PERUVIAN RULERS SEEK TO STAMP OUT GUERRILLA FRONTS
The appearance of three separate guerrilla fronts in Peru touched off a state of near panic in the Belaunde Terry government. On July 4 constitutional guarantees were suspended and a nation-wide witch-hunt was launched by the frightened civil authorities while army forces combed the high Andes seeking the elusive armed representatives of Peru's land=hungry, revolutionary-minded peasants.
The existence of a guerrilla front in Cuzco headed by Luis de
Qe
la Puente, a leader of the MIR [Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria], has been publicized in the Lima newspapers for some time, [see World Outlook April 16,] Since then two other fronts have been — reported, one in Junin headed by Guillermo Lobatén, another leader of the MIR, and one in Huancavelica led by Ismael Paredes, whose political affiliation is not certain, The three: fronts have been named "Pachacutec," "Tiipac Amaru’ and "Pumacahua."
When the formation of the front headed by Lobatdén was announced, the MIR said it stood on a program of "a real agrarian reform, the expulsion of imperialism, an urban reform, the nationalization of commerce, the banks and all the credit institutions, the liquidation of all the monopolies."
The distribution of this "declaration of war" was followed by attacks on two mines at Santa Rosa and Samaniego, where forty cases of dynamite were seized. Two big holdings at Runatullo and Punto were attacked and two bridges on the Concepcidn-Satipo road were blown up. The civil guards were then attacked at Santo Domingo de Acobamba and at Andamarca, numerous arms being taken. A property at Cotovilla was burned. The guerrilla fighters reported that they had met with sympathy among the miners and:the peasants and that many young Indians were joining them.
Although the government denied the existence of any guerrillas in Peru, it sent the elite "Rangers," who have réceived counterguer-— rilla training in the United States, into action. On June 27 the government forces ran into an ambush. Twelve of them were killed, The government claimed that on the other side, out of a force of twenty-eight men, sixteen were wounded and the leader was killed,
On July 4, the government decided to suspend the constitution for thirty days, enabling it to arbitrarily arrest and jail people and impose a censorship. In taking this grave action, the government admitted that seven police had been killed and another twelve wounded in another battle. In addition two bombs had been exploded in Lima, one in a big hotel, breaking windows in the .area, the other at the National Club where a reception had been scheduled for the debutantes of high Peruvian society. The police broke up a demonstration organized by Christian Democratic youth protesting against the infamous display of luxury at the reception in face of the poverty of Peru's MASSES»
The leaders of the MIR issued a communiqué stating that two more guerrilla centers were being organized, one in Cajamarca and one in Puno close to the Bolivian border.
The government announced that it was mobilizing the armed forces "with the aim of ending once and for all the extremist subversion." The air force was ordered to bomb Pucata, a base controlled by the guerrilla fighters. And the troops sent out by Belaunde Terry
ro
were given orders "not to give any quarter and not to take any prisoners,'
According to a Reuters dispatch from Lima July 6, troops and policemen, backed by planes, were building up for a final push in the mountains, while in Lima. and throughout the country the police "were rounding up suspected Communists and extremists," .
7 No figures were issued by the police on the number of arrests, “but one report put the number at 700,'
_ Through the tight censorship it was impossible to ascertain. what the reaction was among the workers, among the one third of Lima's population living in the infamous slum districts, and among the bit~ terly poor peasantry, the majority of the population, who began occupying the land under the leadership of Hugo Blanco several years ago.