The Japan Embassy take-over on 17 December 96 by armed members of the MRTA is still unresolved after nearly three months.

But the MRTA seems to feel a necessity to attack the PCP in a way that is little different to the way the regime and its imperialist backers categorize anyone who dares to rise against injustice. They frequently refer to PCP as "terrorists" and take pride in having attacked and killed its combatants. This necessity to emphasize differences and attack PCP is perhaps explained best by their 30th December 1996 communique: "We confirm that the only possible solution is through listening to our requests and proceeding to free all our detained comrades. We think that a gesture of this nature would help give the first steps to an overall solution to the problem of political violence through the path of dialogue and a more permanent peace accord." The above statement makes it abundantly clear that the MRTA is fighting to negotiate a peaceful coexistence with the regime based on some reforms. PCP Central Committee, however, has insisted on continuing the war through to the end as the only way forward.

In a recent interview Fujimori acknowledged that plans are being vigorously pursued for a bloody end to the embassy takeover even while they are engaged in negotiations with the MRTA. The latest news reports from Peru speak of tunnels being dug under the embassy compound. While it is impossible to foresee how the event will unfold and what the imperialist backers of Fujimori will tell him to do, there is every reason to be concerned that he is preparing to commit a terrible crime.

Both issues contain brief reports of PCP military actions, analysis of current affairs and the state of economy in Peru, and exposures of the regime. The front page headline of the June issue is "From Andes to the Himalayas, People's War Blazes Victoriously!" with an editorial on the subject and a centrefold article saluting the CPN(M) and the RIM for the initiation of the People's War in Nepal. On page three under the title "NEW TYPE OF CULTURE" there are two photographs. The first is a guerrilla theatre performance in a Peruvian prison and the second is a street graffiti from Colombia depicting slogans: "Rally to the Defence of Our Red Flag Flying in Peru!" and "Prepare the Initiation of the People's War in Colombia!" A centrefold article salutes proletarian internationalism and declares that, "Peoples War is developing from the Andes to the Himalayas as the only path to liberation." The editorial states that the initiation of the People's War in Nepal is a much needed and welcome support and reinforcement strengthening the prospects for the future birth of the People's Republic in Peru.

The prison consists of eight cells approximately 2 by 2 meters. It is arranged on two adjacent rows in a rectangle of 4 by 8 meters. There is no provision for artificial light in the cells although they have a small ceiling aperture to allow sunlight in, but these are remote controlled and can be shut at any time. Likewise, the water flow to the hand basin and toilet in the cells are rationed to certain times each day.

After the first year of total isolation, prisoners are allowed a daily 30 minute walk in the yard alone, and a monthly half hour visit with members of the immediate family. In Dr Guzmán's case no visits of the sort has taken place at all. The walls are thick reinforced concrete with acoustic provisions to prevent voice or morse contact between prisoners. The prison is designed and maintained in such a way that contact, even visual, between prisoners and the outside world (including the guards) is reduced to an absolute minimum while the prisoners are aware that they are being watched at all times by remote controlled cameras. Letters to and from prisoners are strictly controlled by the National Intelligence Service (SIN), and Fujimori himself has to give permission for such comunications.

There is no access to books, magazines, papers, TV or radio. The only information allowed them is through edited videos in a TV room.

Food is rationed and no prisoner is allowed supplements provided by anyone from outside and there is no prison shop to buy anything. Prisoners usually lose weight rapidly and are reduced to skin and bone. The mother of a prisoner told media reporters she could not recognize her son because he was "reduced to a ghost of himself." It is not known if prisoners receive any medical attention at all.

One telling exposure of their lies and distortions has been the fact that they have continued their programme of intense repression aimed at the masses of people and particularly at those areas where the People's War has dug deep roots. Far from lifting the state of emergency, which gives the army draconian powers over the population, the US-backed Fujimori regime has recently continued it once again in two thirds of the country.

The emptiness of the regime's boasting was revealed further when, despite the continuing outcry from human rights groups in Peru and internationally, on October 12 a large majority in the parliament approved the continuation of the use of "faceless" judges. "The faceless judges must continue their functions", proclaimed Gilberto Siura, a legislator from Fujimori's New Majority-Change 90 Party. "The achievements obtained in judging and sentencing these criminals are positive." This policy has come under increasing fire including after the international exposure accompanying the arrest and trial before "faceless judges" of the American Lori Berenson for "treason". The regime has made a big show of freeing a few dozen people whom it admits were "wrongfully" convicted in this way, and it has made every effort to portray these as simply "excesses" of a basically sound system. However, even this carefully orchestrated sideshow has caused problems for the regime, as several of those released have given press interviews to expose that they were tortured into signing confessions and to detail the abysmal conditions in Peru's prisons. (see accompanying article)

The MRTA occupation of the Japanese embassy has also drawn a spotlight both on conditions in Peru's prisons and on the social unrest seething throughout the country. After a lot of hype about Peru's "miracle economic growth", it has grown increasingly clear to all that what growth there was took place through short-term economic fixes and that the results for most of Peru's people have been increasing impoverishment and hardship. Even figures from the government itself -- which are disputed by most outside observers for being heavily biased -- say that 47 percent of the population live in poverty and 19 percent in extreme poverty. A Reuters report cites one British news analyst, John Crabtree from Oxford Analitica, who pointed out that the gap between rich and poor had undeniably increased under the Fujimori regime. The report goes on to note that "half of Lima's population live in shanty towns where water is scarce and garbage dumps are meticulously raked over for scraps of food". The commentator goes on to observe that the gap between the rural poor in the countryside and the urban elite has also increased, and even quotes a Western diplomat admitting that "it is inevitable that some people will not tolerate this". (Reuters, 23 Dec 96)

At the beginning of the year, the regime claimed that there couldn't be more than 600-700 PCP guerrillas left -- now, they report that they have arrested 700 "rebels" in 1996; theoretically, the arithmetic is easy -- in practice, yet another telling exposure of the empty triumphalism of the Fujimori regime has been the ability of the People's War to carry on. Here we can only give a sample from some of the news reports of actions that have taken place since the last EB, including a wave of activity that took place in October in numerous parts of the country, including the Upper Huallaga valley and the Ayacucho area, and a few actions involving columns of 50 or more guerrillas.

* Among actions in October were the dynamiting of a Lima TV station, Global Television, which has broadcast among other things a number of emissions promoting the Right Opportunist Line calling for an end to the People's War.

* In early October, reports came in that at least 100 guerrillas from the People's Liberation Army took over the communities of Matireni, Shimapango and Chikireni in the River Ene region of Peru's central jungle, home to many Ashaninka Indians, killing several soldiers and members of the infamous rondas. A military outpost in Pichakia in the same region was also attacked and the town taken over as well, in an action that resulted in the death of several other soldiers. There were also reports of a number of actions in the Tingo Maria department, leading to the resignation of over 30 mayors in the area. There were also a series of actions in the central Huanuco department and Huancavelica, in which several soldiers were killed. In a town near Lima, Ventamilla-Callao, nearly 100 guerrillas also briefly took over an urban neighborhood. Red flags were raised, speeches given, and graffiti promoting the PCP and the People's War was left behind.

At the same time, 2000 troops were deployed in the central Andes in an effort to "hunt down Comrade Feliciano, the military leader of the Shining Path guerrilla group", as government spokesman put it. Numerous reactionary Sendero watchers have decried the failure of the arrest of PCP Chairman Gonzalo to put an end to the People's War, and have promised that if only once more the government can manage to "cut off the insurgency's head", then the People's War can finally be defeated. Instead, the regime's troops have been striking out blindly, bogged down in inhospitable terrain, and subject to defensive counter-measures that have demoralized them and sapped their will to fight. Police sources have now admitted that owing in part to defensive actions by the revolutionary forces, it is likely that Comrade Feliciano and the rest of the guerrilla forces have been able to evade the army sweep.

* In December, a column of over 50 guerrillas took over another town in northern Peru in the province of Chiclayo.

Besides the actions of the People's War itself, most of which go unreported in the Peruvian and international press, another telling sign of their worry over the "return of Sendero", as they are calling it, is that the US has just announced a step-up of several tens of millions of dollars in its military aid to Peru. According to the New York Times, "The Defense Department's preliminary plans include regular visits to the Peruvian jungle by scores of Navy Seal and Green Beret trainers. They also call for supplying Peru with more than 100 patrol boats outfitted with M-60 machine guns, VHF radios, and satellite-linked tracking and communications gears."