, declared that WOLA "is an enemy of the regime." [Most of
the newspapers, November 4, 1995.]
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Fascist Military Intervention in Sugar Cooperatives
On August 24, 1995, under the disguise of an "infiltration by
Senderistas," the Army took over four sugar cooperatives in Northern
Peru (Chiclayo). The first center attacked was the largest sugar
cooperative Tuman where a military base was installed. Two days later,
another Army contingent seized the agrarian cooperatives of Pomalca,
Cayalti and Pucali. According to Army General Jose Villanueva: "This
assault is to neutralize the influence of Sendero Luminoso on the
workers." [La Republica, August 27, 1995]. These military assaults on
economic centers, universities, labor unions, municipalities are
unprecedented in Peru. On April 1992, the military carried out a
military coup, dissolved the Congress and the judiciary. A couple of
months later, the universities were occupied and now the factories and
cooperatives are being assaulted. These desperate actions of the
regime demonstrates an impending advance of fascism trying to defeat
the powerful Maoist insurgency.
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BRAZIL: Revolution is the Only Solution for the Land Problem.
Imperialists Fear PCP's Influence in All Latin-America.
Millions of homeless families in Brazil have the right to recover
their lands. One percent (1%) of the population made up of landlords
and capitalist thugs owns more than 45% of the land. The people of
Roraima, Minas Gemis, Pernambuco, Roraima and Para have overcome the
duplicitous pacifism of the Church and have taken over the land they
rightfully own with their hands. As is a common practice in Latin
America, the military responded with a bloody massacre of unarmed
people trying to evict them. The day when the masses of Brazil will
be armed with the powerful weapon of Maoism and will wage a people's
war with guns in their hands is drawing near. "Army intelligence
specialists consider that the Movimento Democratico dos Sem-Terra
(MDST), and the Movimento de Luta pela Terra (MLT), have contacts with
Sendero Luminoso. The military also feels that it will inevitably lead
to guerrilla warfare. They claim that known Sendero Luminoso activists
from Peru have been seen in the vicinity of these camps. Secret army
ministry documents report that Sendero Luminoso members arrived in
Brazil in 1991 to give military and ideological instruction to the
MST." [Folha du Brasil, August 8, 1995.]
++++++++++++++++
Poverty Will Be Reduced in Half: Fujimori's Cheap Demagoguery.
For five consecutive years, economic data in Peru is being fabricated
to fit the political ends of the dictatorship. The gross national
product (GNP) reported by the government does not match with reality.
The government claimed that the 1994 GNP was 50 billion dollars and
the GNP for 1995 was 62.5 billion dollars. The falsity of this report
is highlighted when the regime claims that the 1995 average annual per
capita income was 2,500 dollars (higher than Chile and Argentina!)
However, using the actual monetary value of Peruvian soles and
considering other economic variables, independent economists found out
that the per capita income was only US $1,200 and the GNP for 1995 is
44 billion dollars (an error of US$18.5 billion) which means that the
1995 income of Peruvians is equivalent to that of the 1970s. The
annual per capita purchasing power of Peruvians in 1994 was less than
$1,200. The budget deficit reaches 12% of the GNP, the highest in the
last 75 years. Imports have reached 24% of the GNP which shows the
destruction of the national economy and the total submission of
Peruvian markets to greedy multinationals. The gravity of the problem
is that the national budget for 1996 was approved based on this
fraudulent economic recovery. [Actualidad Economica, Aprodeh, October
16, 1995.]
++++++++++++++++
Army's Death Squad "Grupo Colina" in Full Operation.
It is public knowledge that "Grupo Colina" works under the command of
the Army's General Military Command and the National; Intelligence
Service (SIN). Two of the many crimes committed by this death squad
were publicly exposed: The Cantuta murder case (torture and killing of
9 students and a professor) and the killings of Barrios Altos (murder
of 16 members of two families). The head of SIN is the right hand of
Fujimori, the drug dealer and CIA pawn, Vladimiro Montesinos.
All members of Grupo Colina, including the killer of La Cantuta
University Army Captain Martin Rivas, were promoted and are in active
military service. [Actualidad Economica, Aprodeh, September 28, 1995.]
++++++++++++++++
Terrorist Faceless Judges: Hallmark of the Fascist Dictatorship
In march of 1995, Fujimori's Minister of Justice Vega Santa Gadea
reassured the UN's Human Rights Commission and the U.S. Congress that
the notorious faceless judges and other draconian anti-insurgency
measures in Peru would be eliminated by July 1995. This is the same
time period boasted by Fujimori needed to "wipe out subversion". Also,
this assertion was repeated by Blanca Nelida Colan, Fujimori's
prosecutor (the same person who hailed the massacre and counted the
bodies of the political prisoners murdered in the prison of
Cantogrande) who acknowledged that such a measure violates the
Peruvian Constitution and International Law. However, there are some
hitmen of the regime such as Daniel Espichan (another assassin
involved in the massacre of Cantogrande--El Diario called him a pig
crossed with a bloody hyena) who defend the continuity of the faceless
judges, saying "it is needed because subversion by Sendero continues."
Espichan tries to justify Fujimori's lie of a "defeated Sendero" as
"words of encouragement to the security services." [Actualidad
Economica, Aprodeh, Lima, October 7 de 1995.]
[Note. This shows the psycho-social component of the low intensity
warfare strategy used against the people. Faceless judges, curfews,
massive arrests of civilians, but at the same time falsely claiming a
"divided and defeated Sendero." ]
++++++++++++++++
Dictator Warns: "I Am the Judicial System". PCP Crushes Fujimori's
Plan of Capitulation.
Resumen Semanal No. 842 [Lima, October 24, 1995] reported that the
Supreme Court, appointed by Fujimori after the military coup of April
1992, ordered that President Gonzalo be tried at the Civil Court. He
is currently incarcerated at the Navy Base of Callao. Fujimori is
adamantly opposed to this Order: "If the judicial system insists on
trying Abimael Guzman, it will be a risk to national security. I will
not allow that Abimael Guzman be tried in a Civil Court. Something may
happen on his way to Court." This statement of Fujimori confirms the
following:
1) The judicial system in Peru is totally dependent on the dictator,
2) it confirms that the letters and videos calling for peace and
attributed by Fujimori to President Gonzalo are pure fabrications by
the intelligence services, 3) it also shows that the People's War is
strong and that the regime fears transporting President Gonzalo to a
Civil Court. If not, why should a Court appearance by President
Gonzalo be a "threat to national security?"
Background on President Gonzalo's imprisonment:
In September 1992, Fujimori personally announced the "death sentence"
of President Gonzalo, but a few months later, under pressure by the
CIA and other intelligence services (e.g., SIN) directing the
counterinsurgency war in Peru, a mockery of a trial took place at the
Navy Base. Fujimori's generals dressed up as "masked judges" decided
to give him a "life sentence." Thus, they believed that President
Gonzalo would be more useful for their sinister plans alive than dead.
At first, they needed to "de-mystify" a leader who is loved by the
masses and was an undisputable leader of the Communist Party by trying
to ridicule him before the world. On September 24, 1992, he was put
into a tiger cage and given the opportunity to talk. President Gonzalo
delivered a powerful "speech from the cage" addressing his message
exclusively to the people and the leadership of the PCP. "This is only
a bend on the road... The road is long and we will reach the end... we
will continue applying the IV Plan of Strategic Development of the
People's War for the Conquest of Power." To allow this speech was a
fatal mistake for the dictatorship. It took SIN and their CIA
handlers more than one year to implement the second phase of its
counterrevolutionary plan. They fabricated three "letters" from
President Gonzalo to Fujimori seeking "peace talks". These fake
letters were read knowingly and unscrupulously by Fujimori at the
United Nations. Also SIN produced videos, using cut and paste video
technology, to show President Gonzalo as a vulgar "capitulator."
Finally, the regime recruited a handful of traitors in the jail of
Yanamayo-Puno (former members of the PCP) and transported them from
prison to prison to campaign for the "peace talks." Although the
government offered freedom for the traitors in exchange for
information and capture of the leadership of the PCP, this sinister
plan did not get off the ground. The plan of capitulation was rejected
in all prisons of Peru and in the entire country. The powerful blows
of the People's War against the old state defeated a sophisticated
intelligence plan of the regime calling for the end of the revolution.
The way that the PCP militants and combatants were mentally prepared
well in advance of this counterrevolutionary hoax is a great lesson to
be learned by the International Communist Movement. The October 7,
1993 Declaration of the PCP Central Committee emphatically denounced
the plan of capitulation: "It is a ridiculous lie that no one with two
ounces of brain can take seriously and which, like its predecessors
shall be unmasked by the People's War... The rights that the people
have won must never be lightly given up but must be defended by armed
struggle."
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Army School of Assassins Trains Peruvian Death Squads.
The US Army's School of the Americas (SOA), the leading training
center of military death squads operating in Latin America, is based
at Fort Benning, Georgia. "It is a model institution. Its instructors
and students are recruited from the cream of Latin America's military
establishment," reads an Internet message of a SOA spokesman. That's
true if we understand who those cream of military establishment are.
For the people of Latin America, the record of blood and death of the
SOA is well known. Even liberal politicians in the U.S. are horrified
about its heinous crimes: "SOA graduates include dictators and
soldiers implicated in gross human rights violations in Latin
America," says U.S. Congressman Joseph Kennedy. "... The SOA costs
[the US] millions of dollars a year and identifies us with tyranny and
oppression." [Z Magazine, W.E. Gutman. September 1995] The SOA
curriculum includes:
counterinsurgency, military intelligence, interrogation techniques,
sniper fire, infantry and commando tactics, "irregular" and
psychological warfare, jungle operations, among the most gruesome
specialties. We should include assassination and murder of political
dissidents opposed to US puppet regimes in Latin America. "But Latin
American soldiers at the SOA are not always trained to defend their
borders from foreign invasion. They are taught--at US taxpayers'
expense--to make war against their own people, to subvert the truth,
silence poets, domesticate unruly visionaries, muzzle activist clergy,
hinder trade unionism, hush the voices of dissidence and discontent,
neutralize the poor, the hungry, the dispossessed, extinguish common
dreams, irrigate fields of plenty with the tears of a captive society,
and transform paladins and protesters into submissive vassals."
[ibid.] In Peru, the U.S. controlled Peruvian Army has wiped out
entire villages (Accomarca, Uchuraccay and others), committed
genocides of hundreds of political prisoners in the prisons of
Cantogrande, El Fronton, Lurigancho and Santa Monica, it has murdered
most of the 30,000 civilians (genocides of Barrios Altos, La Cantuta
among others) and displaced from their lands more than one million
peasants as part of the low intensity warfare against the People's War
led by the PCP.
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LIMA: Fearful Li Peng Cancels Public Activities in Peru.
A Chinese delegation of 16 capitalists headed by Primer Minister Li
Peng arrived in Peru on October 9. Fujimori's announcement of having a
joint public appearance with Li Peng in the Districts of San Martin
and Cantogrande in Lima was suddenly canceled at the last minute due
to an intelligence report of a potential military attack by the PCP.
The presence of this shadowy Chinese figure coincided with the
Anniversary of the PCP and its military offensive in Lima. On October
7, there was a huge explosion at the textile company San Cristobal.'
The presence of the Chinese delegation responded not only to their
economic exploitation in Peru but also to military issues. Meetings
were held with Defense Minister General Victor Malca and the Chief of
the Army's General Command Nicolas de Bari. The Chinese investment in
Peru in 1995 is over 0.5 billion dollars. The Chinese State Company
Shougang exploits (free of taxes) one of the largest mining companies
of Iron in Central Peru (Hierro Peru-Marcona). [Caretas October 14,
1995]
++++++++++++++++]
HUANUCO. On November 19, a bloody clash between combatants of the PCP
and the Army occurred in the district of Chichao. Many soldiers were
killed. The Army reported that Nilda Moreno, a wounded PCP member, was
captured in combat. [Expreso Nov. 22]
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AYACUCHO. On November 8, Maoists attacked the city of Mollepata,
located between the localities of Ccaro and Manchento, in Huanta,
Ayacucho. The chief of the Army-run paramilitary rondas was caught and
executed. With the support of the community, three military vehicles
were burned and a member of Fujimori's Committee of Repopulation was
arrested. The PCP contingent also took over the village of Pampas in
the Department of Huancavelica. In Sivia,Huanta, the electricity plant
was sabotaged. [Expreso, November 9 and Nov. 11]
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CALLAO. On Nov. 10, Mario Vidalon Morales, a member of an army death
squad, was executed by Maoist combatants in the intersection of the
avenues Faucett and Chalaca. Previously, on November 11, an army
captain was attacked by two combatants driving a motorcycle. [Expreso
Nov. 11]
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PIURA. A big farm "Fundo Amador", located in Huancabamba was seized by
PCP combatants. Two members of the security forces were executed.
Among the guerrilla members there were at least two women. [El
Comercio, Nov. 11]
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CUSCO. The PCP declared an armed strike for 3 days (Nov. 10-13) in the
province of Chumbivilcas. All cities and villages were painted with
slogans in support of the People's War, also leaflets were distributed
widely among the population. [El Comercio, Nov. 11]
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PUCALLPA. In Contamana, 200 teachers who were holding a pedagogical
meeting were arrested by the Marines. They were accused of being
"apologists of terrorism." [La Republica, Nov. 8].
++++++++++++++++
SAN MARTIN. The military post of El Progreso was overrun by Maoist
combatants. The municipal elections were totally sabotaged during the
armed strike. Also, the districts of Angashiacu and Jose Crespo y
Castillo in the Carretera Marginal (Province of Tocache) were painted
with slogans in support of the People's War. [El Comercio, Nov. 14]
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LIMA, SANTA ANITA. Maoists attacked the house of Vidal Bautista
Carrasco, a military-appointed Dean (Vice Rector) of the University of
La Cantuta. La Cantuta has been under military occupation since 1992
and is being "reorganized" by the intelligence services of the regime.
A few years ago, the Army death squad "Grupo Colina" with the "legal
support" of Vidal Bautista kidnaped and murdered 9 university students
from this campus. In the PCP attack, two police were wounded. In an
attempt to implicate foreigners in this attack, the police revealed
that an ID of "Howard Braler Lewis" was found at the scene. [El
Comercio, Nov. 20]
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LIMA. Partial List of Army Death Squad "Grupo Colina" Revealed. These
are the names of the killers of La Cantuta who under orders of
Fujimori and his advisor Vladimiro Montesinos carried out several
crimes: General Juan Rivera Lazo, Colonel Federico Navarro, Major
Santiago Martin Rivas, Major Carlos Pichilingue, Pvte. Antonio Sosa
Saavedra and Nelson Carbajal Garcia.
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LIMA. Police Chiefs Profit from Drug Business. While Army generals act
as partners of the drug dealers in El Huallaga Valley (the largest
coca producer in the world), police generals are not falling behind.
Lima's Channel 4 "Revista Dominical" reported that properties
confiscated in Peru from narcotraffickers are being looted by police
chiefs who share huge profits among themselves. For example, 38 luxury
houses in the wealthy areas of Miraflores and San Isidro, with a total
value of 50 million dollars, were confiscated from drug king Lopez
Paredes. These properties were split among generals of DINCOTE
(anti-subversive) and DIRANDRO (anti-drugs). Police chief Hector Alva
Plasencia was already acting as a landlord; he was renting some of
these properties as whorehouses. Interior Minister General Briones and
Fujimori tried to whitewash the widespread corruption in the armed
forces: "We will investigate."
[La Republica, Nov. 21]
Note. The press in Peru asks, how about the properties and drug money
confiscated since 1980? What is the US-DEA role in this corruption?
(DIRANDRO is funded by the US)
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MADRID (ABC, October 16).- In an interview with Madrid's newspaper
ABC, Kenyo Fujimori reported: "I cannot negate that as in all
pacification processes, a number of errors and human rights violations
are being committed by the armed forces; these have been going on
since the 1980's and continue since the first years of my presidency
... many innocent people are being jailed", "terrorism is not a
problem for the country anymore, although there are still zones in the
Andes and jungle areas dominated by subversives, some are coca growing
areas, but the military controls most of these." Fujimori ended the
interview by saying: "My wife's high profile denunciations of
widespread corruption in my government have caused me grave injuries
... if I get the divorce I will remarry."
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MADRID (ABC, October 17).- The bourgeois journalist Alvaro Vargas
Llosa (son of the novelist Mario Vargas Llosa) writes in Madrid's
newspaper ABC that "in Peru drug dealers have established a juicy
alliance with the highest political and military authorities, and
nobody moved a finger against this, except the Maoist band Sendero,
PCP, still leading a powerful insurgency."
++++++++++++++++
MADRID (Diario 16, November 8.) Eleven officers of the Peruvian Army,
including two generals, were arrested this week under charges of
narcotics trafficking. From June thru September 1994, many military
officers such as Col. Jorge Luis Morales Hidalgo and Agustin Tafur
Medina received payments from the drug traffickers. The revelations
were made by Army officer Mario Garcia Arroyo. Other sources report
that Spain's intelligence services (CESID) confirmed that "drug
businesses have been wiped out by the Maoist band Sendero in the area
of Eastern Huanuco."
++++++++++++++++
LIMA. (Expreso, November 22). Alvin Adams, US Ambassador in Lima
reported that his government will increase economic and military aid
to Fujimori for the "War on Drugs." Despite the rampant involvement of
the Army and police in the drug business, Adams expressed "we are
satisfied with the anti-drug effort in Peru." On Nov. 15 Adams
congratulated 10 Peruvian military completing a special US sponsored
training on "Human Rights" at the University of Maryland. [Note. This
is a hallmark of US hypocrisy. What difference will the training of 10
members of a genocidal armed force of 500,000 make? At the same time
the training of hundreds of Peruvian death squads at the US Army
School of Assassins in Georgia goes on.]
++++++++++++++++
NEW YORK. Nov. 22, 1995. Under the title of "Austerity Plan Slows
Peru's Economy" The Wall Street Journal (p. 4) reported, "once Latin
America's hottest economy, Peru is cooling down fast...it is
frustrating the vast rank of poor Peruvians where incomes remain below
where they were in the 1970's...The new austerity measures can already
be felt in Villa El Salvador [edit. A huge shanty town near Lima]
where government spending is viewed as the only way to redress the
huge differences in income and services that makes Peru such a fertile
breeding ground for the Marxist Shining Path."
++++++++++++++++
RUSSIA (El Mundo, November 8). Thousands of Russians celebrated the
8th Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution and demanded the return of
Socialism in Russia. In Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and in other cities
and towns throughout Russia, thousands of workers went to the streets
to celebrate another anniversary of the victory of the proletariat
over the Tzars, the landlords and capitalists in the winter of 1917.
The mass meetings in Moscow and St. Petersburg gathered approximately
200,000 people carrying a sea of red flags and portraits of Lenin and
Stalin. This contrasts with the complete rejection of Khrushchev,
Brezhnev and Gorbachev.
++++++++++++++++
ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT POLITICAL SITUATION
In spite of the democratic charade of the regime: elections,
parliament and a judiciary (all under the control of a presidential
absolutism), ultimate authority in Peru rests with the U.S. backed
military. No civilian authority can challenge the hegemony of its
protector the armed forces who along with the drug lords make up the
big Peruvian bourgeoisie. This unchecked authority has enabled the
current fascist clique in power headed by Alberto Fujimori, the head
of the Army's Intelligence Service (SIE) Vladimiro Montesinos and the
Chief of the Armed Forces General Nicolas De Bari, to maintain a
murderous dictatorship.
On April 1992, a day before the military Coup, Bernard Aronson,
Undersecretary of State for Latin American Affairs, was in Peru to
discuss the details of the implementation of the "Coup D'etat Plan"
[Plan del Golpe] which was drafted between 1989 and 1990. According to
Caretas magazine of Sept. 21, 1995, this plan consists of two volumes
describing among other things the dissolution of the Parliament and
how to set up a new subservient Congress, the cooptation of the
judiciary, and the curtailment of the most basic constitutional rights
of the people by imposing state of emergencies and curfews, and
carrying out assassinations against members and supporters of the
revolution. For example, a chapter of the Plan del Golpe entitled
"Population for the First Half Century" (Volume 1, Page 11) explicitly
calls for genocide: "The total extermination of the subversives and
their immediate relatives," the "drastic control of the population" by
compulsive sterilizations of the poor (mainly of peasant origin), and
the promoting of "migration of the excessive population to other
countries." All these fascist measures were carried out as part of
the so-called low intensity warfare campaign against the People's War
led by the Communist Party of Peru (PCP). Relying mainly on the
ideological strength of its cadres and a deep rooted support among the
masses, especially within the People's Committees, the PCP has met
this difficult challenge presented by reaction. In the midst of the
armed struggle, the Peruvian Communists were capable of successfully
expanding their military and political activities throughout the
entire country. The People's Army and the PCP have their main bases of
support among the poor in rural areas and in urban shanty towns.
The revolutionaries have strived, and succeeded, to be superior over
the reactionaries and have defeated their sinister campaigns and
plans. After the bend in the road, the PCP has escalated armed actions
rather than succumbing to counterinsurgency campaigns that throughout
the last 15 years of the People's War have used psychological warfare
to defame and disarm the revolution. What haven't they done to defuse
the revolutionary storm of the masses? All kinds of slander has been
spouted against the PCP without an iota of evidence. The same
narco-generals of Fujimori and the CIA have tried to link the PCP with
drug trafficking and accused them of using terror tactics against the
people.
Fujimori boasted that the People's War was practically extinct and it
would be totally defeated by the end of his first term (July 1995),
but 1995 is almost gone and the revolution is as bold as ever. More
than 65% of Peru is under a State of Emergency and military curfews.
In some areas formerly under government control, the PCP has
re-established a presence. Popular schools have spread out in all
cities and shanty towns and PCP contingents have been very visible in
those areas. Spectacular armed strikes and blackouts of electricity
occur with frequency in major cities and the October 1995 offensive
has been remarkable in quality and quantity of political and military
actions. The boycott of the presidential and municipal elections was a
triumph to the class and the proletariat of Peru who clamor for more
revolution than illusory elections. All these confrontations are part
of the struggles between revolution and counter-revolution in all
levels of society that are being won by the masses led by the PCP.
Hundreds of People's Committees have been established countrywide
during the last 15 years and these are the nuclei of a New Democratic
Republic that puts priority on serving the people by means of a
self-sustaining economy (based on production for consumption) rather
than exploitation (imperialist investment and trade.)
Much of the wealth sought by imperialists in Peru today are minerals
such as gold, copper, lead, silver, zinc, uranium and also oil.
The regime, under the guidance of U.S. military advisors, follows the
U.S. counterinsurgency tactics, pitting masses against masses,
peasants against each other by organizing paramilitary groups (Civil
Defense Groups or rondas) to be used as shields of the armed forces in
its fight against the People's Army. So the reactionaries want to have
it both ways: They try to preserve their own regular military forces
while at the same time accusing the PCP of killing civilians. In
addition, SIN and the counterinsurgency police (DINCOTE) receive
direct assistance from the CIA in conducting sophisticated
intelligence operations.
Peru's debt-ridden economy is being saved from collapse basically by
selling off approximately $5 billion dollars of state-owned companies
and approximately $1.5 billions dollars from the drug trade. The US
government and its puppet regime have been unable to hide the fact
that officials in charge of the "War on Drugs" are regularly engaged
in drug trafficking. Most of the reported narco-generals, especially
those in charge of the political and military command in the Huallaga
Valley (the largest coca producing area in the world) are generally
protected by the military establishment. Under pressure from the U.S.
DEA, a small number of symbolic "indictments" by military courts have
occurred, while the biggest traffickers remain protected by the
government.
By the government's own statistics, 15 million people lack adequate
food, clothing, shelter and basic education. It means that 2 of every
3 Peruvians live in critical poverty. More than half of the country's
children suffer from malnutrition. About 500,000 workers have lost
their jobs since the privatization program began in Peru. In 1994,
only 7.9% of the national budget was allocated for social programs
whereas the military sucked up 19.2%. The bulk of the national budget
is used to pay the foreign debt.
Unlike the areas where People's Committees have been established and
alternative crops are being introduced, the U.S. sponsored crop
substitution programs in coca producing areas have been totally
unsuccessful. Even reporters from the bourgeois media acknowledge
that the peasant communities in these areas and the People's Army
fight jointly against the alliance of drug lords, government troops
and U.S. mercenaries.
As the People's War approaches its 16th year of struggle against the
old Peruvian state and foreign domination, it is an inspiration to the
peoples of the world to see that the oppressed have the right to rise
up in arms against their oppressors and that they can conquer power.
Finally, it shows that the "piece of the pie" politics pursued by
revisionists and opportunists are unworthy ones.
Peru People's Movement (MPP). November 1995.
--
The preceding was published by The New Flag (La Nueva Bandera),
a newsletter reporting on the contemporary Peruvian politics,
especially the developments of the People's War. Should you
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