Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001
Casual Crimes in Peru
June 12, 2001
From:
Rights Action
416-654-2074
info@rightsaction.org
www.rightsaction.org
***
Casual Criminality in Peru:
the need for a Truth Commission for the "international community"
-- By Grahame Russell, June 2001
I was struck by the casualness with which the Toronto Star [June 5,
2001] wrote of the challenges facing the newly elected, incoming
president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo. Commenting on the impoverishment
of the population, and on the weak and corrupted economy, the Star wrote
that Toledo has few options for "international support, led by
Washington, usually dries up in a heartbeat when Latin American and
Caribbean presidents stray from the acceptable fiscal policy ...,
slashing the public service and privatizing State corporations."
There it is, buried in the article, meriting no further comment or
analysis; the ironclad law of the neo-liberal global order is that the
most important political and economic decisions in Peru are taken by
officials of the G7 countries who set the policies for and control the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB).
Toledo's job in Peru is daunting. He will have inherited a
dysfunctional, corrupted and terrorized country. For the past ten
years, Peru was ruled and controlled by the dictator Fujimori whose
regime was backed and supported by the G7 nations, the IMF and WB and a
host of global corporations and banks.
While running the country on corruption and repression ("state
terrorism"), Fujimori's Peru was "open for business", privitizing state
services and industries, opening its borders to global corporations and
banks, etc. The US$1billion dollar slush fund that Fujimori managed,
with his right-hand strong man Vladimiro Montesinos and 13 corrupted
ministries, was financed in large part by privitization projects
supported and encouraged by the international community.
Truth Commission - for Peru
In his first post-election victory statement, soon-to-be president
Toledo agreed to the demand, made by non-goverrment organizations and
the transitional government (ever since Fujimori fled Peru last
November), for the establishment of a "Truth Commission" to investigate
the past 20 years of human rights violations and political crimes.
The work of this Commission is crucial if Peru is to initiate a
cleansing of almost every institution of society (executive branch,
judiciary, legislature, armed forces, police, and private institutions
like the media and banks) that was corrupted and used by the fujimori
regime.
This Commission is crucial if Peruvians are to overcome the fear and
terror that have infiltrated most sectors of society due to the brutal
violence planned and carried out by the State and, to a lesser extent,
by the armed Shining Path insurgent movement.
Truth Commission - for the "international community"
But a Truth Commission is also needed to investigate the role played by
other goverments and global economic, financial and "development"
institutions that worked with and backed the Fujimori regime. In the
"global village" of today, fewer and fewer dictators stay in power alone
- they are empowered to a significant extent by their economic,
political and military relations with countries and entities outside
their own country.
In the case of the Fujimori regime, the G7 governments (particularly the
United States), the WB, the IMF, the Inter-American Development Bank,
plus global corporations and banks maintained and developed extensive
military, economic and political relations with the Fujimori regime.
An international Truth Commission should be headed by four people: one
named by the Organization of American States; one selected from an
international human rights NGO; one from a Peruvian human rights NGO;
and one as chosen by the incoming government of Peru. Such a Commissin
should be mandated to investigate the full extent of international
backing for the Fujimori regime, and how such support (be it political,
military or economic) served to directly or indirectly empower the
regime.
"Business as usual" must stop, both inside and outside Peru. The
"international community" cannot be allowed to casually continue with
their actions and policies that contribute, directly or indirectly, to
repression and corruption. The people of Peru must not be forced to
live under propped up governments that do not look out firstly and
primarily for the well-being and human rights of its own population.
***
Grahame Russell is director of Rights Action. Rights Action funds
development and human rights projects in Mexico, Central America and
Peru. info@rightsaction.org, www.rightsaction.org, 416-654-2074.
If you want to support work related to political prisoners in Peru,
contact Rights Action.
If you are concerned about the situation of Lori Berenson, a US citizen/
politiucal prisoner in Peru, contact the Committee to Free Lori
Berenson, 202-548-8480, gtaylor@freelori.org, www.freelori.org.
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Peru | IMF/ WB | PGA