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<text> <title> Peruvian Official Discusses Suspension of Democracy </title> <article> <hdr> Foreign Policy Bulletin, May/June 1992 U.S., OAS Call for Restoration of Constitutional Democracy in Peru. Statement by Peruvian Foreign Minister, April 13, 1992 </hdr> <body> Statement by Peruvian Foreign Minister, Augusto Blacker Miller, at a meeting of OAS Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Washington, April 13, 1992 (Excerpts) In the past months, Peru found itself in an intractable political situation, one of violence that could jeopardize the very existence of the State and the Nation. Peru faced the possibility of its dissolution as a nation and the disintegration of its territory, as a result of historical structural problems that had remained unresolved for 170 years of republican life, in addition to terrorism, drug trafficking, and the widespread corruption and decomposition of the existing institutional structure. Mr. Chairman, I shall cite a few examples to demonstrate the historic dilemma in which the country found itself early this month. Seventy percent of Peruvians live in conditions of poverty. Thirty percent of Peruvians live in conditions of extreme poverty. Infant mortality is among the highest in Latin America: for every thousand children under five years old 124 die each year in Peru. Endemic diseases that had disappeared have returned with greater force than ever, especially yellow fever, tuberculosis which currently affects 500,000 people, and cholera which, fortunately, has been fairly well controlled in the last year by the concerted efforts of the people and the government. Also, according to the latest UNICEF statistics, in Peru 46 percent of children under twelve years of age are obliged to work in order to survive, and the proportion of undernourished children six years old and under stands at 70 percent. Consider also the fact that in the last four years Peru's gross domestic product declined by more than 25 percent, and that the inflation accumulated between 1985 and 1990 was 2.1 million percent. There we have a realistic picture of the magnitude of the crisis that has hit and is still hitting the Peruvian people. At the same time, terrorism and drug trafficking had placed the country in a virtual state of civil war. The first acts of violence of a terrorist group known as Shining Path took place in mid-1980, in an isolated department of the Peruvian mountains. At first, the government of the time did not take it very seriously and felt that police intervention alone could be paid to it. Very few realized what was really beginning in Ayacucho, and the result, Mr. Chairman, is terrifying: 25,000 dead, and loss of physical infrastructure that exceeds our total external debt, which currently stands at over 20 billion dollars. Today that murderous terrorist activity has spread almost the length and breadth of the country and has taken its toll of many soldiers and resources. Terrorism, with Shining Path at its head for the most part, has grown and is growing apace. Its macabre ritual of blood and slaughter is worse every day. I need only mention that just a few days ago former member of Parliament Luy Wu, of the `Cambio 90' Movement, was vilely assassinated by henchmen of terrorism who put six bullets in his head in a restaurant in Lima. And yet, although this scourge is constantly in evidence, many sectors of public opinion have a completely distorted view of what we Peruvians are actually experiencing. One sure reason for this is not only the sensationalism of some of the national media, but the systematic slander campaign waged by some Peruvian politicians who, using the defense of human rights as a screen, perform obscure activities which are precisely at odds with those very rights and, even worse, have sought to obstruct the government's endeavors to wage an effective battle against this scourge. Terrorism and Drug Trafficking In Peru, drug trafficking and terrorism are the two faces of a single coin. Some years ago Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement entered into a criminal alliance with drug traffickers in the Huallanga area. The former protect the latter, who in turn supply them with money and weapons. I can therefore tell you with the utmost certainty that Shining Path is the wealthiest terrorist group in the world, since it receives every year some 100 million dollars from the drug traffic with which to finance its violent activities, acquire increasingly sophisticated weapons and, more importantly, to finance its subversive activities in other countries in the area. There is one aspect of the problem that bears emphasis: while for the industrialized countries a dollar spent on the fight against drugs is a drop of water in the ocean, the dollar we spend for the same purpose is an enormous expenditure out of our scarce economic resources. And when it comes to the war against trafficking, while our armed forces do receive outside help which, from the United States, amounts to barely 36 million dollars a year to confront this blight, the groups we are fighting receive, as I have said, over 100 million dollars a year. We feel that this situation, little known in Latin America and the world as a whole, is extremely grave. We also feel that if it is not soon reversed, it could have unpredictable consequences for Latin America. We feel that Peruvians are still in a position to defeat both these scourges: yet there are already instances in which the terrorists' weapons are superior to those of our troops, and with every day the easy drug money is increasingly penetrating, and generating corrupt attitudes in, several of our institutions and the very fiber of our society. President Fujimori's Proposals to Congress Faced with this situation, the government of President Fujimori presented the Congress of the Republic with a very clear and feasible comprehensive pacification strategy. Its main purpose was to attack both these evils at their very root. We would fight terrorism by deploying the "brains" and the main ringleaders of that murderous group. And at the same time we would try to cut off their funding sources. As for the drug traffic, the government proposed important measures such as imposing heavy penalties for criminal activities like the laundering of the proceeds of the illicit traffic in drugs; lifting bank secrecy; imposing heavy sentences on functionaries and public servants found to be accessories; and penalizing anyone found to benefit from drug money while aware of its origin. The airports in coca-producing areas were declared emergency zones and round-the-clock surveillance was imposed on all air, land and river sites that could be used to transport coca, basic coca paste, or the chemical ingredients and precursors used for that activity. It was also decreed that all military personnel working in these areas should be rotated on a regular basis and obliged to make a sworn declaration of property and income at the beginning and end of the involvement in the fight against drugs. The officers of the garrisons in the area could receive all complaints lodged by citizens regarding the behavior of the military personnel, and would be responsible for ensuring that they were processed within 24 hours. Congressional Resistance What is really amazing, however, is that my country's Parliament, without proposing any alternative, opted to derogate those laws, leaving the government bereft of the tools and instruments needed to fight these two most serious scourges of our society. Most of all, they put party interests first, as well as their determination to block all the government's endeavors to combat drug trafficking and terrorism, placing serious obstacles in the way of the proper implementation of the comprehensive strategy approved by the government of President Fujimori. I would not wish to weary such an august gathering with details of the Parliament's other acts of systematic obstruction during the past few months, of its attempts to frustrate executive action in all areas of national activity. But in substantive terms, Parliament's derogation of the measures decreed to fight terrorism and drug trafficking was the most cogent single factor in the President's considered decision to establish the government of emergency and national reconstruction which, for some days now, has been directing our country's destiny. Also, the Congress recently approved a law that unconstitutionally curtailed the powers of the President of the Republic. That curtailment limited powers inherent in the office, such as enforcing the budget law and fighting terrorism. And here, if you will permit me, Mr. Chairman, I would like to cite an example. The State submitted the 1992 budget for consideration by the Congress. It was a balanced budget. But when that budget presented by the Executive Branch left Congress it was a budget with a deficit equivalent to 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product. That is, a deficit of over 400 million dollars. Judicial Decisions At the same time, the Court of Constitutional Guarantees, controlled by an Opposition majority, declared unconstitutional, without further explanation, the legislative decrees on vital aspects of the economic policy, such as liberalization of mass transportation and the system of compensation for time of service. The Judicial Branch, in those same circumstances, irresponsibly allowed the irregular release of over 100 terrorists, convicts and confessed criminals. With the same obstructionist attitude, the same Judicial Branch, some weeks earlier, had reduced the prison sentence against Osman Morote, Shining Path's second-in-command. However, ladies and gentlemen, the action against the State, society, constitutionality and all rationality that most negatively and pathetically illustrates the problem confronting my country was the Supreme Court's decision to acquit the leader of Shining Path, Abimael Guzman, of the crime of terrorism. Our corrupt and inefficient Judicial Branch, ladies and gentlemen, had determined the innocence of the chief of a sect accused of the savage and violent murders of more than 25,000 people in Peru. This all ended in deadlock, and the 1979 Constitution contained no mechanisms for resolving it. By and large, when the political situation reaches an impasse in modern democracies, the Constitution provides the President with a variety of mechanisms for resolving exceptional situations. And here, ladies and gentlemen, I must point out that, in our view, the inefficiency of an institution deprives it of its value when it endangers the very objectives of the State. So we believe that the main purpose of the law and a government is the quest for the common good. The government of President Fujimori was systematically obstructed in its quest for that common good by the ineffectiveness of the Legislature and the Judiciary, by widespread corruption, and by the inefficacy of the very institutional system of the State. President Suspends Constitutional Provisions In those circumstances, Mr. Chairman, the government was left with two options: either to respect passively the 1979 Constitution and embark on a spiral of non-government with the attendant total failure of the economic stabilization program in a matter of months; or, given the magnitude of the crisis, to suspend particular constitutional provisions temporarily and salvage the leadership and governability of the country, so as to combat the crisis, drug trafficking and terrorism, and save the country from a historic collapse. Ladies and gentlemen, the government of emergency and national reconstruction led by President Fujimori has decided through direct consultation of the people to approve the transitory measures. These mechanisms, like a plebiscite or referendum, constitute norms for resolving extreme political or juridical crises by democratic means. At this moment, I can tell you that opinion polls conducted by private enterprises show the government with the support of 85 percent of the population. But we believe that we must act so that this demonstration of confidence can be shared by the majority of Peruvian society. I therefore wish to report to you that yesterday President Fujimori informed the country of his commitment to hold a national plebiscite in six months at the latest, to consult the Peruvian people on the various options for change that the National Executive will be presenting. For this reason, some articles of the Constitution have been suspended, but neither the democratic process nor the will of the people. Proof of this is that the measures for ensuring law and order and maintaining security which were adopted in the days just following April 5, have been totally lifted. At this moment, Mr. Chairman, there is complete freedom of the press, total freedom of assembly, and a serious political commitment on the part of President Fujimori to respect and protect human rights. In Peru today freedom of expression is absolute and guaranteed. People, including legislators who had been placed under house arrest as a precautionary and personal security measure, have been released, nor is there a single journalist in detention. The exceptional measures are only a temporary suspension of a few of the institutions inherent in the legislative function, and, Mr. Chairman, should the Peruvian people so decide by referendum, they will very soon be restored under a new, more democratic, more functional, more representative and more modern State structure. Before concluding, I wish to extend publicly and on behalf of my government an invitation to you, Mr. Secretary General of the OAS, and to the members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to visit my country in the nearest possible future and see for yourselves all that I have reported and described in this statement. (Text in translation provided by the Permanent Mission of Peru to the OAS, Washington. The Foreign Minster spoke in Spanish.) </body> </article> </text>