What can be said with confidence is that the situation is highly explosive, and that the discussions taking place in the opposition about the future of their small country in the heart of Europe will not remain confined to small circles forever. Socialists in the West will be well advised to offer support and seek out contact with the opposition in order to open the discussion on how to end the division of Europe and ensure that all its peoples have full rights in the
"common European home." *
International Viewpoint #162 • May 1, 1989
MARIA SUNDVAL
HERE was a decision at the very top to jail me in the ary 9." This was what Peruvian peasant leader Hugo Blanco said when he spoke to a welcoming party in Stockholm on Saturday [April 1]. Blanco had just arrived in Europe, which he will tour for a few months and offer his thanks for the support he got while he was in pris-
Blanco explained the grounds for his suspicions that the government ordered his arrest at a town square rally during a peasant strike [see /Vs 157 & 158].
"A few days before, the union [CCP, Peruvian Peasant Confederation] had held several similar rallies and negotiated with the authorities without running into any problems. The governor had approved the rally plans. But he suddenly changed his mind. We are convinced that this was the result of pressure from Lima." Dozens of peasant leaders jailed
The police came into the square and opened fire on the peasants. Eight were killed, 18 have been reported missing. Dozens of peasant leaders were jailed along with Hugo Blanco.
"Suspicions of the government were reinforced by the fact that the premier went personally to Pucallpa. He altered the local authorities' version of what happened. Among other things, he went completely against the local branch of the ruling APRA party, which had criticized the police."
The premier's version, which later became the official accusation, was that the peasants had attacked the police with arms. Hugo Blanco was said to have led the attack, and was charged with terrorism.
He was released only after a two-week storm of protest, both in Peru and internationally.
"Even the police are organized in Peru!"
Why should the government want to attack the peasants' union and Hugo Blanco, who is its national organizational secretary? The peasants' strike in Ucayali, whose capital is Pucallpa, was only part of a vast strike wave last year in protest against repeated price rises. The public employees went on strike. In the fall, the miners waged a long and massive strike.
At the same time, broader and broader groups were drawn into the unions and other people's organizations.
"Aside from Nicaragua and Cuba, Peru is the country in Latin America where mass organizations are the strongest. Even the police are organized.
"Earlier the police struck for higher wages and the right to kill. We opposed them! But in recent years we have seen police strike for the right to choose their own officers. And the police have struck for the right to refuse to carry out orders, if they involve violating human rights."
Blanco compared Peru and Venezuela. "In Venezuela, the recent price rises led to a mass rebellion. In Peru, the price rises have been ten times bigger, but they have not led to a revolt. Does that mean that the Peruvians are less militant? I don't know. But I have to say that I would rather live in Peru. Among us, the resistance is more organized."
This strength has been shown also in the peasant strikes continuing after the massacres in Pucallpa. In the departments of Cuzco and Puno, the strength and anger of the strikes increased. Moreover, among the Andean Indian peasants strikes do not just
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8
BLA
PERU
Friends and classmates of
Marla
Berslund/Blanco protesting outside the Peruvian embassy in
NCARNA I PERU ER A -ERI involve economic demands; they automatically become a struggle for the rights of an oppressed people.
"Don't forget that the Indians are despised. Their language, Quechua, is looked down on; the way they dress is looked down on. An Indian is someone who walks down the middle of the road with animals, while respectable folk walk on the sidewalks.
"A peasant strike is an astonishing experience"
"That is why a peasant strike is such an astonishing experience. When thousands of Indians gather in Cuzco's biggest square, in front of the gates of the biggest church, and express their feelings to the governor in the downtrodden Quechua language, that is a profound liberation for these people."
The background to the strike wave is the economic crisis and, as everywhere in Latin America, the foreign debt. "The foreign debt is the expression of imperialism in our time."
When President García's APRA government came into office in 1985, he promised not to pay more than 10% of export income on the foreign debt. The government also introduced a long series of concessions to big companies to make it easier for them to increase their investments and production.
"That's the way reformists are," Blanco said. "As clever as they are when it comes to fighting the left, they are innocents when they come up against the right. Alan García was as innocent as a child when he thought that the capitalists were going to
HUGOBLAC
PTOE invest. The companies exploited all these advantages, and then they took the money out of the country."
When García nationalized the banks, the right organized in a new front, the "Democratic Front," led by the writer Vargas Llosa, and managed to stop the nationalizations.
Finally, the government has been forced to admit that it is actually paying about 30% of export income on the foreign debt.
"The only lasting result of the economic policy at that time is a stronger right and the Democratic Front," Blanco summed up. "In the beginning, García's government managed to hold back price increases. But that didn't last.
"To understand that, you don't need to know anything about economics. You only need to know a little physics. If you dam a river, you stop the water, but that doesn't mean that you have eliminated the flood To the contrary, it gathers strength until it breaks through the barrier.
Many can only afford to
Seat once a day
"When that happens in the world of physics, a lot of people drown. In Peru, it has happened in the world of the economy, and it has also drowned a lot of people. Prices have soared. Bread has become a tragic thing for Peruvians.
"Some people who used to eat lunch — and by that I don't mean a real lunch of the sort you have here - later managed with tea and a little bread for the evening meal. Today, they can't manage an evening meal at all. You may think that I am exaggerating. But there are some people
Stockholm during the campaign for Hugo's release. (Photo: Marla Sundvall) who do not eat lunch every day but only every other or every third day.
"Hunger has made some people take up stealing. But they have only half become criminals. They still have their own morals, and often break down and burst into tears in the midst of robberies, in the midst of attacks."
### Government answers protests with repression
The events in Pucallpa were only one example of the fact that the government is answering protests with repression. Union leaders have been jailed. Recently, miners' union leader Saúl Cantoral was murdered by a death squad
In the aftermath of the strikes, the government was reshuffled, with the military and the police strengthening their positions. Blanco stressed that the need for solidarity continued, even though he was released. He referred to the broad solidarity campaign in Sweden that helped to
"I was saved because I am a bit known and speak some Swedish. But others are still in prison. Others have lost their lives in the struggle. Don't forget them!"
In the coming weeks, Hugo Blanco will repeat this appeal many times in Sweden. He is going to take part in rallies in Göteborg, Eskilstuna, and Stockholm, among other places.
He will meet with members of parliament and representatives of big organizations, such as the Swedish National Confederation of Labor (LO) and Amnesty International. But he will also meet with the school students in Nacka who demon 9 strated for his release. * May 1, 1989 • #162 International Viewpoint
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FRIGE ISLAPPI MUCO
BOLIVIA • CUBA