A state of
Fuji-shock
Interview with Hugo Blanco
DURING a brief visit to Germany, Hugo Blanco, a leader of Peru's United Marieteguist Party (PUM) and of the CCP peasant union, talked about the situation in Peru. The following interview first appeared in Sozialistische
Zeitung, the biweekly paper of the United Socialist
Party (VSP), in its April 25,
1991 issue.
T HE appearance of cholera in
Peru for the first time in a years coincides the economic shock". Is there in fact a connection between these two events?
There is a direct connection. Cholera is an epidemic from the Middle Ages. The fact that it has reappeared in Peru now is a sign of that country's economic backwardness. Such a development would be unimaginable in Germany. In our country, the poverty is so bad that drinking water is polluted with sewage and therefore with germs. A film was produced in Sweden which showed the water drunk by a baby that died of cholera. It had been drawn from a waste dump. To kill all the germs it would have to be boiled for at least ten minutes. However, people do not have the money for the necessary fuel.
Furthermore, anyone who is wellnourished will not die of cholera. In Peru people are under-nourished and die.
Cholera is thus a disease of the poor. There is therefore a direct connection with the government's economic policies. The government's attitude has been completely cynical. They are worried about a fall in Peru's exports and have launched a campaign to combat, not the cholera, but the fear of cholera. The press and televisions have taken part in this campaign.
Fujimori himself, for example, has gone on the television eating the ceviche, Peruvian dish of raw fish marinated in lemon, to show that it is not dangerous to
The minister of fisheries did the same; and it seems that he though this is not certain. In any case he would be healthy enough not to die from it. The agriculture minister went and ate unwashed grapes bought direct from the market. The head of the authority in charge of water distribution, meanwhile, could be seen drinking untreated water
This campaign can only help to further the spread of cholera, since people will see these authoritative figures demonstratively not taking necessary precautions with food and drink.
This is both disgusting and stupid of the government. Peru's exports will not be increased because the country's population loses its fear of cholera. They will be improved when the population feels itself beyond the reach of the disease, and cholera itself starts to fade away.
Some 140,000 cholera cases have been admitted in Peru, with some 1,000 • In last year's elections, the United Left (Izquierda Unida) suffered heavy losses. It called, like the PUM, which is a constituent part of it, for a vote for Fujimori against his right wing rival Vargas Llosa. What is the PUM's view now of this deci-
The IU did not give any advice on how to vote. Such advice was given by the individual parties that make it up, including the PUM. In the light of what Fujimori has done, the PUM has criticized its support and recognized that it was a mis-
At the time I supported the vote for Fujimori and I still believe that it was not a mistake. Vargas Llosa was calling for "shock-therapy" with the removal of one million jobs in the state sector, the privatization of nationalized industries, the drastic reduction of free schooling and so on. If Vargas Llosa had won, he would have said: the people have voted for my programme, and I would be betraying my mandate if I didn't carry it through. The opponents of his programme would have experienced this as a defeat, the activists would have been demoralized and said that this is what the people wanted.
Now the situation is not like that. Fujimori is of course following the same programme as Vargas Llosa proposed, but in the eyes of the people this is a betrayal. Fujimori is not doing what he promised
He said that he would oppose shock therapy, but now he is implementing it. People are angry with him but without the atmosphere of demoralization that would have attended a victory by Vargas • What difference does it make for the left if the people consider Fujimori's policies as a betrayal? response is not so passive in the present • In recent years the PUM has had increasing political differences with the IU. Can you explain them?
This has a lot to do with the so-called "worldwide defeat of socialism" which has put the socialist perspective on the retreat. The Peruvian left has not been immune from this process, and the neoliberals have turned it to their advantage. This is part of the explanation for the build up of support for Vargas Llosa and the defeat of the IU in the elections.
But the specific situation in Peru has also to be taken into account. The IU's candidate in the preceding elections, who stood against APRA's Alan Garcia, was Alfonso Barrantes. Barrantes came in second to APRA in the first round, and there was a possibility that he would go on to win, since APRA's position was
But I believe that he became aware that the imperialists and the army would not allow him to become president with his left wing programme. He therefore decided to make concessions, just at the time when the IU's congress was meeting and calling for a toughening of the programme. The IU did not support Barrantes. The latter then resigned as IU candidate and put himself forward as an indepen-
The IU made the big mistake of letting Barrantes believe to the last moment that he could be its candidate. This meant that much time and standing was lost, since it seemed as if the IU was capitulating to Barrantes.
The IU, with Henry Piza at its head, has a pacifist rather than a revolutionary programme. There is industry, something of basic significance in Peru, presumably out of fear of the huge pro-free market pressure
When Fujimori set up his government, he did not call on anyone from his own party. He gathered together a collection of individuals behind him. In his first cabinet there were two people from Barrantes' current, the Socialist Left (IS), and even one from the IU. The vice-president of the senate [the upper chamber of the parliament] is also from the IS, as is the president of the Regional Commission. There are few people in the IS, but they are well-placed and orient above all towards the parliament.
has also been taking some posts. In two regions, Inqui and Arequipa, a coalition has been formed with the right. There is a process of regionalization going on in Peru today, against the domination of the capital.
The PUM has taken its distance from these developments. The PUM has withdrawn from the leading bodies of the IU but not from its base organizations, since we continue to believe that the majority of those who are for socialism in Peru still consider themselves to be part of the IU. We have also ceased to build a common parliamentary faction with the IU. • The peasants have to defend themselves against both the army's repression and the attacks of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) become the victim of bloody repression, launched by the state on the pretext of the struggle against Sendero and the MRTA ment). We have been trying to resist this extends beyond the department of Ayacucho to Apurima, Huancavelica, Pasqua, Junin, and a part of Cuzco. We also have to fight against attacks by Sendero, which attacks peasJune 10, 1991 • #208 International Viewpoint
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7
The Parallel
PERU / BRAZIL ant organizations, and kills peasants and the leaders of the mass organizations.
• Are there differences between ernment such as Collor's, I prefer to be outside the congress - which would have taken up a lot of my time — and act in the street, trying government Sendero and the MRTA?
Profound differences. Both undertake armed actions independent of the mass organizations, for which we criticize them. We are not opposed to armed struggle, but this must be decided upon, under the control of, and subordinated to the requirements of the mass organizations. Both Sendero and the MRTA are on the sidelines of the mass movement.
Nonetheless there are huge differences between the two organizations. The MRTA supports the mass organizations, kills their leaders and considers other sections of the left, including the MRTA, as its worst enemies. • In recent weeks the government has come up with a new law on land ownership. What will this mean for the peasantry?
This law is a direct attack on the land reform undertaken by Velasco Alvarado's military government in the 1970s, and on the poor peasants. It envisages the privatization of the land. It stipulates for example that the peasants should no longer get credit from the Agrarian Bank, which was set up to provide peasants with their basic needs. Indeed, the bank is to be wound up. The peasants will thus have to resort to private banks, which means that they will only be able to get credit if they mortgage their land. This obviously threatens them with a huge risk; one bad year and they may lose their land.
The government is using force against the peasants, and at the same time overriding its own basic laws. The government simply has no right to carry out such a fundamental change without the agreement of itself is being reduced to a ghost. This new law is therefore also directed against parliament and the constitution. The latter recognizes organizations such as the peasants' communities and states they cannot be overridden. But this is precisely what the new law does.
Changes in the constitution are subject to a procedure which would normally take the length of two normal parliamentary seasons to complete. Fujimori is acting as a dictator.