HUGO Blanco is a member of Peru's Party of Mariateguist
Unity (PUM) and a leader of the Peasant Confederation of
Peru (CCP). During a recent visit to Europe, he spoke to
International Viewpoint about the situation in his country in the aftermath of the coup carried out by President Fujimori on April 6, 1992 (see IV 227, April 27, 1992).
NA poor country like Peru it is difficult to implement neo-liberal policies without a dictatorship. In Peru these policies have had terrible social consequences — hunger and misery. It is clear that in the long run the people cannot accept this.
A dictatorial government will be needed to contain this resistance. The general line of the putsch can therefore be explained in these terms.
To this must be added a number of characteristics unique to Peru. The president, Fujimori, does not have a party structure at his disposal. Cambio
90 (Change '90) [the coalition that supported his electoral campaign] was a strictly electoralist invention.
Since then, its leaders have gone in different directions; its two vice-presidents for example, are today in opposition to Fujimori!
Decomposition of Peruvian state
The decomposition of the Peruvian state is also a key factor. This decomposition is reflected in the fact that some parts of the country are under the direct control of military figures while others are in the hands of drug traffickers and, in other parts of the country,
Sendero Luminoso.
There are even some places where there is a strong popular power. Brazil and even Columbia "administer" parts of our territory. Fujimori had no control whatsoever over the judiciary, parliament or regional governments.
It must be remembered that this coup d'état was carried out by military officials. The army supported the economic adjustment policy in spite of certain differences related to the concrete interests of the military. For example, the soldiers have demanded salary hikes which is in contradiction with the austerity policy.
In spite of its official declarations, Washington supported the putsch. There is a contradiction for imperialism in the sense that it identifies neoliberalism with democracy, in order to polish the tarnished image of the for-
Neo-liberalism versus democracy
But in practice, neo-liberal policies cannot be applied in a country like Peru in a democratic framework. This is why imperialism must officially criticize the putsch while secretly suppor-
When vice-president San Roman was sworn-in as president of Peru by a secretly assembled parliament after the putsch, which formed a parallel government, the United States reaffirmed that it will only recognize Fujimori. Bush does not have the same attitude towards Haiti or Peru that he has towards Iraq, Cuba or Libya.
We see the same contradiction on the problem of drug trafficking, which serves as a pretext for Washington to intervene militarily in Latin America. But it must be remembered that it is the United States that profits most from the drugs trade. For example, that is how they financed the Nicaraguan
When they intervened militarily
For example, when the Peruvian army attacked a United States airplane, the Peruvian and US governments agreed to whitewash the affair. This was totally different from the affair with Libya.
The Peruvian bourgeoisie reacted in a nuanced way to the putsch.
On the one hand, the employers and exporters supported the president. On the other, the right wing political organizations, like the Liberty party of the writer Vargas Llosa and the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) of the former president Alan Garcia, condemned the coup d'état.
What explains these two attitudes? Even if the Fujimori government represents imperialist interests more than those of the Peruvian bourgeoisie, it alone is capable of giving a certain stability to the system.
The opposition of bourgeois political parties is understandable: no political figure wants to lose his prestige by supporting a project that he knows will be condemned.
If there are elections, those who have supported the putschists will have no chance of being elected. All the bourgeois politicians hope to profit in the long run from the current government's loss of prestige.
It seems that we are today seeing the return in Latin America of the military. The Peruvian and Haitian cases are the product of the same dynamic. But there have also been echoes in Bolivia and Ecuador, and even rumors in Brazil or in Argentina. Peru was the weak link in the chain.
Putsches could spread elsewhere
But the international economic situation persists. Putsches of this type are necessary to assure that the neoliberal solution will be applied. That could spread to other Latin American countries.
In Peru there is a divorce between the left and the popular movement. Before the putsch, the mass movement 21 experienced a certain ebb due to the
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military
International Viewpoint # 229 • May 25, 1992
PERU neo-liberal offensive and the recession. With thousands of unemployed, many workers didn't strike for fear of giving the bosses an excuse to close their factories. The recession has strongly weakened the Peruvian worker's movement, and even, though to a lesser degree, the peasant and neighborhood movement.
There is a sort of political divorce even within the mass organizations, between the vanguard who understand the role of the Fujimori government, and the masses who accept the president's rhetoric aimed at blaming the grave situation on others.
The left also distanced itself from the mass movement because it was unable to respond to the direct needs of the population, and gave priority to the "legal" struggle for municipal and regional governments and so on.
In spite of this, and faced with the decomposition of the Peruvian state, there are some popular organizations who are taking on certain functions normally reserved for the state. These are what we call "survival organizations". For example, they organize popular canteens or the distribution of milk for the children of the popular quarters.
### Peasant self-defense groups organized The peasant communities, who have strong self-organizing characteristics, have organized peasant selfdefense groups in order to defend themselves from cattle thieves. There are also self-defense groups in the popular quarters.
There is therefore, a contradictory situation. On the one hand there is a decline of struggles, on the other there is a reinforcement of what we call
"popular power", and the appearance of new forms of organization to meet the shortcomings of the state. This is positive, even if at this time it doesn't translate into large mass struggles.
The church plays an important role in this process, as it does in the peasant milieu; but the left is not totally absent either and intervenes in these new organizations.
Finally, a word must be said about the rondas campesinas who constitute a form of self defense for the masses providing that they only recognize the authority of the peasant organization and that they act in its interests.
These groups began in Catamarca and have since developed throughout
22 the ou ar. has orst be ed peasand
para-military groups of the same name under the pretext of fighting Sendero Luminoso (SL) but which in reality attack all those opposed to the government's policy. In the regions where the SL is very active, some peasants organize to defend themselves from this group and have asked the military for arms; when this happens the army uses them for its own ends. Obviously, we fight for the autonomy of these groups.
Sendero Luminoso has been strengthened by the putsch. In the face of the predictable rise in repression, it is the best prepared organization to fight underground; the others are used to functioning legally.
With the strengthening of the dictatorship the SL will appear as the clearest option. In another sense the putsch has given a certain legitimacy to the SL; article 82 of the Peruvian constitution stipulates that the people have the right to revolt against illegitimately constituted governments, which is the case for the current government. The putsch therefore legitimizes the action of the SL against the state — but surely not that which it carries out against popular leaders.
The other armed movement in
Peru, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary
Movement, which is a political party, is currently greatly weakened by its internal crisis.
Before the coup the Party of
Mariateguist Unity (PUM) said that
Peru was undergoing a specific "prerevolutionary" situation.
Elements of prerevolutionary situation It is true that there were elements of a pre-revolutionary situation like, for example, the decomposition of the bourgeois state, the constitution of organs of popular power with a real presence in their zone of influence — like the armed rondas campesinas.
If it was true that there were neither strong revolutionary parties nor a revolutionary front at the head of the mass movement, some elements existed, even if they were weak and divided. Today, the PUM no longer characterizes the situation in these terms.
On the contrary, it says that the masses are experiencing a period of regres-
For us, a return to legality does not mean a return to the situation that existed before the putsch, nor does it mean accepting the plebiscite organized by
Fujimori, who would like to gauge public opinion for the reform of the constitution and a whole package of other measures.
The sole democratic reform possible under the constitution involves the convocation of a constituent assembly which will decide the terms of a return to legality.
For the PUM, democracy in Peru must be essentially based on the organizations of popular power, the elected officials must be subject to recall, and so on. Obviously, the conditions do not exist today to organize such elections; it will be the dictatorship that will impose its methods.
After the formation of the parallel government by the old dissolved parliament, with former vice-president San Roman at its head, the PUM recognized its legitimacy. According to the constitution it is the legitimate government. This does not mean that the PUM supports San Roman or his policies.
This parallel government obviously has no power; it is the armed forces that have the strength. They prop up
Fujimori. Also, in the light of the loss of parliament's prestige the parallel government has no social base.
### Attacks on mass organizations Finally, it is necessary to unmask the international press campaign that claims that the putsch was not violent.
From the beginning, there were attacks against the mass organizations.
The army invaded the headquarters of the Peasant Confederation, the
General Confederation of Peruvian
Workers (CGTP), the teachers' union, popular leaders were questioned and so on. All these unions are now functioning underground.
If the mass movement has not yet been subjected to strong repression, it is because Fujimori has not yet needed it. The government does not want to appear as a dictatorship, which could awaken the masses.
Solidarity must be focussed on this repression, which continues to increase. As people lose their faith in Fujimori and they see that misery and corruption contine to worsen, the struggle will recommence against the government, which will respond with more repression.
The campaign for the abolition of the foreign debt which is underway in some Western countries must continue. The unconditional abolition of the third world debt must be demanded. Its consequences for Peru and its role in the origins of the coup must be explained to the entire world. *
"Recent events provide both opportunity and danger. We need unity in the struggle, we need a program and we need organization". *