Tom Baker here, and friends you can
email this email
to the emails below.
----- Original Message -----
From: Dr. Arnold
Matlin
Subject: [GVCP] BETTER FORMAT Human Rights Abuses
in Peru--using "terrorism" as an excuse
Dear GVCP members and solidarity friends:
The Peruvian government is using the “t-word”
to justify widespread human rights abuses.
If anyone takes part in a legal protest, they
risk being arrested and imprisoned for
“terrorism.”
The facts below are detailed and useful,
but may be more information than you want or
need.
If that’s the case, just read the first paragraph (in red),
and then scroll down to the sample letter and addresses
at the bottom of the e-mail (also in red).
I hope you’ll join in this important campaign
In solidarity,
Arnie Matlin for GVCP
From: Rights Action <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mar 23, 2008 6:33 PM
Subject: PERU: Urgent Action -
Government Uses "Terorrism: Charges to Quell Social-Political Participation
To: Rights Action <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
March 22, 2008
PERUVIANS ARRESTED FOR PARTICIPATION IN BOLIVARIAN CONFERENCE
Rights Action is extremely concerned about the current violations of fundamental human
rights in Peru, particularly the right to freedom of opinion and _expression_
and the right of peaceful assembly and association. Following their
participation in an internal and public congress of the Boliviarian
Continental Coordinator (CCB) in Quito, Ecuador from February 24 to 28,
seven members of the Peru chapter of the CCB were detained upon returning to
Peru on terrorism charges. All are currently in prison, awaiting their legal
trial in which they could face up to 20 years in prison. Six of the seven
are women, four of these over fifty years of age, and one is known to have
cancer. Rights Action encourages letters (sample at the end of this message)
to be sent to Peruvian authorities.
BACKGROUND On February 29 seven
Peruvians (Arminda Valladares Saba, Melissa Rocío Patińo Hinostroza,
Guadalupe Alejandrina Hilario Rivas, Maria Gabriel Segura, Carmen Mercedes
Asparrent Riveros, Roque Gonzáles La Rosa and Damaris Velasco Huiza), were
arrested in the department of Tumbes on the border with Ecuador by Peruvian
police as they returned to their country after participating in a meeting of
the Bolivarian Continental Coordinator (Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana
- CCB) which took place in Quito, Ecuador from February 24 to 28. The seven,
members of the CCB Peruvian chapter (CCB-P), were initially detained under
suspicion of Affiliation and Collaboration in Terrorism; the public
prosecutor's office has since formalized this charge based on their
participation in the CCB meeting in Ecuador. The CCB is a public forum that
brings together civil society organizations interested in promoting the
"Bolivarian Revolution" in Latin America.
The Bolivarian Revolution is a
political concept based on a call for Latin American unity, socialist
political ideals and the promotion of widespread protest activities as a
means of resistance to global capitalism, and has been inspired by the
movement in Venezuela. According to media reports, some participants in the
CCB meeting in Quito discussed protesting the Latin American-European Union
(ALC-UE) and Asian Pacific Cooperation (APEC) international summits to be
held in Peru in May and November, respectively. In statements to the
Peruvian press, Peru's Attorney General claimed that plans for terrorist
activities were discussed at the CCB meeting, an assertion that seemingly
refers to the protests to coincide with the ALC-UE and APEC summits.
CURRENT SOCIAL UNREST IN PERU
In recent months a series of protests have taken place
in Peru against policies of the current government of President Alan Garcia,
whose approval rating in polls hovers around 30%. Protesters reject
government policies related to the eviction of communities from their
agricultural land and territories, water privatization, and concessions
granted to gas, oil, mining, and lumber companies as well as other free
trade initiatives to sell Amazon lands to foreign companies engaged in these
extractive industries.
4 DEAD; 150 ARRESTED In response the Peruvian
government has implemented draconian legislation to limit protests. On
February 18, Peru's campesino organizations convoked a national protest
which was suspended on February 20 after four protesters were killed and
approximately 150 arrested. Though civil society organizations called for
an investigation of the killings, denouncing that among a series of
repressive legislative measures enacted to deter protests is a decree which
provides impunity to police who kill while deterring protests. Other
measures include a prohibition against the participation of mayors and
authorities in protests, a measure directed particularly against local
campesino, indigenous and non-indigenous authorities who have been
elected at the local level.
"THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE" Peruvian officials have
categorized current social protests, including those against the proposed
Law for the Promotion of Private Investment in Reforestation and
Agroforestry — without irony named by President Garcia as "the Law of the
Jungle" — as violent actions promoted by terrorist organizations
associated with the subversive groups of the past and the Venezuelan
government. This proposed law facilitates the sale of Amazonian lands to
lumber companies. In reference to this initiative, President Garcia has been
quoted as stating, "Taking advantage of our timber and reforesting is a way
to generate jobs and attract investment. We live in an ideological world
that says the Amazon cannot be touched, because it is part of the idyll of
primitive communism.”
THE ON-GOING CHALLENGES IN POST-CONFLICT PERU The
Peruvian government publicly asserts that current protests are promoted by
members of the armed revolutionary movements who were active during Peru's
internal armed conflict (1980 -2000) in an attempt to equate those that
protest now with the subversive groups of the past. These statements, and
the related press reports, only serve to aggravate social and political
tensions as Peru continues to deal with the conflicts' on-going impacts
including efforts to search for justice for the over 69,000 people killed
during the conflict, according the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
implement a collective reparations program, and legally try former President
Alberto Fujimori and other political figures from his 10-year presidential
term (1990-2000). Hundreds of people who were sentenced for "terrorism" for
their affiliation with the two subversive groups during the conflict-- the
Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso- SL) and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary
Movement (MRTA) -- continue to serve prison sentences which range from 15
years to life.
With the current "terrorist" scare, those people that have
been released on parole or after having served their time (on the average
after 14 years or more in prison) face even more challenges to reincorporate
into their society. No law exists to limit their participation in political
life; in fact upon serving their sentences, they have all the full rights as
any other Peruvian citizen including that to freedom of opinion and
_expression_ and the right of peaceful assembly and association. Nonetheless,
former prisoners are stigmatized and subject to suspicion. Earlier this
year, government officials stated that they would release a list naming all
the people who had served time (including those acquitted and pardoned),
which would be a clear violation of the right to freedom from
discrimination.
One of the seven participants in the CCB meeting arrested on
February 29 is a former prisoner who completed his 15-year sentence. His
status as a former prisoner has underpinned government official's statements
linking the CCB to "terrorism" as well as sustaining the legal charges
against all seven Peruvians.
PART OF A REGIONAL CONTEXT: COLOMBIAN CONFLICT
AND HOSTILITIES TOWARD VENEZUELA
Following the February 29 arrests of the
seven Peruvian citizens, Peruvian officials began claiming that members of
Venezuela's government were involved in promoting the CCB and supporting the
FARC. These accusations come at a particularly sensitive moment, as the
internal armed conflict in Colombia continues to have a great impact on the
neighboring countries and people in the Andean region. On March 1, Colombian
military troops entered Ecuador to carry out a raid on a FARC camp, killing
one of its highest commanders and approximately 20 other people. Reports
have circulated in the international press that information linking the FARC
to the Venezuelan government was collected during the raid. Both Venezuela
and Ecuador stationed armed forces along their Colombian border, and have
denounced the incursion as a violation of sovereignty and an action carried
out with the support of the United States government. In the US, there have
been calls to place the Venezuelan government on the US government list of
states that sponsor terrorism, a step which would escalate tensions with
Venezuela and greatly aggravate fears of a covert or overt armed
intervention by the US in Venezuela. These recent events have occurred in a
context in which the Venezuelan and Ecuadorian governments were promoting
dialog with the FARC focused on achieving the release of hostages held by
the FARC.
In January of this year the unconditional release of two hostages
was achieved through efforts spearheaded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
and with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross. In
February a similar operation, called "Path to Peace", achieved the release
of four more hostages. Understanding that the recent detentions respond to
delicate regional and national contexts, and have no legal basis, Rights
Action solicits letters of protest against the detention of the seven
Peruvians (Arminda Valladares Saba, Melissa Rocío Patińo Hinostroza,
Guadalupe Alejandrina Hilario Rivas, Maria Gabriel Segura, Carmen Mercedes
Asparrent Riveros, Roque Gonzáles La Rosa and Damaris Velasco Huiza). PLEASE
SEND LETTERS To the following persons express your concern that the Peruvian
government is violating fundamental human rights through the incarceration
of its citizens for participating in a political meetings and protests.
This distortion of the concept of terrorism to include social organizing and
protest undermines the essential principals of democracy and human rights.
High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations
Telephone: +41 22 917 90 00
Email: InfoDesk@xxxxxxxxx
President Alan Garcia
President of the Republic of Peru
Palacio de Gobierno Plaza Mayor,
Lima 1, PERÚ
Embassy of Perú United States of America
1700 Mass. Ave, NW Washington DC, 20036
Tel: (202) 833-9860
Fax: (202) 659-8124
e-mail: peru@xxxxxxxxxxx
Embassy of Perú Canada
130 Albert Street Suite 1901
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1P 5G4
Tel: 613-238-1777
Fax: 613-232-3062
e-mail: emperuca@xxxxxxxx
To Whom It May Concern:
I am extremely concerned that the recent arrests of Peruvian
Citizens Arminda Valladares Saba, Melissa Rocío Patińo Hinostroza, Guadalupe
Alejandrina Hilario Rivas, Maria Gabriel Segura y Carmen Mercedes Asparrent
Riveros, Roque Gonzáles La Rosa and Damaris Velasco Huiza, in Tumbes on
February 29 on charges of of Affiliation and Collaboration in Terrorism.
This constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights and undermines democracy
in Peru. In detaining its citzens for participation in a public, civil
political event, the Peruvian government is violating fundamental human
rights through the incarceration of its citizens for participating in a
political meetings and protests. This distortion of the concept of terrorism
to include social organizing and protest undermines the essential principals
of democracy and human rights.
Sincerely,
*** Please re-distribute this info all around.
David L. Wilson * 212-674-9499 *
<nicadlw@xxxxxxxxx> Co-author, The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.org
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------ End of Forwarded Message