Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1996 17:52:17 GMT
To: marxism-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu
From: hariette-AT-easynet.co.uk (hariette spierings)
Subject: OFFENSIVE STENCH OF CORRUPTION IN PERU TAKES TO THE AIR (literally)






>From El Diario International (Brussels) N.30 First  Edition for March 1996

WHILE PEOPLE STARVE

30 MILLION DOLLARS FOR A PLANE FOR FUJIMORI

Fujimori's every act and gesture paints him as an unscrupulous individual out to extort the
maximum personal profit from his sojourn in the government palace.  Recently, in cahoots with
the top brass of the Armed Forces, the tyrant has ordered the purchase of a modern luxury
755-500 Boeing jet for his private use.  The plane has set back the exchequer by 30.000.000 US
Dollars.


Clandestine Decree

According to the official version, the high price paid for the new plane will be funded from the
sale of state enterprises.  This purchase has been handled in the most absolute secrecy and the
funding was provided by an "Urgent Secret Decree" known only to Fujimori, his PA, Vladimiro
Montesinos, and the military top brass.

Three Times the Price of the State Air-Line (Aero-Peru)

The price paid for Fujimori's new toy turns out to be more than three times the monies received
by the state from the privatisation of the state airline, Aero-Peru.  This last airline owned twelve
aeroplanes and was sold in 1993 for 10.000.000 dollars.  The expenditure of 30 million Dollars
on Fujimori's plane is a cruel mockery and a veritable aggression against the 15 million Peruvians
suffering under the most appalling conditions of life, even below bare subsistence levels

The Viceregal luxury of the Shogun Fujimori is being financed by the hunger and misery of
Peruvians.  A clear example is the budget that the state allows for the care of poverty stricken
children: In 1994, the state budgeted 8.000.000 dollars for this purpose.  Additionally, 5.000.000
US Dollars were allocated for the program denominated "childhood survival". 

On the other hand, if one takes the price paid for Fujimori's plane and compares with it the total
amount of aid from international assistance, it becomes apparent that the cost of  this toy
swallows up the entire allocations from Holland, Belgium and Great Britain combined, which, in
1994, did not exceed 30.000.000 million dollars.

Paradise Island Amidst the Misery of a People

This is not the first time that the government takes to a high jinks life style at the state's budget
expense. At the onset of his government, Fujimori ordered - for his own exclusive private use -
the building of a "weekend" retreat in the Southern coast of the Lima region, at the Pachacamac
Island.  Building this palatial retreat cost several million dollars, besides the heavy expenditure
required for keeping this waterless island irrigated and supplied on a permanent basis. 
Moreover, the tyrant  began using several helicopters to take him and his cronies to-and-fro this
"Fantasy Island" - as they themselves familiarly refer to in public - also at tax payers expense.

The plane's purchase, and "Fantasy Island" are barely a couple of samples of the high degree of
corruption pervading the highest rungs of the Peruvian state and the top brass of the armed forces.

There are worse examples than these, and these others are just a few that readily come to mind:

The links of the regime with the international drugs cartels and the purchase of nearly two
thousand Million dollars a year from these sources.  The disreputable "business deals" perpetrated
in the sale of state enterprises. The grand kickbacks received as commissions from arms purchase
and military services contracted abroad.  The underhand sale of donations received from charitable
sources abroad, a business directly handled by the President's family.


Peru: Corruption and Dictatorship

The extent of official corruption in Peru can only be explained in the kind of political situation that
exists in the country.  A situation in which a corrupt judicial power is totally under the thumbs of
the regime, and principally, in the hands of the military.  With a "parliament" with no other use
but pandering and clowning for the benefit of the central authorities.  Armed Forces that have
taken over ALL political power and - behind the throne of their puppet Fujimori - decide at will
the political direction of the country.

To all these factors, the lack of a genuine force of opposition at the official level must be added. 
As  it is public knowledge, the parties and organisations that pretend to be the "opposition" -
Apra, Accion Popular, United Left, Fredemo and others -  have disappeared from the scene, or
their survival, is merely a marginal affair, at the edges of the political stage they help to decorate,
but this stage is totally managed by the current regime.


DEFEND THE LIFE OF THE WAR PRISONERS IN PERU

International Campaign Against the Criminal Regime in Peru

To demand that the International Red Cross visits the Peruvian jails.

Let Us Organise a Commission for a World Wide Mobilisation

El Diario - Brussels March 1996

Committee Sol Peru - London        


 
  



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