I had traveled to Cuzco on June 21. I was living in Lima, and I went to Cuzco to participate in a public gathering of my federation-the provincial peasant federation in La Convención and Lares.
This federation is made up of about 100 peasant unions in the La Convención and Lares area of the department of Cuzco. Among those unions is the one I belong to-the Chaupimayo union. I am also a member of the national executive committee of the Confederación Campesina del Perú [CCP-Peruvian Peasant Federation]
I had reached Cuzco on the twenty-first, and on the twenty-fourth I went to the public demonstration. It was not the only demonstration held, because June 24 is the Day of the Peasantry and there are demonstrations in various places.
The demonstration I attended had the appropriate authorization of the provincial authorities. That is, there was absolutely nothing illegal about it. Permission had been requested in writing and it had been granted.
The police even knew I was going
• to
Cuzco to speak at the demonstration in Quillabamba, the capital of the province.
Following that, I went to the federation assembly Saturday, June 26. It was the regular assembly of the federation, held every Saturday. One of the unions asked me to attend the swearing-in ceremony for new officers they were going to have the following day, and I did. This, too, was an absolutely legal assembly.
Then on June 30 I attended an assembly of the Chaupimayo union, which dealt with the problems of the cooperative. It is a cooperative for marketing products, one of various cooperatives in the La Convención Valley. And I went to an assembly of that cooperative-also, of course, perfectly legal.
I want to make clear that during all the time I was in the countryside I knew nothing of what was going on in the cities.
When I arrived in the city of Cuzco on July 1, I found I had to take a taxi to get to my house because there was a strike of owner-operators of microbuses, that is, of public transportation, protesting an increase in gasoline prices that had taken place.
When I got home I read the newspapers and found out about the price hike. The price of gasoline had gone up 117 percent, and along with that the currency had been devalued by 30 percent. The government had also raised public transportation fares 30 percent and taken other economic steps. These included a wage hike of 10-15 percent with the stipulation that wages would remain frozen for twelve months.
These were economic measures that seriously affected the Peruvian people, especially the poorest sectors. They were steps in a process begun in Peru some time ago to try to rescue Peruvian capitalism from its crisis. The economics minister, Luis Barúa Castañeda, has been applying a series of measures recommended by the International Monetary Fund. So these are not the first steps, but they are the harshest so far.
Undoubtedly, they will bring more misery to the people. There will be more unemployment and growing popular discontent.
The public transportation strike occurred because of these steps. The bus drivers called a national general strike.
After I was arrested and brought to Lima I learned more details on this. The government said that the owner-operators wanted to raise the fares, but the drivers who were in prison with me made it clear that this was completely false. What they were asking for was that the gasoline price be lowered to the old price and that fares also be lowered to the old level. Even with that, they would be making a sacrifice because of the rise in the price of the dollar and of consumer goods. Nonetheless, they were not asking for a cent more for themselves.
The Peruvian government has tried to make a parallel between the strikes in Peru and the ones in Chile against the Allende government.
As we all know, in Chile there were strikes by bus owners against the Allende government. They were right-wing strikes of the entire bourgeoisie to bring down the Unidad Popular government and smash the working class.
The Peruvian government never speaks out against Pinochet or against the mil. itary regime in Chile. It also maintains very good relations with this government, and it does not permit a campaign against the Chilean dictatorship in Peru.
The so-called labor organizations created by the government-groups like the Frente de Defensa de la Revolución Peruana [Front for the Defense of the Peruvian Revolution]-do not organize mobilizations against the Chilean dictatorship.
The government was able to slander the Peruvian bus drivers easily because all the national-circulation newspapers are in the hands of the regime. The government says the newspapers are socialized and in the hands of people's organizations, but that is absolutely false. The journalists and editors of the daily papers who favor one or another sector of the government are changed in accord with shifts in the government and what sector is strongest. But the only independent press in Perubeyond some local newspapers that have to act very cautiously and have a small circulation-have been the weekly, biweekly, or monthly magazines.
The government seized the recent issues of the main independent magazines. Any attempt by the bus drivers to get information out was prevented, because these magazines had been confiscated.
I want to take note here of the fact that freedom of the press is being increasingly curtailed for the left. Right-wing magazines have also been seized, but for the rightists this is not a problem. They have enough money to begin putting out their magazines again later. But the left-wing magazine Marka, for example, will have many more economic difficulties, if it continues to come out at all. This is already the third time an issue of Marka has been confiscated, and these left-wing magazines survive only from their sales, which makes the confiscation of an entire issue a very serious blow for them.
In Lima there were big gatherings of people because of the bus drivers'
strike, especially of workers who wanted to go to work and students who wanted to go to school. Everyone was highly indignant about the price increases.
They gathered at bus stops looking for ways to protest. These crowds held spontaneous demonstrations in several parts of Lima, especially in the slums.
These demonstrations took the form of antigovernment, anticapitalist mobilizations. At least one headquarters of a government office was assaulted in a slum. Some companies were also stoned-Motor Perú, for example, which manufactures cars.
Bridges and other routes of communication were blocked in both the north and south of Lima. It was reported that stores were looted, and some buses that were in use during the strike were burned
That is, the people supported the striking bus drivers, although few of them knew the real reasons for the strike.
The government suspended individual rghts for thirty days and decreed a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Tanks, armored cars, and mounted police were reported patrolling the streets of Lima. Many arrests were made in the context of the suspension of individual rights.
One of the provisions of the suspension of rights was that no one could enter or leave Lima without permission. Lima and the surrounding area were declared in a state of emergency.
I was in Cuzco and didn't know any of the precise facts of these events, only what appeared in the newspaper and bits of news I got listening to foreign radio stations.
I was to go to Lima on July 3. But the night before, the political police came to my brother's house where I was staying. I was awakened by my sister-in-law who told me, "The police are looking for you." I got up, dressed, and they arrested me. It must have been about midnight. They took me to the police station, where I was held incommunicado for more than twenty-four hours. On Sunday at about 11 a.m. I was taken to Lima by plane. They didn't tell me why I was arrested. They never accused me of anything.
In Lima I was also held in the barracks of the political police. There I was questioned three times on three different days.
The first interrogation had to do with what I had done in Lima during the nine months since I returned to Peru. I told them everything I had done because this was completely public.
They asked me several times how many times I had gone to the editorial offices of Marka, why, and what I had done there. I told them that sometimes I had gone to get a back issue of the magazine and that recently they had interviewed me about the peasant movement I had participated in from 1958 to 1963
They also asked me about my connections to Francisco Montes, the editor of Palabra Socialista and a member of the Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores [Socialist Workers party), the Trotskyist party in Peru. I answered that Francisco Montes was editor of Palabra Socialista and that I wrote some articles for the newspaper. When they asked me what my relationship to the PST was, I answered that I was not working in the party, that it was impossible for me to work there because I was always followed by the police. At the same time, I said that I shared the political point of view of the PST.
From the moment I arrived in Peru nine months ago, there was always at least one police car, at times two or three, in front of my house. Sometimes there were also motorcycles equipped with radios. Everywhere I went, the police followed me. Several times they took photographs of the people who came to visit me.
When I went to Cuzco they watched me until I got onto the plane. And when I reached Cuzco, as soon as I got off the plane the police took photos of me and began following me.
In my brother's house in Cuzco, where I was staying, there is a telephone. They were always calling to ask if I was there, what I was doing, where I had gone, where I was going to go, etc. They were watching every move I made. When I went to some town, sometimes I would walk. Then they would send people to follow me on foot to that town. If I went in a car, they would follow in a car.
As a result of all those activities, the police had a more accurate record than I did. They had all this written down, and I was not memorizing everything I did day after day.
I want to emphasize that during the nine months I was in Peru, I did absolutely nothing illegal. I expressed my point of view on the government, on what the government was doing, and so forth. But according to what the Peruvian government says, this is legal. It is permissible for one to exercise the right to criticize even when it is to denounce deportations. I have done nothing more than exercise that right.
The second interrogation was about the United States Committee for Justice to Latin American Political Prisoners, a group in the United States. During this interrogation I realized that the police were reading my mail.
The third interrogation was about a lot of people in Peru and my relationship to them. I refused to answer. I told them that I was not going to answer such questions because I knew that any person who related to me-even if simply as a friend or member of my family-was in danger of falling victim to the repression. This had happened several times to my relatives.
I recounted the case of my mother.
When my mother was on her deathbed and I was in exile in Chile, I asked the Peruvian authorities to allow me to go to Peru. My request accomplished only one thing. The police went to my mother's house and took pleasure in seeing her in her death agony.
After this interrogation I spoke with one of the chiefs of police and told him that they had already asked me everything that I could answer, and that if they continued questioning me that I was going to interpret it as a form of torture.
Several times in my previous arrests they had me for four, five, ten hours at times, interrogating me. Of course, they did not question me all that time. They would begin the questioning. Then they would go away to do something else, leaving me sitting there in front of their typewriter. They would return after two or three hours and ask me one or two questions more. Then they would leave again, returning a few hours later—a method they have to destroy a person's nerves, I suppose.
During the time I was detained in Lima, at first I was not in a cell. I was in some offices of the political police. After the interrogations I asked to be put in a cell, where things would be less hectic. They put me in a cell by myself. There were two or three cells beside mine and they contained about thirty persons. The food was horrible, of course, as it is in all Peruvian prisons.
these thirty prisoners were
Among several picked up for being out after curfew, some bus drivers-leaders and rank-and-filers. There were also some foreigners-Argentines and Chileans who had sought political asylum in Peru. There were also leaders of a trade union at a supermarket in Monterrey.
This union was on strike several months ago, demanding that collective-bargaining agreements be respected and wages raised. The strike was not successful.
Afterwards, the bosses asked for a judgment against the leaders, saying that they were responsible for food having rotted and other things. Then the general secretary of the union died under myste rious circumstances.
Here are some paragraphs from a press release they put out:
"To the working class and the Peruvian people:
"The workers at the united union of Monterrey Stores, Inc., address the public and the working class to let you know about the death of our general secretary, compañera Aurora Vivar Vázquez. Her death is suspicious; up to now it has not been explained, occurring just when our militant leader had testified in the unusual criminal case the bosses are pressing against the workers of our trade union for the alleged crime of damages and seizure of property. This is an open reprisal for our having nobly defended our elementary rights in the general strike. The Peruvian people are fully aware of what happened and of the fact that our compañera Aurora provided a very clear example of honesty and bravery in defending our exploited class. Her death takes place under circumstances of systematic, direct aggression by the multimillionaire Monterrey company. This aggression has taken the form of violations of agreements, customs, and labor laws against the workers of our union.
"Her death must also be placed in the framework of suspicious occurrences like those that took place on the night of the fifteenth of this month, when the Monterrey store located in the Santa Catalina development was destroyed, reportedly by a firebomb. Coincidentally, the following morning we found beer bottles in front of the door of our trade-union headquarters. After investigating them, they were found to be firebombs.
"We also found a sizable quantity of leaflets bearing the name of our organization, in which the workers of our union were urged to carry out wild actions. The Lima police are aware of these facts.
"Nonetheless, there are still unanswered questions. Could it be that they planned to blame the fire that took place in the Sta. Catalina store on our union? Or perhaps they wanted to blow up our leaders?
"The answer is obvious. There are some odd persons and some reactionaries who are acting with the aim of creating a climate favorable for carrying out open repression against the workers. This terrorist act is a warning to all labor organizations to consistently and jealously guard our interests."
After that the compañeros invited people to come to the wake and funeral for the general secretary. During the funeral there were other acts of provocation. A photographer was taking pictures of the leaders and people who had gone to the funeral. This is dangerous because it is known that the police use these afterwards for interrogation of the people who were present at things like this.
The legal adviser of this union, Dr.
HUGO BLANCO
Laura Caller, who is a member of Amnesty International, had to intervene to prevent people from beating up the photographer, because during the funeral the masses were totally irritated by this photographer doing police work.
Later the lawyer was accused of trying to incite the masses. This is a longstanding problem.
Lately, taking advantage of the suspension of individual rights, the bosses and the authorities have accused members of the union's leadership of being involved in the death of compañera Aurora Vivar. That is, the people who really appear to have killed her are now accusing the compañeros of the dead woman of being the criminals. Because of this, the compañeros were prisoners at police headquar ters.
When I said goodbye to them, I promised that whatever country I went to I was going to do what I could to promote an international campaign for them because the case is incredibly scandalous. So, I ask for support to these leaders of the Monterrey union.
Also in prison with me were two persons arrested during a peasant assembly held near Lima. There were also student leaders. Finally, there was a slum dweller. He had been eating an orange when he cut his finger, leading him to drop the peel on the ground. A tank was passing by at that moment and its occupants told him he was sabotaging the armed forces, so they arrested him.
On July 10 I was taken to the airport and put on a plane for Sweden. The regime didn't give me a choice between going to prison or being deported. They treated me like an object, like any old thing. They just dumped me on the airplane without even telling me where I was going, just like they did before, in 1971.
As I was about to board the plane, the Swedish ambassador came up and asked me to show him my ticket. Of course I didn't have a ticket or a passport. The police had given them to the pilot of the plane.
The police had asked the people at my house for my passport, and they had to turn it over because of the suspension of individual rights. If they hadn't, the police would have ransacked the house.
The plane went as far as Amsterdam, where I was detained at the airport until another plane left for Scandanavia. In Denmark they turned over my passport and ticket to me.
Everything indicates the Peruvian regime is going to continue taking economic steps against the Peruvian people, and it is likely that they will carry out more and more repression against the people.
That is why it is essential for world public opinion to be alert to the escalation of repression going on in Peru.
Peruvian Regime Denationalizes
Oll and Fishing Industries
Opening up Peru to the exploration and exploitation of oil reserves by foreign companies, partial denationalization of the nation's fishing industry, and a decision that adequate conditions have not been reached"
for the so-called transfer of control over the mass media to "people's organizations" are the latest steps taken in the "second phase of the Peruvian revolution."
On July 21 the Morales Bermúdez regime announced it was dropping the "Peruvian system" requiring 51 percent participation by the state oil company, Petroper, in all oil operations.
In the fishing industry the regime has authorized the sale of its fishing fleet. Activities related to processing fish will remain under state control, although the processing will be carried out by private firms.
Intercontinental Press will give you a week by week analysis of the most important world events.