Spitting out the Fujimori medicine
By Dara MacNeill
Less than two months after ordering the execution of 14 MRTA
guerrillas in order to boost his own flagging popularity and
reassure nervous foreign investors, Peru's Alberto Fujimori is in
trouble with his citizenry again.
Opinion polls show that some 70% of Peruvians are less than
enamoured with their President, with most citing a combination of
political incompetence and Fujimori's increasing
authoritarianism. Ironically, some of the trouble in which
Fujimori now finds himself can be sourced to his decision to send
in the troops on 22 April last, to put a bloody end to the siege
at the Japanese Embassy in the Peruvian capital, Lima.
In the aftermath, the affable authoritarian found it increasingly
difficult to explain away the curious fact that all 14 guerrillas
inside the embassy had been killed, while all but one of the 72
hostages made it out alive and only two soldiers lost their
lives.
Unwittingly, Fujimori himself aided the speculation when he
publicly demanded that all former hostages maintain a vow of
silence in relation to what transpired inside the embassy on 22
April. His position was further weakened when it was revealed
that 12 of the 14 guerrillas had been hastily buried, before
their identities had been established. This prevented any
independent medical examination of the bodies. In addition, the
body of guerrilla leader Nestor Cerpa was found to have 50 bullet
wounds.
President Fujimori's reaction to what he saw as outright dissent
was to clamp down on opponents and critics (real or imagined)
within the country's media. Some he silenced in the traditional
fashion. Others were the victims of more elaborate, imaginative
tactics.
Thus, the head of TV station Channel Two - which had discomfited
Fujimori in the past with awkward questions - was suddenly
revealed to be linked to a shady, illegal arms trafficking
operation. This remarkable, and very timely revelation was
delivered courtesy of the country's National Intelligence
Service.
However, further investigation proved the documents which
purported to detail the arms trafficking scheme were in fact
forgeries. It is now believed that the Intelligence Service
themselves were the authors.
Nonetheless Fujimori, obviously unaware of the adage that when
you're in ahole you stop digging, has further exacerbated
Peruvians by once again attempting to change the law in order to
facilitate his re-election in 2000.
As expected, the Peruvian parliament endorsed Fujimori's proposal
that he seek re-election for a record third term. As this is
explicitly prohibited by Peruvian law, a fundamental legal change
was required. Naturally, the parliament saw no problem. However
three members of the country's senior legal body, the
Constitutional Tribunal, refused to even contemplate the
President's proposal. All three were sacked and their dismissal
rubber-stamped by parliament. The country is now in the grip of a
constitutional crisis of such proportions that it has
precipitated the involvement of the Organisation of American
States.
Fujimori has travelled this road before. Elected in 1990 he found
his route to everlasting power blocked by the country's
prohibition on presidents serving anything but one term. So in
1992, he simply dissolved the parliament and suspended the
Constitution. He later went to the country and predicted dire
economic and social consequences should the populace reject his
proposals. Winning a majority in a `transitional' parliament, one
of the President's first acts was to push through a measure
allowing him to seek a second term of office, which he duly won
in 1995.
d now he wants more. However, on this occasion there have been
repeated and increasingly larger demonstrations throughout the
country calling for his resignation. In addition, a body called
the Democratic Forum has announced its intention to campaign for
a referendum on the issue of Alberto's proposed third term of
office. Under Peruvian law, they have until early September to
collect 1.2 million signatures for a petition opposing Fujimori's
move. That would then lead to a referendum being called on the
subject.
In addition, there is the economic crisis. Peru now finds itself
embroiled in. Fujimori promised economic growth would result from
his application of severe, Thatcherite economic policies. And for
a chosen few, there were benefits.
Most, however, have yet to see any return. During Fujimori's time
in office an additional 5 million Peruvians fell below the
extreme poverty level. It is also estimated that more than half
the country's schoolchildren are chronically malnourished. In one
region of the country that figure rises to an astonishing 87%.
Thus, the net result of Alberto Fujimori's `economic miracle' -
loudly proclaimed in the West - is a country where more than 75%
of the population live in poverty and over 85% of the workforce
is either under-employed, or without any work at all.
d some wonder why so many Peruvians feel compelled to resist
Fujimori's creeping dictatorship?
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