[NYTr] Fujmori's Trial: An Opportunity for Peru
 
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:36:44 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
CIP Americas Program - Oct 17, 2007
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4646

Fujmori's Trial: An Opportunity for Peru

by RaC:l Zibechi
Translated by Tony Phillips

The Chilean Supreme Court's extradition to Peru of ex-president and
dictator Alberto Fujimori could contribute to the consolidation of
Peru's fragile democracy and may even reduce the culture of fear.

"In this neighborhood almost everyone supports Fujimori," says Nelly,
seated on a bench at the outdoor restaurant "Virgen del Carmen" in the
El Oasis slum of Villa El Salvador on the outskirts of Lima.

El Oasis is a monument to povertybdirt roads, shacks constructed from
tarps, cardboard sheets, and bits of plastic, lacking running water or
sanitation. The areas recently taken over by squatters still fly a
small Peruvian flag on each new shack to try to dissuade possible
eviction. The community's little cafeteria is made from plywood; it is
the only structure in town built on concrete foundations.

At about noon kids are hanging around, waiting for lunchtime and a meal
prepared on a rotating schedule by 25 co-op members. For just half a
dollar, the children receive what, for most, is their only hot meal of
the day.

Without being asked, Nelly feels the need to explain herself: "They
told us that if we didn't go to the pro-Fujimori demonstrations the
community cafeteria wouldn't receive any more food. They'd pass around
attendance lists and the intelligence service checked to make sure that
the co-op members applauded and shouted "Viva" for El Chino.1 If we
didn't show enthusiastic support, the next month we'd receive a smaller
delivery of rations." 

For the mothers who live in El Oasis showing their support for Fujimori
wasn't a political choice but rather a question of survival. So, to
speak of "clientele politics" really adds little to the understanding
of the unequal power relationship under which Peru's poor operate.
Their public behavior might threaten even something as basic as their
survival rations. The Fujimori regime just like that of Argentine
ex-president Carlos Menem, took care of them, facilitating access to
their basic necessities but with a strong dose of authoritarianism.

A Special Kind of Dictator

The nervous 69-year-old Fujimori, suffering from hypertension, arrived
in Lima on Sept. 22, looking like a caricature of the once-great leader
who sneered at adversaries. Fujimori was not elected on merit; rather
his election was a protest vote against Mario Vargas Llosa who
ostentatiously represented the light-skinned, Lima-based Peruvian
elites. The Andean ethnic and mestizo majorities of Peru soundly
rejected the openly colonial pretension of Vargas Llosa, leading to
Fujimori's triumph.

Shortly after he took power, it became more than evident that a
cold-blooded, implacable, and calculating tyrant was ruling the
country. He quickly established an ironclad alliance with the business
sector and the military. He offered his friends bloody pacts and money
in exchange for impunity and a rash of corruption.

In April 1992 he launched an internal coup. Fujimori shut down Congress
and manipulated the judiciary by firing members who opposed him. By
these means he concentrated power in his own hands and from then on
governed with the support of the Peruvian military. He deepened all the
problems he inherited coming into officebthe dirty war, corruption,
militarization of the country (especially in rural areas), and
privatization of the economy, opening the doors to multinationals in
the mining, oil, and public services sectors. As dictators are wont to
do, Fujimori launched expansive public projects that lavished contracts
on his friends. These supposedly essential projects left the country
wracked by bankruptcy and in its wake followed hyperinflation.

In his favor, one can say that Fujimori did bring an end to the war and
cause a spurt of growth in the economy. The end to the war was attained
at a great cost in human rights and the disappearance and torture of
thousands of people. Many innocents were arrested and sentenced by
anonymous judges in a continuous parody of justice. Fujimori took the
helm of a nation wracked by war; an unusual war in that one side, the
Peruvian Communist Party-Shining Path, was responsible for more than
half of the 69,280 victims verified by the Commission for Truth and
Reconciliation (CVR). This was a war waged against the poor rural
Quechua-speaking populationb79% of the victims were from rural regions
and 75% spoke indigenous languages (including Quechua). But by the time
Fujimori endowed himself with absolute powers, the rural farmers were
already opposing the Shining Path, organized in "rounds," and they were
winning, as noted by the Editor of La Republica, Mirko Lauer.2

The sentence of the Chilean Supreme Court brings to light the true face
of the Fujimori cult. The 212-page judgment based on the declarations
of the ex-commander of the Army, Nicholas Hermoza Rios, and of members
of the "Colina" death squad denies Fujimori's alleged "ignorance" of
the massacres and the infringements of human rights. "There are clear
indications that Fujimori, after the coup, had firm control of all of
the concentrated state powers and the supreme command of the military
and intelligence forces, and furthermore that he created a special
group within the armed forces tasked with operations against
individuals suspected of subversion and political enemies of his
regime."3

The judgment asserts that Fujimori knew of the existence of the
"Colina" group and that he authorized promotions, decorations, and
other incentives for its members. Also, many people testified to his
giving orders to Montesinos, who in turn Fujimori assigned as head of
this group.

He transformed the basement of the offices of the Military Intelligence
Service (SIE) into "its operational center," when alongside Vladimir
Montesinos, Chief of the Intelligence Services (SIN), he "planned and
directed" death squad extermination operations.

"These activities," the judgment adds "were the result of actions
planned by an organization or a 'power apparatus' formed by the
Military Intelligence Service and led by Fujimori, which fulfill all of
the requirements to be considered a hierarchically organized criminal
organization."4

The Chilean Supreme Court granted the petition for extradition for the
crimes of attempted murder and harm for the mass murders at "Barrios
Altos" and "La Cantuta," as well as for buying favors from congressmen
using funds provided by the Military Intelligence Services (SIN),
handing over $15 million in public funds to Montesinos to buy off the
media, and other crimes such as intercepting private telephone calls.
As noted by the ex-president of the truth commission, Solomon Lerner,
the decision of the Chilean justice system represents "a move closer to
international penal justice."

The court considered that the worst damage done by Fujimori was the
institutionalization of corruption within Peru: "By disemboweling State
power, buying the conscience of the media, of politicians, of
businesspeople, of the military; poisoning the conscience of the common
man and, by means of the yellow press, diluting personal mores and
human dignity; leading to the moral impoverishment of the state.
Fujimori is guilty of much more than that for which he is accused."5

A New Period

Fujimori's legacy came to an end as a result of the mass mobilization
of the Peruvian people. Today, President Alan Garcia governs with the
support of what is left of Fujimori's political support in the Peruvian
parliament, a conservative force of 13 deputies lead by Keiko, the
dictator's daughter. Many analysts, and a large part of the public,
fear a possible Garcia-Fujimori coalition that could result in a
farcical court case and the imposition of minimal punishment.

Fujimori-ism does not currently represent a threat to Peruvian
democracy. Polls show little support for the extradited dictator.
Garcia, who some view as inclined to make a deal with the ex-president,
came down hard on Keiko's accusations that her father was being held in
"terrible" conditions. Garcia declared that the prisoner was being kept
in a 100 square foot room with access to a living room and to a private
bathroom, as well as having access to an outdoor space of 350 square
feet. "We haven't put him in a prisoner's striped uniform, as has
happened in the past," said Garcia alluding to September 1992 when
Fujimori presented Abimael Guzman (the captured leader of Shining Path)
in a cage, dressed in traditional prisoner garb. "There will be no
cruelty, hatred, or revenge. His personal dignity shall be respected,"
assured the President.

However, a large sector of Peruvian society who hate the ex-president
has doubts based on two factors. First that Fujimori is in possession
of a large number of videotapes made by Montesinos, his aide at the
time, which could implicate members of congress, other politicians,
media magnates, and a host of other personalities. He is capable of
using these to blackmail those who judge him.

Then there is the military factor. Until now no one, not even a single
participant in the dirty war, has been brought to trial. Through a
combination of implicit agreements and pressures, the military has
avoided taking any responsibility, an unprecedented event in the
region. Just how much pressure an army that was never subjected to
scrutiny by a democratic government can apply remains to be seen.
Fujimori ran a civil-military regime, and it doesn't make sense that
the military be exempted from all responsibilities when it all comes
down. It is quite likely that Fujimori himself will implicate the
military.

Finally, more important than any trial, which could last for months,
possibly even more than a year, is the future of Peruvian society and
its nascent democracy, the movements and social groups that brought the
dictatorship to an end. Anyone who knew Peru back in the 80s and who
now walks down its streets today will notice important changes. The
country is different, but not truly changed, for that would require
social and cultural change (absent in the case of Peru). Proof of this
lack of change can be seen in the slums that encircle Lima where five
of the nine million inhabitants of the city live. The slums are another
country, living in apartheid, where the poor are darker skinned, and
come from the Andean highlands, where they speak, dress, and dance in
other languages.

These two countries were never reconciled, nor are they coming
together, except in a relationship of subordination. To understand the
roots of Fujimori-ism one has to enter into the causes of this
authoritarianism, whether that be the Shining Path or the
Fujimori-Montesinos duo, who represent two sides of the same coin.
Deconstructing this authoritarianism would imply removing the
requirement for these mothers from El Oasis to cheer "Viva!" in return
for receiving bags of rice.

Seven years after the fall of the dictatorship, Nelly and her friends
at the canteen have not been able to provide a future for their
children, many of whom take part in delinquent activities in the slums.
When they go to the police, the police tell them to take matters into
their own hands because the authorities are unable to help them. "Since
the earthquake in Pisco, the authorities only bring half the previous
food supplies," she says without desperation, but with a sense of
resentment. 

SIDEBAR:

The Eye that Cries

The day after the extradition of Fujimori, a dozen supposed supporters
of the ex-dictator attacked a monument called "The eye that cries"
constructed in memory of the civil war that wracked the country since
1980 when the Shining Path took up arms. The mob threatened the only
guard protecting the monument with guns. They chained the guard,
forcing him to his knees, while they set about breaking the stone
monument on which the names of the disappeared are inscribed, throwing
red paint over the center of the sculpture.

The monument is the work of sculptor Lika Mutal. It is located in a
park called the "Campo de Marte" near the center of Lima. It was part
of the first phase of a tree-lined avenue dedicated to the memory of
that era. It represents the first symbolic rapprochement of the victims
of political violence. Physically it consists of a circular labyrinth
with a four-ton center-stone symbolizing the center of each person; on
top of this is another stone which symbolizes the eye from which a
stream of water falls. Surrounding this are 27,000 stones each with a
name of a victim recognized by the Commission of Truth and
Reconciliation. 

CHRONOLOGY

1989bAlberto Fujimori defeats Mario Vargas Llosa in the second round
with 56% of the vote.

1992bApril 5, launches a coup d'C)tat and dissolves parliament.
Convoking elections for a Constituent Congress, his party wins an
overall majority. In August, Abimael Guzman, leader of the Shining
Path, is arrested.

1995bFujimori is elected by an overwhelming majority. Police force and
military condemned for violations of human rights in the guerilla war
are given amnesty. Anonymous judges condemn more than 2,000 people
between 1992 and 1995.

1997bDissolves the constitutional assembly that affirms that the
Constitution stands in the way of his re-election.

2000bFujimori presents a million falsified signatures, which underwrite
his re-election. He wins 48.7% of the vote, his rival Alejandro Toledo
41%. On the night of the elections thousands of Peruvians protest in
the streets claiming voter fraud. Fujimori is proclaimed winner in the
second round though Toledo does not concur with the result in spite of
scrutinizing 54% of nullified votes. The United States and the
Organization of American States distance themselves from Fujimori.
Videos showing his confidant and chief of intelligence, Vladimir
Montesinos, bribing member of Congress are shown. In the middle of huge
demonstrations against the regime claiming corruption, Fujimori decides
to attend an Asian-Pacific forum on economic cooperation held in
Brunei; from there he travels to Tokyo and send his resignation via
Fax. Valentin Paniagua is nominated as president during the transition.

2001bThe Commission for Human Rights of Peru asks the Japanese
Parliament for Fujimori's extradition.

2003bJapan refuses the extradition request. In the meantime the
Peruvian congress accuses Fujimori of the massacre of 15 people in
"Barrios Alto," December 1991 and of the deaths of nine students in the
University of Cantuta, July 1992.

2004bThe Peruvian government ask for extradition a second time to face
charges for irregular payments in the amount of 15 million dollars to
the chief of Intelligence Forces, Montesinos.

2005bOn Nov. 7 Fujimori makes a surprise visit to Santiago, Chile,
where he is detained at the request of the Peruvian Government.

2006bThe Chilean Supreme Court impedes Fujimori's exit from Chile.

2007bOn June 11 judge Orlando Alvarez issues a finding rejecting the
request for extradition. On Sept. 21 the Supreme Court revokes this
finding and approves the extradition. 

End Notes:

1. "El Chino" literally means the Chinaman. Fujimori is of Japanese
decent, however his Peruvian nickname is El Chino.

2. La Republica, September 25, 2007.

3. Angel Paez, ob. cit.

4. Ibid.

5. Interview with Samuel Lerner, ob. cit.

For More Information:

Angel PC!ez, "Fujimori directed a powerful illegal state apparatus," La
Republica, September 22, 2007.

The newspaper La RepC:blica is found at http://www.larepublica.com.pe

Interview with Samuel Lerner, La Republica, September 22, 2007.

Mirko Lauer, "The Chinese game of strategy," La Republica, September
25, 2007.

RaC:l Wiener, "Fujimori and accounts pending since 2000," in
http://www.alainet.org

[RaC:l Zibechi is a member of the Editorial Council of the weekly Brecha
in Montevideo, Uruguay, a teacher and researcher focused on social
movements at the Multiversidad Franciscana de AmC)rica Latina, and
adviser to social groups. He is a monthly collaborator of the Americas
Policy Program (www.americaspolicy.org).]

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