Statement on the "Anti-Terrorism" Law
December 10, 1997On October 8, 1997 the US State Department published a list of 30 groups around the world that it is officially calling "terrorist." The list was mandated by the so-called "Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act," passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in April 1996. The law makes it a federal crime to give material support, including humanitarian aid, to any group on the list (with the exception of medicine and religious materials). It also bars visits to the US by supporters of these groups and authorizes spying on political activists in the US and the use of secret evidence to deport non-citizens accused of associating with any group on the list.
Fighters of the Communist Party of Peru
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This law turns reality on its head when it calls the People's War in Peru "terrorist." The Communist Party of Peru has been leading a struggle to overthrow one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in history. Successive US-backed governments in Peru have unleashed nothing but terror against the people. Since 1980, in the dirty war against the revolution, over 20,000 peasants have been killed by government forces. An additional 4,000 people have been "disappeared" by Peru's military and police.
Today, over 5,000 political prisoners in Peru are being held in deadly dungeons, convicted by "hooded judges" -- secret tribunals that the US helped set up with a 16 million dollar grant in 1991. In Peru, 200 children under age 5 die every day of malnutrition, and landless Indian peasants are treated like animals -- all the result of a lopsided economy and brutally repressive social system that has been extremely profitable for US capitalists. US mining companies, for example, are making fortunes stealing Peru's natural resources, and poisoning the environment in the process.
The People's War in Peru aims to change all this. It is deeply rooted among the Indian peasants and urban poor, along with allies from the middle classes. A victorious People's War would free Peru from exploitation by a handful of capitalists and landlords (tied to their US godfather) and prepare the ground for socialism.
CSRP members disrupt a speech by Fujimori in New York City, 1994.
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We in the US, the country most responsible for the misery and suffering of the Peruvian people, have a special responsibility to support their just struggle and oppose US-sponsored terror. Since 1984, our committee has built political support for the revolution, distributed and popularized the writings of the Communist Party of Peru, organized broad opposition to the repression and terror perpetrated by the Peruvian government against the people, and organized opposition to US intervention. We will continue to carry forward this work in solidarity with the just and heroic People's War in Peru.
For more on this, check out "Dictating Terms: The U.S. Anti-Terrorist List".
This reprint from the Revolutionary Worker newspaper quotes Heriberto Ocasio, CSRP National Spokesperson, "If the U.S. government thinks that this law will stop international solidarity with people fighting against brutal U.S.-backed regimes around the world, they are very mistaken. Our committee, for one, will continue to broadly organize masses in political support for the just and heroic People's War in Peru."
