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International Emergency Committee to
BCM-IEC, 27 Old Gloucester St, London WC 1N 3XX, UK |
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International Emergency Committee to
BCM-IEC, 27 Old Gloucester St, London WC 1N 3XX, UK |
July 15, 1999Condemn Fujimori's Vicious Plans for Another Military "Trial" and More Torture
US-backed Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori has announced the capture of Oscar Ramirez Durand, better known as Comrade Feliciano. He also bragged that he intends to slam Ramirez with the same kind of outrageous treatment given to Abimael Guzman (Chairman Gonzalo of the Communist Party of Peru, the PCP), sent to prison for life by a secret military tribunal in 1992 and held in complete isolation ever since.Not only was Abimael Guzman's trial a farce; his lawyer was quickly arrested and imprisoned, and when new lawyers came forward to pursue appeals, they too were thrown into prison with only the vaguest charges of "subversion" against them. Since then Guzman has been held in a tiny, underground cell in a high-security military base. He has not been permitted any contact with the outside world for almost seven years now.
Fujimori is the most notorious ruler in Latin America, his name a world-renowned synonym for brutality. He represents a regime that refuses to give even lip service to the most minimum standards of international law. Just a week before the capture of Ramirez, Fujimori responded to criticism of the Peruvian legal system by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights by declaring that Peru would no longer abide by its decisions. Objections had been issued to trials in Peru's military courts, where the same officers act as prosecutors, judges and jury, and defendants have no right to examine the evidence against them. But anyone who thinks that even Peru's civilian courts might bring about justice should consider what happened when judges on the country's highest court dared to contradict Fujimori recently -- he just fired them and appointed new ones. The US has given full support for Fujimori throughout his criminal reign, including military aid for his regime of torture.
Oscar Ramirez assumed responsibility for leading the PCP during the difficult "bend in the road" that followed the arrest of Party Chairman Gonzalo. The PCP (called "Shining Path" by the press) has been leading an armed revolt of Peru's poor since 1980. This People's War still rages, despite the fierce repression that has filled the prisons with thousands of revolutionaries who are routinely tortured, and despite attempts to concoct a "peace agreement" that would mean surrender. Dissent and demonstrations in the cities (even by Fujimori's electoral opponents) are banned and assaulted. In the countryside, the armed forces rampage through the villages, raping and murdering the peasants in their path. That the People's War has been able to persist despite these difficulties is proof of its continuing strong support from the revolutionary masses. It represents the only hope for millions of Peruvians excluded from the IMF-imposed "stabilisation" of the country's economy, which is supposed to take place on the basis of their further misery and repression. Indeed, Fujimori's declarations that the arrest of Ramirez signals the end of "Sendero", as they call the PCP, rings as hollow now as the first time he made such statements upon Gonzalo's arrest, seven years ago, as even their own experts are forced to admit.
Under these conditions, it is ridiculous and criminal to put anyone on trial for "treason". The openly unfair and inhuman nature of Peru's courts only expresses the nature of the regime that created them.
Progressive people all over the world must join the International Emergency Committee in strongly condemning the Fujimori regime. We will continue the struggle to defend the life of Abimael Guzman and to break his isolation, and we call on all those who love justice to actively protest Fujimori's announced plans for Oscar Ramirez.
Please send statements of protest to:
Presidente Alberto Fujimori, Presidente de la Republica
Palacio de Gobierno, Plaza de Armas, Lima 1, PERU.
Fax: 51-14-33 77 70Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Attn: Executive Secretary Jorge Taiana
1889 F Street 8th Floor, Washington DC 20006, USA
Fax: 202-458-3992La Republica
Jiron Camana, 320, Lima, Peru
Fax: 51-14-311 527
Email: otxoa@larepublica.com.pe
