NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6317

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Americas Watch: COUP IN PERU LEADS TO RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
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/** reg.samerica: 181.0 **/
** Topic: Amer. Watch on Peru: 7-25-92 **
** Written  7:50 am  Sep  4, 1992 by hrwatchdc in cdp:reg.samerica **
             COUP IN PERU LEADS TO RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

                Abusive Military Given Free Rein
             Armed Insurgents Assault Civil Society

     In a newsletter released July 25, Americas Watch reports that
the Peruvian security forces "continue to systematically violate
the most fundamental human rights" in the wake of the April 5, 1992
coup led by elected President Alberto Fujimori, despite the
president's promise that the coup would bring "genuine democracy"
to Peru. The study condemns the coup for removing all checks on the
power of the executive branch and the security forces and ending
the independence of the judiciary, raising the specter of unbridled
human rights abuses in the future.

     Entitled Peru: Civil Society and Democracy Under Fire, the
report also condemns the recent bloody campaign of car and truck
bombs by the Shining Path in Lima as well as the insurgents'
systematic efforts to eradicate Peru's civil society, "a practice
which shocks the conscience and unquestionably violates the laws of
war."

     In addition, the study reaches the following conclusions:

     * Abandoning Peru's democracy, flawed as it was, undermines
the state's legitimacy and is unlikely to help it combat Shining
Path more effectively. Systematic human rights abuses produce
widespread revulsion, making citizens' cooperation, which is
necessary to counter a clandestine force like Shining Path,
unattainable.

     * The image of government forces is further tainted by the
impunity granted those who abuse human rights. The promotion to the
highest levels of the military of abusive officers further damages
the legitimacy of government forces. The elevation of General Jos
Valdivia Due$as, the former Ayacucho commander implicated in the
massacre of dozens of peasants in Cayara in 1988, to chief of the
general staff of the armed forces, is one such case.

     * The coup has not hindered Shining Path's ability to sow
terror. The guerrillas have exploded more than a dozen car or truck
bombs in Lima since April 5. The most devastating terrorist attack,
at about 9:00 p.m. on July 16 in the Miraflores section of Lima,
left dozens of civilians dead and hundreds more injured.

     * Decrees issued by the executive since the coup raise serious
human rights concerns. Most alarming is a new anti-terrorism
decree, which violates basic due process rights, endangers freedom
of expression, and could be used to impose prison terms of at least
twenty years on human rights activists or journalists on the basis
of their writings.

     * Now more than ever, the independent-minded people and
organizations which constitute Peru's civil society and democratic
institutions are under attack by both Shining Path and the
government, producing a deepening polarization that makes solving
the crisis an ever more distant dream.

     * The State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Lima played an
important and positive role in the immediate aftermath of the coup,
issuing a rapid and forthright condemnation of the action and
suspending most aid programs. Assistant Secretary of State Bernard
Aronson, who had just arrived in Lima the night of the coup, met
with human rights groups and pressed for the release of a
journalist arbitrarily detained by the military.

     * However, the continuation of U.S. anti-narcotics programs in
Peru and the vote by the United States in favor of a $400 million
loan to Peru's financial sector from the World Bank send a mixed
signal to Lima and are unjustified under the present circumstances.

     * Moreover, reports that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
assisted in the funding and training of a special anti-drug unit
within Peru's army intelligence service (SIE) are of serious
concern, given the egregious human rights abuses attributed to the
SIE in recent months.

                               ***

     Americas Watch was established in 1981 to monitor and promote
the observance of internationally recognized human rights. Americas
Watch is one of five regional divisions of Human Rights Watch. The
Chair of Americas Watch is Peter D. Bell; Vice Chairs, Stephen L.
Kass and Marina Pinto Kaufman; Executive Director, Juan E. Mndez.

     Human Rights Watch is composed of five regional
divisions~Africa Watch, Americas Watch, Asia Watch, Helsinki Watch
and Middle East Watch~and the Fund for Free Expression. Its Chair
is Robert L. Bernstein; Vice Chair, Adrian W. DeWind; Executive
Director, Aryeh Neier; Deputy Director, Kenneth Roth; Washington
Director, Holly J. Burkhalter; California Director, Ellen Lutz;
Press Director, Susan Osnos; Counsel, Jemera Rone.

For more information:
Anne Manuel [phone]

This report can be obtained through the publications department of
Human Rights Watch located at 485 5th Avenue, 3rd floor, New York,
NY 10017.  Send check or money order to the above address. All
domestic orders are $US 3.60 and international orders are $US 4.80.
Prepayment is necessary.
** End of text from cdp:reg.samerica **