White terror in Puno campaign has been aimed against the PUM, TECIRA. Moreover, in this context Hilda Escobedo and Maria Laos, poor-neighborhood leaders, have been accused of being "subversives."
* The statements published by all the major papers and magazines accusing the mass movement Puno of being pro-Sendero Luminoso, because it is pressing for compliance
ALTHOUGH THE department of Puno has not been officially put under a state of siege, it has not been any the less affected by the militarization of the country. The official violence of the army is now being compounded by the activity of APRA's paramilitary commando groups. In an effort to stop the growth of the peasant mobilization, intimidation, threats of all sorts and outrages against individuals and headquarters of organizations have been stepped up in recent months.
The following is a press statement from the parliamentary group of the United Mariateguist Party (PUM), issued on September 3,
1986, from Lima. This Peruvian revolutionary organization, because of the important place it holds in the peasant movement, has been a special target of the terror campaign.
Puno suffers from systematic resulting from the poverty, violence exploitation and marginalization to which the peasantry is subjected. The cause of this is the unequal and unjust distribution of the land, which disregards the rights of the peasant communities.
This violent condition is aggravated by the frustrations created by the government's broken
At promises.
the time of the election campaign, it made the following promises:
potatoes and increasing the production of trout. Nothing came of this.
To provide interest-free credit to agriculture. The peasants in the
[native] communities benefited little from this because of their marginalization in the system of land tenure.
To change the pattern of land ownership in 120 days, starting in
February (State Decree 006-MA).
the land has still not been turned over to the peasant communi-
To grant regional autonomy to the province [department]. But nothing has been done in this regard.
It announced that it would
* provide aid for flood victims. Such help was minimal, and in many cases it was handed out in a partisan way.
This climate of violence has been exacerbated in two ways. On the one hand, Sendero Luminoso has carried out terrorist acts without regard for the mass movement, barbarously executing people without any respect for humanity. On the other, the province of Melgar has been to all intents and purposes put under military rule. The army illegally jailed peasants on June 22 and 29 in the Nunoa district. It carried out these actions without any legal authority in a zone that is not under the state of siege and where guarantees have not been suspended. APRA campaign of violence, sections of APRA have mounted a concentrated campaign against the PUM, the Church and the people's associations in Puno. This is a way of creating the psychological and social conditions for represssion against them. Among these attacks, the following can be noted:
Slanderous allegations by APRA leader A Romulo Leon against Javier Diez Canseco, Alberto Quintanilla, Romeo Paca (the mayor of Puno) and the TECIRA institution. (1)
Slanders by Alberto Valencia, an APRA deputy, against Alberto Quintanilla and two other Izquierda Unida (IU) deputies, claiming that they were Sendero Luminoso infilwith its demands (statements published in the second half of July).
Since July, we have been keeping account of acts of white terror against the mass movement in Puno. The following are some examples of such attacks, which have been directed at the Puno Department Peasants Federation; the Church; institutions such as TECIRA; people's leaders; elections are to be ber]; and left political leaders.
The following are examples of the white mass movement in Puno since July: Against Department Peasants' Federation: July 16. Dynamite bomb explodes in its headquarters. August 7. Its headquarters is destroyed by a powerful bomb. August 30. Two bombs planted its congress, one of which explodes. Against the Church: August 3. The antenna of Radio Onda Azul is destroyed by two charges, one placed at the bottom and the other at a height of 30 meters. August 4. Carlos Pacheco Giron threatens and beats up a Radio Onda Azul journalist, Raymundo Paquista. September 8. A bomb explodes in the headquarters of the Aid Committee of the Dioces of Ayaviri, which obtained the release of the 135 peasants jailed by the army in Nunoa. September 22. A bomb destroys the main door of the Azangaro parish hall. Against institutions: August 7. Three bombs destroy the headquarters of TECIRA. Against mass leaders: July 16. A bomb explodes in the home of Hawar Orihuela, falsely charged by the judicial authorities of subversive connections. August 8. Three hooded men come into the home of Hilda Escobedo, a neighborhood leader, threatening her and accusing her of being a subversive.
1. These three are all members of the PUM. TECIRA is a peasants' aid and support organization.
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International Viewpoint 10 November 1986 noir September 8. A bomb explodes in the home of professor Norma Caceres, a member of the Ayaviri Aid Committee. Against IU candidates: August 19. A bomb explodes in the home of Jose Llosa Lanza, bank workers' leader and candidate for mayor of the province of San Roman. August 22. Terrorist attack on the home of Marcelini Pachari, candidate for mayor in Azangaro. August 24. Terrorist attack against the headquarters in which a campaign party was in progress, attended by Marcelino Pachari. August 28. Terrorist attack against the home of a candidate for the city council in Azangaro. Against political leaders: July 16. Threatening letters received by Romeo Paca, mayor of Puno, accusing him of being a subversive. July 23. Letter received by Augusto Castro, Deputy mayor of Puno, demanding that he turn over 100,000 Intis to insure the lives of his daughters. July 8. Terrorist attack against the home of Deputy Alberto Quintanilla in Puno. Others: July 22. Terrorist attack against a bakery in Azangaro, whose owner has been accused of aiding Sendero Luminoso.
The gravest act of terrorism occurred during the Peasant Federation's Third Congress, at 10.50 p.m. 22 on August 30. Two powerful bombs were planted at the entrance to the Universidad del Altiplanto, where the congress was in session.
This incident could have had disconsequences and even cost lives. It was thanks to the action of the chief of the peasant self-defence guards that no After finding one of the two bombs, he carried it far from the building, while the other members of peasant self-defence guard herded the 850 delegates present into the middle of the hall, them far away from the place where the second bomb exploded. Terrorist acts
At the moment of the explosion senators Andres Lunas Vargas, Deputy Alberto Quintanilla, Ricardo Letts, president of CUNA, and Saturnino Corimayhua, general secretary of the CCP, hall. (Some 1,250 delgates had been attending the congress, but about 400 of them had left the building and were in the city of Puno before the incident.)
In view of the gravity of these facts, we demand that the top authorities in the central government and APRA clear up the following points:
* For what reason and with what purpose were Carlos Pacheco Giron and Felipe Padilla Diaz [APRA activists] in Puno in August? The first represents himself as a technical advisor in the Ministry of Transport. He is well known for his paramilitary activities, as is his brother Arturo. The second is supposed to be a government advisor in housing. These so-called advisors created a certain apprehension in the hotel where they arrived, accompanied by strangelooking people, all armed with machine guns.
What sort of work is done by "APRA's Internal i and External Security? In Puno, it is headed by Antonio Olave, who was seen on August 7 at noon near Deputy Quintanilla's home and the TECIRA headquarters, where on that night the terrorist attacks we have described occurred. * What is the meaning of the various reports about training given to this brigade on the islands cof Amantani and Anapia sin Lake Titicaca, in Ventilla and on Mount Cancharani in Puno? * What are the precise missions of the innumerable advisors and commission members now in Puno at government expense and supposedly on government business?
Do the police forces intend to carry out an investigation of the terrorist incidents we have smentioned, in order to find out who was responsible for them? 0