From the article of 'Petrel'
No.628 / May 11, 1997

Please send us your opinion and the impression about this article without reservation.

Nothing But Barbaric State Terrorism!

Fujimori's Government Uses Force To Squash Radicals
Under The Pretense That "We should never bend to terrorists."



The hostage situation has lasted over four months at the Japanese ambassador's official residence and has ended with the following results: A special armed tactical force ordered by the Peruvian administration stormed into the scene. All 72 Peruvian hostages escaped death one by one and were rescued. The special forces had two casualties and the radical group called "The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement" (MRTA) had 14 members shot to death who had been [staging a protest]at the official residence. Bourgeoises praise Fujimori's decision; the upgrading of crisis management winds up with reactionary strategy. What is the general position of Workers regarding the Peruvian issue?

As for the rescue of the hostages president Fujimori offered himself lavish praise, "A success in a military rescue is rarely seen, we showed the world an example of not bending to terrorists." Bourgeoise opinion among Japanese can't stop humming over "the fruit to endure in the history of terrorism policy."

An editorial in the April 24th edition of Nikkei Shimbun praised how "one can surely say that blessings have piled on high and one should admire the courage and determination of president Fujimori who solved the incident with minimal sacrifice." The editorial emphasized that "We are just getting to the point of international disapproval of compromises with terrorists...making concessions with terrorists to escape momentary distress only sets up a production line for violence and doesn't solve the problem."

Why is that bourgeoises are loudly opening their mouths to criticize the terrorism of MRTA, but keep their lips shut about the state terrorism of Fujimori's government? Isn't this deception?

Fujimori has criticized MRTA's hostage strategy as an inhumane act. Yet his own government placed secret squads and then has illegally arrested leaders and activists in new left wing movements, labor movements and other antisystemic movements, and has gone on to massive killings, torture and more. Just before the military action for the rescue of the hostages, there was an incident over a former female trooper killed in revenge for exposing the existence of inhouse power struggles and an intraarmy assasination system.

The Fujimori government, on the pretense of its terrorist policies and not just armed terrorists groups like MRTA, has oppressed labor movements and campesino movements and has arrested those leaders and activists and thrown them into prison. Even though no proof of any kind of terrorism exists, the way things actually are under Fujimori's government is that one-sided courts are handing out life sentences and many persons are being crammed into the national prisons on trumped up charges.

Fujimori explained the reason for sending in the special forces was that the MRTA had hardened their attitude in the negotiation process and had he let the situation drag on the hostages' lives would have been exposed to more danger. It was unavoidable.

However, from the very start Fujimori did not desire a solution through dialogue. Already since the end of last year he showed the same pattern of behavior at the ambassador residence where an accumulation of detailed plans for military manuevers and exercises in armed suppression clarifies his position. (A report states that as part of the strategy in preparing for a scenario where numerous hostages had to be sacrificed, in order to make it appear that the firing originated from MRTA the special forces had a bullet set up similar to MRTA's.)

But as for their latest tactic, the special forces killed all the MRTA members even though they had not harmed any hostages. Several of the younger members of the MRTA who laid down their weapons and showed a willingness to surrender were shot to death to quiet their testimony.

While the Fujimori government openly criticizes the past inhumane acts of terrorists, on the other side he advances his own brand of state terrorism. With the power of the army at the backdrip, in 1992 Fujimori suspended the constitution, shut down congress, and after altering the constitution he managed a forced reelection as president.

Five years later hyperinflation is settled in and the economy at least is stable, and without any prospect for changes in living standards, workers and nationals still remain destitute. More than 80% of the people live in a state of abject poverty. Although workers labor ten hours, they only receive the lowest wages in Central and South America. The expectations of the public for Fujimori are fading. His approval ratings have fallen to an all time low of 20%. Fujimori saw the rescue crisis as a way of regaining some support for his tottering administration.

He is placing the success of his rescue team on display and justifying the power of the state. Manipulating this incident, he is aiming at a third presidential term, which is unconstitutional. From now on the Fujimori government will no doubt increase the military presence over the people.

The poverty in Peru and the powerful political system are the causes of radical terrorists groups like MRTA. Fujimori is totally unqualified to criticize terrorism. Fujimori preserves his authority and applies state terrorism to guard against workers and nationals who are against a class society which controls [who may enter]the classs of capital and wealth.

Nothing but state terrorism! The first fault of all lies in their terrorism and the frenzied bourgeoise political power of which Fujimori is the peak; you can't dispute that--this is the position of Laborers of the World.