International Emergency Committee to
Defend the Life of Dr. Abimael Guzmán

IEC-US, 2912 Diamond St #302
San Francisco CA 94131
252-5786 / fax: 415-252-7414

The following statement from prisoners who rose up in rebellion at Yanamayo Prison in Peru was received by the IEC-US. The prisoners' statement is dated February 7, 2000, which was the first day of the prisoner uprising.

Pronouncement:

DEFEND THE LIVES OF THE POLITICAL PRISONERS AND PRISONERS OF WAR AT THE NAVAL BASE OF EL CALLAO AND YANAMAYO!

"We are here as the sons and daughters of the people and we are fighting in these trenches, this is also combat, and we do this because we are communist! Because here we defend the people's interest, the principles of the Party, and the People's War! That is what we have been doing, what we are doing, what we will continue to do!"

Chairman Gonzalo (Speech by Chairman Gonzalo)

The Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War of the Communist Party of Peru extend our revolutionary greetings to the National Proletariat and the Peruvian people, and we further extend our greetings to the International Proletariat and the Peoples of the world.

We denounce before national and international public opinion the plans of genocide of past and present (October 4, 1985 at Lurigancho Prison; June 19, 1986 in the prisons of Fronton, Lurigancho, and Callao; May 6,7,8 and 9, 1992 at Canto Grande Prison; February 7, 2000 at Yanamayo Prison; etc), a war with no prisoners that is being carried out by the Peruvian state and its fascist, genocidal, national sellout government and the chumbeque Fujimori who heads it up; genocidal plans executed by the genocidal Armed Forces (AAFF) and police forces (PPFF), all under the advisement and approval of imperialism, principally yankee, pushing forward its war of low intensity, with the International Red Cross as one of its accomplices.

On February 6, at 11:30 at night in Pavilion 4 of Yanamayo Prison, the genocidal PPFF with the special forces of DINOES entered to execute their vile genocide, assassinating a prisoner of war and leaving dozens injured by gunshots, ending this massacre and incursion at 5:00 AM on the morning of February 7. They had dreams of rendering a devastating blow, a decisive one that would lead to crushing the struggles of the prisoners of war, but the fierce resistance of the prisoners of war has unmasked the fascist concentration camps of the Naval Base, Yanamayo, and Challapalca and their plans for further isolation, annihilation and genocide [of prisoners who resist] in defense of the rights of the people, of the revolution, and of our own lives and principally to Defend the Life of Chairman Gonzalo, who finds himself most isolated since 1992, in which the fascist dictatorship, mainly yankee, has been raising counter-revolutionary hoaxes against Chairman Gonzalo.

This vile genocide, ordered under mandate of the government, perpetrated by the PPFF led by Colonel Oscar Altamirano Flores -- we say under government mandate because since September 1999 this prison has been under the direct control of a commission of the Ministry of the Interior sent from Lima -- they have acted with blind hatred against the best sons of the people and have collided head-on with the indomitable resistance of the comrades, combatants, and masses, who have raised ideology, valor, and heroism to the highest, reaffirming revolutionary violence, leaving a legacy and great example to the Peruvian people and the peoples of the world.

We unmasked this vile and counter-revolutionary black vomit that is put forward by this genocidal Fujimori, when he says that: "the inmate Carlos Ponce was killed by his fellow inmates, because he obeyed the orders of the prosecutor...", with this farce they try to cover up the genocidal policies of the fascist dictatorship. The prisoner of war Carlos Ponce, who today is a hero of the people, an example of giving your life for the Party and the revolution, was assassinated by the genocidal PPFF with a gunshot to the face from a distance of three feet. Despite this, the fascist dictatorship says that: "in the prisons, the human rights of the prisoners are respected...", "...pacification...", but the facts demonstrate that with their vile genocide they continue to spill the blood of our people, that the AAFF and the Fujimori government have been the most genocidal and national sellout to date. This tattered and filthy flag of human rights has and will never have anything new to offer. The human rights that they raise are the rights of imperialism, of the bourgeoisie, of reactionaries worldwide. It has been made clear by the Armed Forces and police forces, and the Fujimori government has demonstrated that it does not respect even the most basic of the so-called human rights. Therefore, we will not let them throw sand in our eyes, we will not allow them to numb our consciousness with the rotten and tattered flags of human rights, pacification, etc. We also unmasked this so-called "people's defender" who does not recognize or carry out what the bourgeois constitution asks him to do, and more so since he was warned (in July 1999) that the fascist dictatorship was preparing a genocide against the prisoners of war, and to which this defender of the people gave no response. We can therefore say that this "defender" is a facilitator for these sinister plans, he is a knife in the backs of the people and an agent of the fascist dictatorship.

In its unrestrained and shameful fascism, the fascist dictatorship prohibits, here in this concentration camp, the entry of the newspapers La República and Liberación "because they are subversive", in this way restricting and denying us the right to education and culture.

We also unmasked every manner of opportunist and revisionist, principally the black heads of the revisionist and capitulationist Right Opportunist Line that calls for a peace accord, who like a broken record call for amnesty and isolation, but beyond this, are trafficking with the prestige and recognized leadership of Chairman Gonzalo and the Communist Party of Peru, saying that he is calling for a peace accord. Besides these gentlemen have never done anything to bring about what they say they defend: "the public presentation of Chairman Gonzalo," nor to defend the rights of the prisoners of war, but today with the repercussion of the struggles of the prisoners of war of the Communist Party of Peru they try to shamefully traffic in and stand on top of the blood that has been spilt to make some gains on their road to amnesty and isolation. We say to them that the all-powerful Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, Gonzalo Thought People's War will sweep away and convert imperialism, and reactionaries, and all manner of revisionists into a few black ashes.

Finally, the prisoners of war at the cost of their own lives, have won a great political, military, and moral victory for the Party and the Revolution, to resonate in the country and the world; persisting in fighting, mobilizing, and producing we will transform these sordid dungeons of reaction into Shining Trenches of Combat. We reaffirm our conviction to continue winning victories even beyond death, always guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought, led by the PCP and offering our lives for the Party and the Revolution.

DEFEND THE LIFE OF CHAIRMAN GONZALO!

LONG LIVE THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF PERU!

THE PEOPLE'S WAR WILL INEVITABLY WIN!

DOWN WITH THE FASCIST CONCENTRATION CAMPS!

FIGHT AND RESIST TO BE RECOGNIZED AS PRISONERS OF WAR!

GLORY TO THE FALLEN HEROES, LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!

Peru, February 7, 2000


Uprising of Revolutionary Prisoners at Yanamayo, Peru (Feb 12, 2000)

Statement and demands of the Yanamayo prisoners (Signed Nov 4, 1999)