Regime
History: The
Shining Path (a guerrilla group) began operations in
During 1983 and 1984 Belaúnde consistently
handed over all initiative on counterinsurgency to the military, and even
created a zone of impunity for them to operate. He criticized and discredited
any human rights organization that tried to hold the military up to democratic
standards. He declared states of emergency in various affected provinces,
replacing civilian leadership with military control, suspending civil rights,
and the like. The results are apparent from the figures on disappearances,
extrajudicial executions, the prevalence of torture, and other human rights
violations, which skyrocketed in this period. In other words, in addition to
the increased number of deaths, disappearances, torture and similar abuses
during these 2 years, the civilian government abdicated policy-making
responsibility in this area, and created the political space for the abuses to
take place.
Alan García took office in 1985. The 1985
election period did not show serious irregularities. All candidates felt free
to campaign and the turnout was high. Immediately after taking office, García was confronted with reports of a couple of
peasant massacres by the military, in its area of operation against the Shining
Path. He took strong steps to investigate the reports and bring the military
under control. While it is not quite enough to satisfy Amnesty International,
they still give him grudging credit for trying. For the next three years, he
more or less successfully worked to bring the military under control. He
created Presidential commissions and took a number of steps to wrest control of
the anti-insurgency effort back from the military. Again, this new attitude on
the part of the civilian leadership is reflected in the results. Killings and
violence dropped significantly during 1985-87, though they did not disappear,
by any measure.
Beginning in 1987, however, García became too
busy trying to stay in office to continue his control of the military. He was
threatened by coup plots and calls for his resignation. In particular, his
failure to control the insurgency had alienated most of the population and the
military establishment, and he gradually lost control over policy in this
regard. In 1988, state violence began to increase once again, and it never
really went down until 1994, well after Fujimori had shut down congress and the
supreme court, and suspended civil liberties.
The next presidential election took place in 1990. There are no reports of
fraud. Turnout was high, especially among traditionally low turnout groups such
as the rural and urban poor, who supported Fujimori. While Fujimori campaigned
on an end to the political violence, it is clear that he never really took
steps to control the military in the first couple years of his tenure
(1991-92). In part because he had no party organization, he was initially
fearful of a coup, so he took early steps - even before his election - to ally
himself with the military leadership. After his election, he seemed to tread
very carefully where the military is concerned. As a result, there was no
change in counterinsurgency strategy from the final years of the García regime. The killings and disappearances
proceed apace. If anything, disappearances are replaced by outright killings.
Again, it seems the civilian government is, if not actively promoting, at least
making space for the draconian measures favored by the military, and the
negative impact on the general climate of civil and human rights follows from
this. In 1992 Fujimori shut down Congress and the Supreme Court, and suspended
civil liberties. Only in 1993, the year after what became known as the "self-coup,"
does the level of violence begin to decrease.
Organization:
Economy:
Population
below poverty line: 54% (2003 est.)
Unemployment
rate: 7.2% in metropolitan
Ethnic
groups:
45% Amerindian, 37% mestizo (mixed Amerindian and
white), 15% white, 3% black, Japanese, Chinese, and other.