CSRP & IEC Protest at Peruvian Consulate
San Francisco June 16, 1999
About 30 people participated in this noisy picket line and protest getting out hundreds of leaflets (see below). Chants and agitation focused on the direct role of the US in the crimes of the Fujimori regime against the people of Peru. A common response from passersbys was, "Thanks for being out here, I had no idea that this was going on." A few people joined the protest as they were just walking by, while still others signed up on the CSRP mailing list. Solidarity statements were read from supporters of African liberation "on behalf of the African revolution", Puerto Rican independence, and others. The protest was covered by local Spanish language television, and CSRP Spokesperson Heriberto Ocasio was interviewed on KPFA radio Berkeley later that day.
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People in Peru are facing horrendous crimes being committed by the government against political prisoners. These atrocities against the people cannot be allowed to go on. Our voices of protest must be heard, especially here in the U.S.- the main backer of the fascist Fujimori regime.
Political prisoners at the Women's Maximum Security Prison in Chorrillos, and their families, wrote an open letter to the international community about their conditions. Minimal nutrition is provided once a day consisting of oatmeal, bread, rice, a potato, and sugar water (sometimes laced with sedatives). Three people are crammed into cold and humid 8x8 foot cement cells, including the space for toilet and drainage. They receive food through an opening at the floor level, a short distance from the hole that serves as toilet. They are kept locked-down in these cells 23 hours a day, with almost no light. "The treatment given our relatives is comparable to that given to animals at a zoo." There is a long list of debilitating medical conditions that prisoners suffer because of this treatment.
These life-threatening conditions exist at all the prisons that house political prisoners in Peru. The inhuman treatment is an attempt to break the spirit of the more than 4,000 people who have been imprisoned under the Fujimori regime's draconian justice system-instituted as part of the US-led counter-insurgency against the revolutionary war led by the Communist Party of Peru. Anyone even suspected of sympathizing with the revolutionary struggle has been railroaded into prison by secret military and civilian tribunals.
Included in the savage round-ups have been at least eleven well-known defense lawyers. Their "crime" was daring to take up the legal defense of political prisoners. Ripped from their homes and offices, these attorneys, like all of the political prisoners, have been deprived of any semblance of justice. Prisoners are held incommunicado for days or weeks. They are often tortured, raped, and then brought before courts where they're not allowed to challenge witnesses or other supposed evidence.
One of the first political prisoners railroaded through these secret military tribunals was Dr. Abimael Guzman, Chairman of the Communist Party of Peru. Since 1992, he has been held in complete isolation from the outside world, denied all visits by family or lawyers.
Recently, as a result of international pressure, two defense lawyers who had been detained in Peru's dungeons for 16 months were released. A Superior Court in Lima finally ruled that there was "no merit" to accusations of terrorism against attorneys Teodoro Bendezu and Fredy Huaraz.
International pressure has made a difference, but the battle for justice is far from over. Just a few weeks earlier, the press reported that yet another defense lawyer has been unjustly arrested, and at least nine other defense attorneys still remain in prison.
The Fujimori regime continues to receive widespread criticism for the total lack of justice in Peru. The arrests of defense lawyers is an atrocity that has inspired protests. The Lima Bar Association and a number of international lawyer groups, like the National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights, have called for the release of the imprisoned lawyers. Recently 814 members of the Athens Bar Association (Greece) signed a petition on behalf of the imprisoned lawyers.
We call on you to raise your voice as part of the worldwide protests, and make our collective outrage felt. Fujimori and his U.S. backers must not be allowed to commit these crimes against the people-they must be exposed and opposed at every turn.
