No winners out of Lima incident

No winners out of Lima incident

The following article is written exclusively for The Jakarta
Post by Andre Vltchek, a visiting journalist who is the U.S. and
Latin American editor of the most influential newspaper in the
Czech Republic Lidove Noviny.

JAKARTA (JP): Movemiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (MRTA)
attacked last Tuesday on Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima
taking around 500 hostages is believed to be the most spectacular
action in the 16 years civil war between the Peruvian state and
the leftist guerrillas that so far claimed well over 30,000 human
lives.

Reports from Lima yesterday said that the Marxist rebels
freed another 225 hostages leaving some 140 in the embassy.

There are some 100,000 people of Japanese descent living
presently in Peru (second largest Japanese minority in South
America, after Brazil). Japanese foreign aid to Peru amounts to
US$2.5 billion.

The attack came as a surprise to all analysts of South
American affairs. MRTA was believed to be destroyed by Antonio
Vidal, general and former chief of Peruvian anti terrorist forces
in 1992. That year the guerrilla leader, Victor Polay Campos and
most of the members of the Central Committee of MRTA were
arrested.

In 1992, the most violent year of the civil war, almost no
one abroad paid much attention to the pro-Cuban Marxist
guerrilla.

Main focus of attention was on the Maoist group Sendero
Luminoso (Shining Path) with some 50,000 fighters and
collaborators. This well armed group controlled large part of the
coca leaf trade.

As a result of the civil war, Peru in the beginning of 1990s
was a basket case, with the negative economic growth and
collapsing social structure. It became the third poorest country
in the Western Hemisphere, after Haiti and Bolivia. This was
exactly the goal of the SL. Guzman was often saying that the
poverty "sharpens the revolutionary edge of masses."

In 1990s SL began attacking other leftist groups and
individuals that were not "revolutionary enough". In January 1992
Maria Elena Mollano, socialist mayor of the shanty town Villa El
Salvador (with more than one million inhabitants) was shot and
killed by the members of SL. Her body was later dynamited and
damaged beyond recognition. MRTA was attacked as well. From the
very beginning, there was no co-operation between the two groups.
For SL, MRTA was not dogmatic enough. Its members were more
targets than allies.

From the very beginning MRTA was less radical, fighting for
the Cuban style state, while SL aimed at the Khmer Rouge model.
(Guzman was trained in China). Contrary to SL, MRTA did not use
extremely brutal execution tactics. It did not attack
indiscriminately; targets were always carefully selected. Money
came mainly from extortion (MRTA was kidnapping rich members of
the business community) and from robbing of the banks.

In 1992, both MRTA leader Victor Polay and SL leader Abimael
Guzman Reynoso. After the trial and sentencing (both received
life in prison), both leaders were thereafter transferred to the
underground bunker on the small island that serves as a Navy
base, not far from Callao, a port city bordering with the capital
Lima.

For long it was believed that both SL and MRTA were
destroyed, but in 1995 it was evident that SL is still
controlling the drug trade in selva (jungle) and is rapidly
regrouping, operating again in the urban and rural areas under
the new leadership.

After the 1992 arrest, "Comrade Evaristo" and Miguel Rincon
took command of what was left of the MRTA. Then in 1995 Evaristo
became the only leader. His real name is Nestor Cerpa Cartolini
and he used to be a union leader. He was the one who led the
attack on the Japanese ambassador's residence in the middle of
the posh Lima neighborhood, San Isidro.

The common believe is that the operations of the Peruvian
leftist guerrillas will not stop, before the profound social and
racial problems of the country will not be solved. Peru, once the
richest place in South America, is now one of the poorest, with
the GDP per capita only $950 (Chile has around $5,000 and
Argentina $8,000). Wealth is still in the hands of the very small
white minority that lives in Lima and Arequipa. "Indian" (most
Peruvians are of Indian descent or mixed) is a dirty word. Four
fifth of the Peruvian workforce is unemployed or underemployed.
Gap between the rich and poor is one of the greatest in the
world.

In 1990, Alberto Fujimori, son of Japanese immigrants, won a
landslide victory over the world famous novelist Maria Vargas
Llosa, and became the first non-white president of the country.
Fujimori (called amiably "El Chino") introduced tough neo-liberal
economic reforms, known in Peru as "Fuji shock". He also pledged
to end the civil war. But in 1992 he staged army-backed "self-
coup" ("autogolpe"), closing courts and Congress, declaring they
were corrupt and he has to rebuilt them from the ground up.
Substantial part of international aid was cut-off as a result.

The same year, leaders of the Shining Path and MRTA were
arrested. Later Fujimori rewrote the Constitution. New
Constitution gave him previously forbidden ability to run for the
re-election in 1995 which he won by landslide again. Peruvian
economy was growing spectacularly, but among the population, the
gloomy mood didn't change. Common wisdom was declaring: "Peru is
doing well, but Peruvians aren't". Desperate, enormous shanty
towns (pueblos jovenes) built around all major cities are the
living prove of it.

Peru is historically the center of Indian culture in South
America. Inka Empire has its centers in Cuzco and Machu Pichu. So
did the cultures of Ica, Nazca and Paracas. Historically, these
cultures were strongly centralized and did not have the money
based economy. Both SL and MRTA used this fact as the major
argument justifying their fight.

Arrests of Guzman and Polay in 1992 didn't solve the
problems of Peru.

MRTA believed that by the spectacular attack on the Japanese
ambassador's residence, they may gain sympathy for their cause;
in Peru and abroad. So far, reaction was overwhelmingly negative.
Most of Peruvians are tired of the uncertainty. They are
horrified by the prospects of continuation of the civil war. At
the present time, MRTA has almost no support of the general
public. Whatever the outcome of the conflict, there will be
hardly any winners.

Window: In 1992, the most violent year of the civil war, almost
no one abroad paid much attention to the pro-Cuban Marxist
guerrillas.