Montesinos Captured,
Returned to Peru
From Peru Action & News, Summer 2001July 3, 2001
Vladimiro Montesinos, the right-hand man of former President Alberto Fujimori, led the intelligence service that spied, tortured, disappeared, and killed thousands of Peruvians. Montesinos now sits in the El Callao prison that he built to house rebel leaders in Peru. How fitting that this torturer—trained at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia—is getting a taste of the inhuman prison conditions that he designed. Montesinos is demanding to be moved out of this dungeon—made up of eight small cells—saying it violates his human rights. One must ask, when is Chairman Gonzalo (Dr. Abimael Guzman) going to be moved out of this same dungeon where he has been kept isolated for over eight years?
The people’s war struggles forward, overcoming setbacks, and advancing. Meanwhile the two men who repeatedly bragged that the Maoist revolution led by the PCP would “soon be defeated” stand before the world disgraced. Alberto Fujimori shamefully resigning the presidency by fax from his imperialist protector Japan, and the other languishing in the prison of his own design.
The BBC (7/1/01) reported that imprisoned rebels at El Callao are protesting Montesinos’ arrival as it has made conditions worse for them—including even less time allowed out of their cells (usually already limited to 30 min. a day).
The victory of the People’s War is the only thing that can liberate Peru and bring justice to the people. But when a regime is in a crisis, good things can happen. People around the world look forward to what exposures of sordid dirty tricks and horrendous crimes might come with the capture and trial of Montesinos. These events have shown the utter worthlessness of US-backed puppet regimes and U.S. imperialist plans for Peru.
Lori Berenson
From Peru Action & News, Summer 2001
Railroaded, Again
July 3, 2001
New York journalist and political activist Lori Berenson was first railroaded by a military tribunal of hooded judges and imprisoned in Peru five years ago. That military conviction was thrown out in August, and Berenson has now been re-convicted by a civilian proceeding.
While most of the 5,000 political prisoners in Peru were convicted because of alleged sympathies with the PCP, Berenson was convicted of allegedly assisting the armed-reformist group MRTA. Berenson has consistantly denied the charges against her. Regardless, the Peruvian regimes have used her case to set an example for others who would consider traveling to Peru in order to “stand with the people” in any way.
It is telling that the new regime relied on the fascist anti-terrorist degrees of the Fujimori-Montesinos government for this second railroad.
See www.freelori.org for more information presented by Berenson’s family and supporters.
