List of Demands of the Political Prisoners
The political prisoners and prisoners of war at the prison at Yanamayo who are accused of belonging to the Communist Party of Peru direct our voices to your tribunal to denounce prison conditions that violate the most elemental norms of International and National Law that make this establishment a fascist concentration camp where a plan of isolation, annihilation and genocide against the political prisoners and prisoners of war is being applied. We demand of you and your representatives the full re-establishment and respect of all our rights as protected by the international norms of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the political constitution of the country, the Penal Code, and the Code of Penal Procedure.
and Prisoners of War at Yanamayo Prison
Considering
I. That this locked-down regimen is an attack against the physical and mental integrity of the prisoners which brings with it physical injuries of various degrees, even more so in this prison with cells of less than 4 meters, with temperatures that range from 5 degrees centigrade below zero to 10 degrees centigrade, with windows so blocked that they don't allow light in, with heating only from the sun of semi-dark cells that don't have any electricity, access to the courtyard for only two hours a day, cutting off the right of visits with direct and intimate contact, impeding procreation, prohibition of having any means of information, restriction to the right to work, deficiencies in quantity and quality of food and terrible medical attention, along with the fact that the warden of the Prison, Colonel PNP (National Police) Oscar Altamirano Flores daily carries out provocation and harassment of the prisoners to the point of repression and vicious cruelty like the actions that took place on February 26, 1999 and were not punished even though we have filed a denunciation before the 3rd district court district attorney in Puno whose name is Doctor Carmen Qusihuellpa, and before the attorney general of the nation; he also threatens to transfer prisoners to Challapalca prison and the Naval Base (as he did in the presence of Dr. Magan from the Defender of the People's office on April 16, 1999.)On top of all of this, the Colonel Director harasses and threatens the family members of prisoners telling them: "Tell your family members that they better behave well because if they don't we're going to take them to Challapalca, or we're going to cut off the visits, etc.
In these ways in this prison the norms of both international law and national law are fragrantly violated.
1. Convention for the Prevention and Sanction of the crime of genocide (from the General Assembly of the United Nations of the 9- III -43 and it took effect beginning 1-12-51, Article II.This systematic violation of the laws shows clearly that EXTRA-TERRITORIALIATY reigns in this prison and a plan of Isolation, Annihilation and Genocide is being carried out against the political prisoners and prisoners of war of this prison, which is in fact a FASCIST CONCENTRATION CAMP.2. Minimal rules for the Treatment for Prisoners, adopted by the First Congress of the UN in 1955.
3. Political Constitution of Peru, Articles 1 and 2.
4. Penal Code, Article 129 which defines crimes of genocide.
5. Code of Penal Procedure, Article III, V and VIII, Article 1. 65.74.
II. That the INPE, under the direction of the government, is carrying out the moving of prisoners to different prisons around the country, which is done arbitrarily and unannounced and as a form of cruel punishment, like the moving of prisoners from the Castro Castro prison to Yanamayo on October 17, 1997 and July 2, 1999, violating in this way the rules which stipulate that a prisoner has the right to be put in the prison closest to where his family resides.
III. The procedure of visiting by means of listening booths is degrading to the prisoners and even more so it is deeply disturbing to the families who are subjected to cruel treatment and singling out against the parents, brothers, wives, sons and daughters, etc., who have nothing to do with the sentence. In addition to this, after various days of travel, sacrifice and expenses, the family members are submitted to humiliating and threatening searches and only one hour of visit time in the listening booth, either Saturday or Sunday, and this when the visits are every 5 or 12 months, not taking into account that the conditions make weekly visits impossible which should be compensated with visits of 8 hours of direct contact without restrictions, with the allowance of the admittance of friends and other family members.In International Law, the General Assembly of the United Nations, in the Convention for the prevention and sanction of the crime of genocide (in effect since 1/12/51), says in it's Article II: "In the present convention Genocide is understood to mean any of the following acts, perpetrated with the intention of destroying totally or partially a national group, an ethnic group, or a particular race or religious group, such as methods intended to impede births of people of such groups."
That's how this locked-down regimen and fascist concentration camp is, it denies intimate contact between spouses and stops the births of this group of people.
IV. The locked-down regimen of locking people up for 22 hours in frozen, half-dark cells with bad food, terrible medical attention, has generated and generates physical and mental destruction at different levels as is shown in the medical records of the dispensary.1. Damage to the cardiovascular system: vegetative dystonias, dysequilibrium of arterial blood pressure, easy fatiguability with minimal effort, etc.In article II of the convention for the prevention and sanction of the crime of genocide passed by the UN and in effect since 1-12-51, in its part c) it says "intentional submission of a group to conditions of existence that lead to its total or partial physical destruction," and in part b) says "serious injury to the physical or mental integrity of the members of the group.2. Damage in the musculo-skeletal system: chronic loss of calcium in the bones (due to the being locked up continually in the dark and cold), tendency to have fractures, muscular tears, esguinces, subluxations, hypotonic muscular lumbalgia, flaccidity.
3. Damage to the respiratory system: colds, bronchitis, pharyngo-tonsillitis, pneumonia, asthma.
4. Damage to the digestive system: alimentary dyspepsias, ulcers and gastritis, meteorismo, constipation, hemorrhoids, biliary stones, etc.
5. Damages in the renal system: kidney stones, urinary infections.
6. Damage in the nervous system: neurosis of different types, psychosis, etc.
In this way the other two conditions that international law and the Peruvian penal code in its Article 129 define the crime of genocide as being, are fully applicable to this fascist concentration camp where there is extra-territoriality.
V. The prohibition of access to information, such as culture, books, newspapers, radio, and television, transgresses the most basic rights established by Article 2 of the Constitution, which grants the right to information.This also transgresses Article 1, section 1, of the Penal Code DL 654 that states: "The inmate enjoys the same rights as those of free citizens." Article 74 states: "The inmate has the right to access books, newspapers and magazines. In addition he can be informed via radio, television or other analogous recordings.
The Pastoral Vicar group of Puno has donated 9 televisions, video equipment and such in 1997. The donation was conditional upon the authorization of the INPE and to this date the televisions have not been installed in the prisons. The prison director has prohibited the showing of any videos, which previously had been allowed to be viewed.
VI. The access to work in shops is very restricted. Only three hours a week are permitted. As a consequence we are forced to work in overcrowded cells where light is scarce and where the dust, lint, and metal fibers contaminate the air and provoke allergies, etc. In addition, the warden restricts the distribution of materials and work tools such as sandpaper, etc. There is an abundance of product theft and destruction with the complicity of "officials" who are never identified.These prohibitions transgress Article 2 of the Constitution, Section 15 and Articles 22 and 23 that guarantee the right to work and the obligation of the state to promote it. The Code of Penal Procedure DLN 654 ratifies these rights as "the inmate's right to work" and in the PCR Resolution No.119-93-IMPE, Directive No.002-93-IMPE-OR promises compliance by April 1993.
VII. The nourishment is deficient in both quantity and quality. The daily calories do not reach 1000, and the protein intake is 30 grams per day. The soups come in even smaller quantities, are very watered down, have rotten potatoes, and with meat morsels either lacking or under the INPE guidelines.This has resulted from the propagation of food thefts that even the sub-director has recognized in the delegate reunions. That is why they prohibit the delegates from taking inventory and preparing the food. In addition the pots used to distribute the food are completely unsanitary. All of this is aggravated by the fact that the emergency food budget is scarce (2.50 Soles), which is insufficient. Even though Challapalca prison, which is in the same region, has a budget of 4.00 New Soles.
The warden has also been restricting the entrance of thermos, plastic containers, canned fruits, vegetables with hard skins, and dried fruits, forcing the inmates' relatives to return with their food products, resulting in their spoilage. This is an affront made against prisoners' relatives. Also the INPE has not been complying with supplying boiled water in the mornings in spite of its need for the prevention of colds and other respiratory infections.
VIII. Medical attention is lacking. There are no specialists, no medication, no laboratory services, no x-rays, no surgery, etc. There are no preventive programs for adult healthcare, TB control, nutritional support, or women's health. Dental care is sporadic and lacks the necessary materials needed for treatment or for prosthesis.
Our Demands
1. That the locked-down regimen be declared ILLEGAL, and principally that the Naval Base, Yanamayo and Challapalca concentration camps be CLOSED, because they threaten the physical and moral integrity of the prisoners. The locked-down regimen should be declared unconstitutional and illegal by Law Decrees No.25475, No.25659, etc. To include resolution No.114-92-JUS that was written during the so-called "Emergency Government and National Reconstruction" of April 5, 1992, that closed the Congress of the Republic, the Court for Constitutional Rights, and intervened in the judicial power; therefore as of July 25, 1995 these exceptional rules, of which the locked-down regimen is part, are no longer in effect.The locked-down regimen and the norms that sustain it are unconstitutional and contrary to the Code of Penal Procedure and international human rights. They in fact constitute the crime of GENOCIDE. Article II of the Convention to Prevent and Prohibit Crimes of Genocide, sanctioned by the General Assembly of the United Nations states:
Any of the following conditions will be interpreted as genocide if perpetuated with the intent to totally or partially destroy a national group, such as ethnic, racial, or religious groups. As such a) any killing of members of these groups, b) grave lesions against the physical or mental integrity of any members of these groups, c) submitting the group to living conditions that bring about its partial or total physical destruction, d) any measure taken to prevent birth in these groups, e) forced relocation of children of one group to another.Article 129 of the Penal Code typifies the sanction against the crime of genocide. It states it in the same terms as the preceding paragraph.That is why we demand a normal regimen and the closing of the fascist concentration camps of the Naval Base, Yanamayo and Challapalca. They violate recognized human rights and incur crimes of genocide against the political prisoners and prisoners of war.
Our country's political constitution in its Article 1 states that the supreme goal of the State is the protection of the human individual, the respect for his or her dignity, but in the prisons and these fascist concentration camps this legal principle is itself trampled upon.
Article 2 establishes the rights of a person:
Section 1: Right to moral, psychological and physical integrity, against which the current locked-down regimen clashes.The Code of Criminal Procedure, DL No. 654, ratifies all of our rights in its preliminary title:Section 2: Right to equality before the law. In fact, we are discriminated in DS-005-Jus-97.
Section 24: Paragraph that stipulates the right not to be kept in solitary confinement. In such manner the Naval Station keeps Prisoners of War in total isolation. Here, the violation of human rights the government is called upon to respect is evident and flagrant. The government has even staged a gigantic campaign of lies-a sinister attempt to discredit and negatively effect the prisoners of war at the Naval Station.
Article III - the penal procedure and the special means of freedom are exempt from any and all ill treatment and action or procedure that attempts against the prisoner's dignity.Article V - The penitentiary system respects the rights that are not affected by the judgment, forbids any and all discrimination.
Article VIII - The Code's retroactivity and interpretation is construed in the most favorable terms for the prisoner.
Article VII - The imprisoned individual will have the same rights of free citizen.
2. We demand that we be transferred to our place of origin; to the prison of Castro Castro because we have been transferred here arbitrarily and besides our sentences have not been issued for this place but for Lima.We denounce and hold responsible, on account of threats of being transferred to CHALLAPALCA, NAVAL STATION CONCENTRATION CAMP, and everything that stems from the aforesaid is nothing else but further implementation of GENOCIDE.
3a. We demand direct visits, without any restriction whatsoever, with relatives and friends, under the protection of Article 2, Section 24, Paragraph h of Peru's Political Constitution, in the Code of Criminal Procedure DL No. 654, Article 37 which reads: communications are performed safekeeping the intimacy and privacy of the prisoner and his/her interlocutors, Article 53; right to intimate visits and reproduction. The prohibition of intimate and direct visits is a plan to preclude reproduction inside the group, and typified as Genocide by the United Nations and the Criminal Code (Article 129).3b. We demand that, pursuant to national international law, visiting days be expanded to Saturdays and Sundays, with 8 hours of visitation as the family cannot travel weekly as embodied in the spirit of the law, including DS 005-Jus-97 where the visit must be weekly and for two hours.
3c. We demand the cessation of the harassment and intimidation of our relatives by PNP soldiers who by orders of Col. Oscar Altamirano Flores perform humiliating reviews and blackmail our relatives.
4. We demand the right to be in the yard all day long because the 22-hour confinement violates the right to health and to life, violates Article 2 of the Constitution that establishes the right to moral, psychological and physical integrity, and incurs the crime of Genocide established in Article II of the Convention for the prevention and sanction of the crime of Genocide established by the United Nations as well as the Penal Code, Article 129.
5. We demand complete respect for the information and the culture, access to media such as newspaper, magazines, radio, TV; the installation of TV sets in the halls as agreed with the pastoral team of the Vicar of Puno, who donated the equipment. We base our request on the Political Constitutional of Peru, Article 2, the Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 1 and Article 74.
6. We demand the outfitting and operation of the shops, unrestricted flow of tools and production materials, respect for the right to work and the CESSATION OF THEFTS DURING SEARCHES. This we base on Article 2 of the Constitution, Section 15, Article 22, 23, the Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 65.
7a. We demand food assistance of s/4.00 and an improvement in the daily ration quality and quantity that, according to the geography must be 3,500 calories and 80gm of proteins, and distributed in three servings per day.7b. We demand a stop to the robbing of food by staff of the INPE and the PNP, and the serving of food under hygienic conditions according to health standards.
7c. The unrestricted delivery of foodstuff, fruits, roots, canned goods, thermos, and meat.
7d. We demand authorization to utilize kitchenware and accessories for the preparation of food, diets and supplements in order to resolve the deficiencies in alimentary shortages experienced at INPE.
7e. We demand that the prisoners' representatives implement control and supervision of the preparation of food and thus prevent the stealing of food, which has reached outrageous levels.
Yanamayo, Peru
November 4, 1999Signed by:
MIGUEL ATAHUALPA INGA - Pavilion 4, Delegate
MANUEL CORNELIO CHINCHAY - Sub-delegate
WILLMAN CASTRO ROSAS - Food Delegate
ISAEL VASQUEZ NUŅEZ - Food Delegate
LOCIO POMA PEREZ - Education and Culture Delegate
MIGUEL CANO CHOQUEHUANCA - Sports Delegate