[The following interview with Hugo Blanco, presidential candidate of the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT), Peruvian section of the Fourth International, was obtained in Lima on May 15 by Alán Martin. The translation is by Intercontinental Press/Inprecor.]
Question. What are the goals of the PRT in ths campaign?
Answer. The main goal is to present to the people a way out of the social and economic crisis Peru is in.
There are various alternatives being presented by the right-wing parties, the most important being the APRA, the PPC, and the AP.* They represent the interests of the big imperialist companies. These three parties have the aim of replacing the military dictatorship in the service of the big companies. Their plans for government are not essentially different from the economic policies followed by the Morales Bermúdez government-that is, the policies of the International Monetary Fund, which amount to safeguarding the profits of the big companies through the impoverishment of our people.
The elections are being held because of the heroic struggles carried out by our people. Alarmed by these struggles, the imperialists have seen the need to replace the military dictatorship with a civilian government, so that what happened in Cuba and in Nicaragua does not happen here. In those countries, the people rose up against dictatorships that did not want to leave and swept away not only the dictatorships but also imperialist domination.
So, what we have to show the people is that there really is a way out of the crisisnot one based on the interests of the big companies but one that goes against the interests of the big companies. That means socialization of the economy, orienting it toward meeting the needs of our people
*APRA-American People's Revolutionary Alliance; PPC-Christian People's Party; AP—People's Action Party.
and not toward the needs of the big impe rialist corporations.
Q. What kind of a reception has the PRT received from the workers and peasants during its election campaign?
A. We have had quite large meetings everywhere. Here in Lima our main rally drew some 50,000 people, despite inade quate publicity. And we have also had local rallies in the various districts on the outskirts of Lima that have been quite important. Nearly one-third of the coun try's population is concentrated in the city of Lima-there is a brutal centralism owing to the imperialist oppression our coun try suffers, so the majority of factories and public offices have accumulated in the capital, forcing the people to migrate here.
We have also had big rallies in other provinces. In most of these, not only has the attendance been large but there has also been great enthusiasm and support expressed for our party. That shows us that the people really are tired of bosses and generals.
Q. In April a great many supposed "refugees" arrived in Peru from Cubathose who had sought asylum in the Peruvian embassy in Havana. What is the PRT's position on these "refugees"?
A. In the first place, we view this whole affair as a part of the general strategy of U.S. imperialism for smashing the revolution in Central America. It represents a move in the U.S. chess game in which the Peruvian government has been no more than a pawn.
This maneuver has also been used by the Peruvian government and the right wing to discredit a socialized economy, to discredit a workers government. However, this has not turned out too well, since the majority of these refugees wanted to go to the United States and not remain in Peru.
Certainly in Cuba there are still great limitations, owing fundamentally to the economic backwardness of the country at the time of the revolution-backwardness caused by the imperialist deformation of the economy. And it is certain that because of the U.S. blockade, Cuba has not yet been able to overcome all those economic difficulties. This means that in some respects a Cuban can live better in the United States than in Cuba.
But it is also certain that living standards in Cuba are far, far higher than in Batista's time and much higher than those of any other Latin American country. These Cubans want to go to the United States; I don't think they want to stay here.
I was saying that this didn't turn out too well for the Peruvian government, because while they may have been able to discredit the Cuban workers state before the masses, some statements by the refugees have also made people see that things are better in Cuba.
For example, one Cuban was complaining that in Cuba one could only eat meat three times a week. The Peruvian people would certainly like to eat meat three times a week-only the upper classes can do that. It's well known that here in Peru a large part of the population of the marginal neighborhoods lives on things like Nicovita—a type of birdseed that is harmful to human beings.
Another Cuban woman was complaining that children there are only provided with free milk up to the age of eight. Well, that would be a paradise compared with Peru, where the only milk many children have ever had was their mothers' milk, and where baby bottles are usually filled with some kind of tea.
It was said by another Cuban that because education is free, people have to study a lot and work hard. And that seems like heaven here in Peru where the majority of people cannot learn because of the high cost of education and where half the economically active population is unemployed or underemployed.
Q. Is there anything you would like to say to the workers movement abroad about this election campaign?
A. It is inspiring to us that in countries like the United States, France, and Sweden the workers movement is stepping up its struggle against our common enemyimperialism and the big companies based in the United States, Europe, and Japan. We hope our struggles can be more and more united and coordinated and that together we can defeat this enemy.