File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1997/97-01-19.073, message 59


Date: Sat, 18 Jan 97 20:21:52    
Subject: M-G: Human rights violations in Peru



The list of human rights violations in Peru is a long one. 
Here are just a few examples:

  In the maximum security prison inside the Callao navy base, 
cells are 8 meters underground. The prisoners there are detained 
in cells with no natural light.

  All prisoners are held in total isolation for their first 
year, thereafter they are allowed only 30 minutes in the yard 
each day. Only immediate family members may visit them. Prisoners 
are not allowed books, newspapers, or radios.

  Women prisoners are guarded by men.

  Some maximum security prisons, like the one in Yanamayo, are 
built in regions whose climates are so harsh that prisoners 
suffer serious health problems as a result.

  Guards are allowed to mete out punishments as they see fit.

  In extremely short trials, defendants are often sentenced 
by the military to life in prison. The judges are masked and 
thereby remain anonymous to the defendants.

Since 1990, the construction of high security prisons has increased 
dramatically in Peru. Most of these are designed to confine 
prisoners in isolation conditions. The experiences of Germany 
in this field have led to several visits by high-ranking Peruvian 
officials to consult with their German counterparts on this issue.

Isolation detention is part of the "psycho-social campaign" 
designed to break the prisoners and force them to abandon their 
struggle. The maximum security prisons, which President Fujimori 
once described as "prison tombs", are, in short: "The place 
where they will rot and only come out when they are dead."

The anti-terror laws now in force in Peru were enacted in May 
1992. This state of emergency allows for the mass arrest of 
opposition activists. Mechanisms of protection, codified in 
international accords against torture and inhumane mistreatment, 
have been eroded by these laws. All prisoners are tortured and 
mistreated, and they are subjected to unfair trials. Since 1983, 
thousands of people have "disappeared" due to state-sponsored 
murders or torture. Almost none of these acts of state-sponsored 
human rights violations have ever been investigated.

On the contrary: On June 16, 1995, President Fujimori issued 
a general amnesty which quashed all investigations or indictments 
of human rights violations which occurred after May 1980. The 
few persons who had been convicted of such crimes before this 
amnesty had their sentences annulled, and if any happened to 
be in prison, they were released. This get-out-of-jail-free policy, 
therefore, freed all state murderers and torturers. This criminalization 
of the victims is also in line with Fujimori's economic policies, 
which have been enacted on the backs of Peru's poorest classes."


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