Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1993 17:27:21 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: News: July 28-31 (78 KB)
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts
July 31, 1993, Saturday
SECTION: Part 3 The Far East; 1. GENERAL AND WESTERN AFFAIRS
PAGE: FE/1755/A1
HEADLINE: CHINA; China's Liu Huaqiu to visit Bolivia, Peru and Colombia
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Huaqiu will attend the inauguration
ceremony of the new Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada as
special envoy of the Chinese government, Xinhua news agency (in English
0311 gmt) reported on 29th July. Following the 6th August inauguration,
Liu will pay a working visit to Peru and Colombia, the report noted.
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts/The Monitoring Report
July 31, 1993, Saturday
SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; 4(D). LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
PAGE: ME/1755/III
HEADLINE: Peru: US embassy attackers reportedly among 300 "terrorists"
arrested in Lima
(ME/1753 iii) Citing a local newspaper, Television Global (Lima) on 29th
July reported that 300 people suspected of "terrorist" activities, including
the perpetrators of the car bomb explosion outside the US embassy on the
27th, had been arrested in the capital, Lima.
Copyright 1993 European Information Service
European Report
July 31, 1993
SECTION: V. EXTERNAL RELATIONS; No. 1880
HEADLINE: HUMANITARIAN AID: EC GRANTS 1.33 MILLION ECUS TO
REFUGEES AND DISASTER VICTIMS
The European Commission agreed on July 28 to allocate a total of 1.33
million Ecus in emergency humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees, flood
victims in Nepal and Peru, and earthquake victims in Ecuador. A further
3.99 million Ecus were allocated on July 29 to displaced persons in
Azerbaijan and Liberia.
Occupied Territories: 0.5 mEcus for refugees in the Israeli-occupied Gaza
Strip. The British NGO Medical Aid for Palestine will use 350,000 Ecus of
the total grant aid to buy and distribute basic medical supplies and
equipment. Oxfam-Belgium will be allocated 150,000 Ecus for more general
emergency aid, including the supply of medicines, baby milk, tents and
blankets.
Nepal: 0.5 mEcus for victims of recent floods. The money will be used by
the French NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres to supply shelter, basic
provisions, drinking water and medical assistance.
Peru: 250,000 Ecus for victims of floods in the North East of the country.
The NGOs Caritas-Spain and Caritas- Peru will use the aid to buy, transport
and distribute seeds (rice, beans and corn) and agricultural equipment for
the 1,000 small-scale farmers affected by the disaster.
Ecuador: 80,000 Ecus for victims of an earthquake in the South East of
the country. Channelled through the Spanish branch of the NGO Caritas and
its Ecuadorean counterpart, the funds will go towards the purchase and
distribution of basic food supplies, cooking utensils, sanitary products and
sanitary equipment for some 160 families.
Liberia: 3.49 mEcus for food and medical aid packages in favour of
internal refugees and refugees from Sierra Leone. These include the
provision of basic medical facilities, rehabilitation of hospitals and clinics,
the creation of feeding centres for children and the purchase of tents,
blankets and cooking utensils. The projects will be carried out by local
NGOs and partners of the EC Humanitarian Office (ECHO): the Belgian and
Dutch branches of Medecins Sans Frontieres, Action Internationale Contre
la Faim-France and UNHCR.
Azerbaijan: 500,000 Ecus for shelters and medical equipment for nearly
300,000 Azeri refugees fleeing Armenian attacks on regions to the east of
the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The assistance will be
channelled through the Belgian branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Copyright 1993 The Financial Times Limited;
Financial Times
July 30, 1993, Friday
SECTION: Commodities and Agriculture; Pg. 34
HEADLINE: Gold outshines silver in Peru mining rush - Companies are ever
more assiduously seeking the yellow metal
BYLINE: By SALLY BOWEN
GOLD FEVER is gripping Peru. In the face of long-depressed silver prices
- the South American country is the second largest producer after Mexico -
local mining companies are ever more assiduously seeking the yellow
metal; and joining them in the hunt is an increasing number of foreign
mining houses.
According to Mr Carlos Diez Canseco, general manager of Peru's National
Mining Society: 'Gold is what's attracting most of the foreign companies
currently visiting Peru' . Canadian, Australian and Korean interest is
especially keen, he says.
Already well ahead of the field in the gold rush is a consortium formed
by Newmont Mining of Denver, the biggest gold producer in the US and
BRGM of France, together with Peru's own leading silver producer, the
Buenaventura group. Mining is already under way at its Yanacocha gold
deposit in the north-central Andes and processing is due to commence on
Sunday. It is Peru's first large-scale dump-leaching operation and
Newmont Exploration's first venture in the country.
Yanacocha - a disseminated, low-grade deposit - is expected to produce
250,000 troy ounces. of gold a year, which will almost double Peru's
output. Proven reserve levels guarantee at least seven years' output, and
Newmont is exploring further in the surrounding area.
Usually, in leaching operations, the ore needs prior crushing. But in the
Yanacocha deposits no preparation will be necessary. Trials have
established that simple dump-leaching of Yanacocha's porous rock will
allow recovery of some 83 per cent of the ore's gold content in the
surprisingly short period of 30 days. (About 65 per cent recovery in
double the period would be considered normal).
Yanacocha's highly soluble ore averages between 1.5 and three ounces
of gold per tonne. It is planned to use the Merrill Crowe method for gold
recovery, which involves the addition of zinc powder. The end product will
be 'dore' bullion, in a mixture of 60 per cent gold, 40 per cent silver. The
consortium says it has not yet decided where, or even whether, to refine.
Development costs may total Dollars 45m - modest in relation to
potential returns. In Chile, according to one member of the consortium, a
similar project would involve three times the initial outlay. In fact,
projected profitability is such that Buenaventura has obtained a rare
development loan from a group of local Peruvian banks. Germany's state
development bank DEG and the International Finance Corporation are also
expected to participate in the financing.
Investment costs are being kept down by subcontracting all the earth-
moving to a local company in partnership with Zublin of Germany. The
entire operation will employ only about 100 workers. They will live in
nearby Cajamarca, obviating the need for camp facilities.
Newmont is spending heavily on security for the new operation. And
that is not surprising as an earlier joint project with BRGM was halted
when guerrillas invaded the mining area. But Cajamarca looks a better
security bet - the mine is only 45km by a good road from the
departmental capital and guerrilla activity is almost non-existent.
As gold enters a mini-boom phase, the long-lasting depression in silver
prices has forced all Peru's traditional silver producers to diversify.
The Buenaventura group, Peru's leading private producer, has entered
into a series of joint ventures with other mining concerns, of which
Yanacocha is only one.
Buenaventura is still heavily dependent, nevertheless, on silver. 'We're
trying to diversify, but it still accounts for around 70 per cent of our sales,
down from 85 per cent,' says Mr Roque Benavides. The group has a small
percentage in the promising Iscaycruz zinc mine, which is scheduled to
start producing in 1995 - other shareholders are BRGM, Paraibuna do
Metais and Marc Rich - and an even smaller stake in Cyprus Minerals' bid
for the Cerro Verde copper deposit, due for sale in September.
Milpo is another largely family-owned Peruvian mining company which
has seen a dramatic shift in its business in the past decade. 'In the early
'80s and at Dollars 20 an ounce, our output hinged on silver,' says Mr
Augusto Baertl, Milpo's managing director. 'But currently silver accounts
for only some 15 per cent of total sales - zinc is our main product now,
lead is second.'
Milpo, however, like most Peruvian mines, has no alternative but to
keep mining the silver - 'It's an integral part of the ore; you have to exploit
rationally everything you've got,' says Mr Baertl. 'While the silver isn't
profitable by itself, at least it adds value to our zinc concentrates.'
Milpo is involved in several gold exploration ventures, one with
Buenaventura, another with Southern Peru Copper Corporation in the
region near Peru's southern border with Chile.
If Yanacocha is outstanding for the grade of its ore and ease of
exploitation, Peru offers plenty of other gold possibilities. The lure of
alluvial deposits on the high plateau of Ananea, running down to the
Madre de Dios river basin, has already transformed thousands of peasant
farmers into gold panners - and there are prospects for larger-scale
operations too. The areas between Ica and Arequipa in the south and
around Pataz in the north are also interesting. In the Pataz area Peru's two
largest traditional gold mines, Retamas and Poderosa, are doing very
nicely.
Mineroperu, the state minerals company is also offering a series of
already-studied gold deposits to private investors. These include the vast
goldfields of San Antonio de Poto, on the high Andean plateau near Puno.
But there are several smaller and more easily accessible projects that could
be attractive to the medium-sized investor.
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts/The Monitoring Report
July 30, 1993, Friday
SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; 4(D). LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
PAGE: ME/1754/III
HEADLINE: Peru: President Fujimori says Shining Path and MRTA have
been defeated
Lima radios and televisions on 28th July relayed a speech by President
Alberto Fujimori marking Peru's Independence Day. Among other things,
he praised the role of the armed forces in the "face of the Shining Path and
the MRTA [Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement]", saying that "they [the
armed forces] were able to defeat the most fanatic and perverse enemy
under the most difficult circumstances we can imagine".
On human rights, he said: "No one is more interested than my
government in defending human rights, especially after having endured
the greatest human rights violations by terrorist and genocidal groups like
Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement."
Copyright 1993 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
July 30, 1993
SECTION: Domestic News
HEADLINE: "Coca leaves are not cocaine": Bolivian president
DATELINE: LIMA
LIMA, July 29 (AFP) - President Jaime Paz Zamora said that Bolivia and
Peru had joined forces to pursuade the world that coca leaves are different
from cocaine and that farmers who cultivate them are not criminals.
In a speech before the Peruvian legislature Thursday, Paz Zamora said
that the coca leaf was "something of our own" while cocaine was an alien
substance.
Paz Zamora, who was making his last trip as head of state before he is
succeeded August 6 by president-elect Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, has
tried to improve the coca leaf's image and has promoted it for legal uses
such as tea.
Bolivia produces about 120,000 tonnes of coca -- the raw material used
to make cocaine -- annually while Peru produces some 600,000 tonnes.
Paz Zamora said Peru and Bolivia were willing to join the international
community's efforts to fight drug trafficking through means such as crop
substitution.
"A farmer who grows coca is a producer and should be treated as such,
and the international community should think in terms of finding
alternatives for his crops," he said.
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori awarded Paz Zamora with Peru's
highest honor, the Order of the Sun, in a ceremony Thursday. Friday, the
two leaders are to travel to the port of Ilo, where Bolivia will be granted a
free zone for industry, trade and tourism.
Copyright 1993 Latin America Institute,
University of New Mexico
NotiSur - Latin American Political Affairs
July 30, 1993
SECTION: Political violence & peace initiatives
HEADLINE: PERU: SENDERO LUMINOSO ATTACKS U.S. EMBASSY IN LIMA
On the morning of July 27, suspected Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path)
rebels detonated a 150 kg. bomb in a van parked outside the US embassy
in Lima. The blast wounded four people and caused extensive damage to
the building.
This is the fifth time Sendero has attacked installations pertaining to the
US diplomatic mission. The last incident occurred in February 1992 when
a Sendero car bomb exploded at the Lima residence of the US ambassador.
Three Peruvians died in that attack.
The embassy bombing came in the wake of a failed "armed strike" (paro
armado) which Sendero had attempted to impose on July 23, just one day
before the nation held its independence day celebrations. In fact, security
outside the embassy compound had been beefed up in anticipation of rebel
attempts to disrupt the celebrations. (Sources: United Press International,
Reuter, Associated Press, 07/27/93; New York Times, 07/28/93; Agence
France-Presse, 07/27/93, 07/28/93)
Copyright 1993 Reuters Limited
The Reuter Washington Report
July 30, 1993, Friday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: THE REUTER DIARY OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Week of July 30, 1993
The diary editor is Steve Ginsburg. Tim Ahmann, Eric Beech, Melissa
Bland, Will Dunham, Peter Ramjug and Paul Schomer also are available to
help you. If you any questions, please call 202-898-8345. For service
problems call 1-800-435-0101. Events in this diary are subject to change.
This diary, updated weekly, is filed every Friday and in updated form on
Monday.
Contact numbers and Federal Register pages are listed when available.
Items listed with a + appear for the first time.
-----
-----
OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY
OFFICIAL ACTIVITY
Aug. 9: Director Lee Brown conducts a briefing at the USIA's Foreign Press
Center on his upcoming trip to Panama, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. (202-
724-1635)
Aug. 10-17: Director Brown travels to Central and South America, with
scheduled stops in Panama, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru.
Copyright 1993 Star Tribune
Star Tribune
July 29, 1993, Metro Edition
SECTION: News; World news; Pg. 4A
HEADLINE: World news
LATIN AMERICA
An eighth person died of gunshot wounds suffered in last week's
massacre of street children in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hospital
officials said. Marco Antonio da Silva, 20, died without emerging from a
coma after Friday's shootings. Da Silva was a leader of a gang of street kids
who hung around Candelaria Square in downtown Rio. Three state
policemen are being held in the killings and officials said two more would
be detained soon.
Accelerating a drive to generate desperately needed foreign currency,
the government of Cuba will announce the lifting of tight restrictions on
travel to the island this week for Cuban-American exiles who had been
forced to wait months or even years for visas allowing them to visit their
families. Havana has notified Miami-based travel agencies that it will
quickly seek a fivefold increase in the number of exiles visiting the island.
Life sentences for drug-traffickers and kidnappers were proposed by
President Alberto Fujimori of Peru in a speech to mark his third
anniversary in power and his 55th birthday. Fujimori addressed Congress
in Lima for the first time since shutting it down in April 1992, when he
accused it of blocking his efforts to combat drugs and terrorism. His
backers won control of the new Congress in November elections.
A new Israeli Embassy was dedicated in suburban Belgrano near Buenos
Aires, Argentina, almost a year and a half after a car bomb destroyed the
previous embassy. "In a certain sense, this building is a reparation for so
much pain and human casualties," Ambassador Yitzhak Shefi of Israel said.
Shefi was ambassador when the embassy in downtown Buenos Aires was
blown up March 17, 1992. Twenty-eight people were killed and about 220
were wounded. The pro-Iran group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Copyright 1993 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston Globe
July 29, 1993, Thursday, City Edition
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. 2
HEADLINE: WAITING FOR A GLIMPSE; STORY IN CAPTION
A girl joins a crowd of onlookers waiting for President Alberto Fujimori
to leave Congress yesterday in Lima, where he delivered a speech marking
his 55th birthday, his third year in power and Peru's 172nd anniversary of
independence. In his talk, Fujimori called for life prison terms for drug
traffickers. / AP PHOTO
GRAPHIC: PHOTO
Copyright 1993 Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service
July 29, 1993, Thursday
HEADLINE: ENVIRONMENT: U.N. FISH TALKS FIND THE WILL BUT NOT THE
MEANS
BYLINE: by Jaya Dayal
DATELINE: NEW YORK, July 29
U.N.-sponsored talks on the crisis of depleting fish stocks drew to a close
today with nations agreeing on the urgent need to conserve the oceans'
living resources but divided on the means to achieve that goal.
"The conference has clearly acknowledged that there is no unlimited
freedom to fish the high seas -- rather, the duty to conserve is paramount,"
said Ambassador Satya Nandan of Fiji, chair of the inter-governmental
talks.
He said this recognition was backed by the obligation of all states to
cooperate in the conservation and management of high seas fishing as
stipulated in the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
"This is progress indeed, but we face a big hurdle as to how that
cooperation is to be carried out in practice," Nandan told reporters on the
penultimate day of the three-week U.N. Conference on Straddling Fish
Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks.
The meeting is meant to produce recommendations on the conservation
and management of straddling and migratory fish stocks using the U.N.
Convention on the Law of the Sea as the legal backdrop.
Fish stocks that migrate across or straddle the boundaries between the
200-mile exclusive economic zone of coastal states and the high seas
include such species as albacore and bluefin tuna, frigate mackeral and
swordfish.
Nandan said while all participants had agreed to stick to the framework
of the Law of the Sea convention on the issue of high seas fishing, "there is
no
automatic agreement on how its basic rules should be interpreted and
applied in the world of present day fisheries."
He said there was no consensus on "the big question" of whether coastal
fishing states should be given preferential rights with respect to the
management of living resources beyond the 200- mile exclusive economic
zone.
A number of countries including Canada and Peru have repeatedly
argued here on the legality and validity of coastal states' preferential
rights, but such distant water fishing nations as Japan and Korea have
opposed their claims.
Nandan said guidelines must ensure that conservation measures taken
within the exclusive economic zone are consistent with measures applied
to the adjacent high-seas area.
He said that without such fair measures, "we face threats not only of
serious stock depletion and damage to ecosystems, but also of
confrontation among states."
Nandan said the conference had made substantial progress on the key
issues facing the global fishing community and that it had proposed a
number of measures for the management of fish resources through
regional and sub-regional organisations.
But a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) charged Thursday
that the conference had failed to effectively address the growing crisis in
world fisheries.
Mike Hagler of Greenpeace International told reporters the talks were
"stalemated by many governments' refusal to accept binding reform
measures and by disputes between coastal nations and those with large-
scale global fleets."
Helene Bours, European Community (EC) coordinator of Greenpeace's
fisheries campaign, said the EC's top priority during the talks was "to
secure access to the world's resources with as little restrictions as
possible."
"The EC's main objectives regarding fisheries policies is to supply their
market," Bours said, adding that as a result, the Community's bloated
fishing fleet was forced to fish further and further from its shores.
Indrani Lutchman of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said during the
conference that "roughly 25 percent of fish on European tables is now
caught by EC registered boats beyond their own waters."
She said that EC governments heavily subsidised the fishing industry to
maintain the jobs of some 30,000 fishermen and as many as 200,000
workers in related industries.
"But the result of these subsidies has been that in many countries,
national fisheries have been allowed to swell to an unsustainable size:
bigger, more efficient fleets equipped with even more sophisticated fish-
finding technology have vacuumed up the sea," Lutchman said.
Nandan said Thursday that this new "overcapitalisation" of fishing fleets,
where too many vessels hunt fewer and fewer fish, was placing a
tremendous strain on global fish resources.
According to the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO), the past decade saw the world's fishing fleet expand at twice the
rate of increase of global fish catches.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 29, 1993, Thursday, BC cycle
SECTION: Money Report. Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: LATIN AMERICAN DEBT GETS PICK-UP FROM US LONG BOND
DATELINE: NEW YORK, JULY 29
Latin American and other LDC fixed-income Brady bonds moved broadly
higher Thursday, pepped up by the rallying U.S. long bond which climbed
more than a point.
There was little other news affecting the market. Brazil traders said they
were encouraged by agreement on a new temporary wage policy for Brazil,
despite the continuing opposition of some labor leaders.
A trader said he had seen investors buying Brazilian paper. IDUs were
up 3/8 on Wednesday's close at 74-1/2 percent and exits were up 1/2 at
57 percent.
Another trader said one of the strongest assets was Argentina. Its par
bonds were up 1/2 at 56 percent bid in early afternoon trade and
discounts were 3/8 higher at 70-1/8.
Demand was coming from both Argentine and foreign investors, he said,
with the discount bonds finding favor because they have lagged other
instruments recently and because they are sought at better value than the
pars in the country's privatization program.
Poland DDRA was also up 5/8 at 35-1/2 percent and Nigeria was 3/4
stronger at 52-1/4.
Mexican and Venezuela pars were also caught in the falling interest rate
fervor. Mexico was 3/8 higher at 73-7/8 and Venezuela was up 1/2 at 70-
1/2 percent.
The Dominican Republic remained rock solid at 47-1/2 percent bid, 49
percent offered, buoyed by hopes that the country may release a term
sheet detailing its earlier debt accord in the near future. Peru rose another
1/2 point to 39-5/8, but Ecuador Myra remained unchanged at 32-3/4.
Copyright 1993 News World Communications, Inc.
The Washington Times
July 29, 1993, Thursday, Final Edition
SECTION: Part A; TOP OF THE NEWS; WORLD; Pg. A2
HEADLINE: Fujimori: Crackdown averted Peru's collapse
BYLINE: FROM WIRE DISPATCHES AND STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: LIMA, PERU
LIMA, Peru - Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, marking three years
in office yesterday, strongly defended his decision to suspend
constitutional rule in April 1992, saying he saved Peru from the brink of
collapse.
Mr. Fujimori, in his first address to Congress since constitutional rule
was resumed in December, also proposed life prison terms for kidnappers
and drug lords who coerce farmers to grow coca or use funds to finance
rebel activities.
Citing keen interest by foreign investors in many sectors of the
economy, Mr. Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, said Peru was
being transformed "from one of the world's most violent countries to one
of the most stable and secure."
On the eve of the address, however, Maoist Shining Path guerrillas set
off a powerful car bomb outside the U.S. Embassy and later downed
electricity pylons, plunging the city into darkness.
GRAPHIC: Photo, Fujimori
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts/The Monitoring Report
July 29, 1993, Thursday
SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; 4(D). LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
PAGE: ME/1753/III
HEADLINE: Peru: Shining Path committed US embassy attack; Guzman said
to admit defeat
(ME/1752 iii) The car bomb attack on the US embassy in Lima was
carried out by a Shining Path commando unit, according to Television
Global (Lima) on 27th July. It added that three policemen had been
injured, one seriously, in addition to the civilian who was killed.
The television station also reported on the 27th that an electricity
blackout that evening in central areas of Lima, amongst other places, had
been caused by attacks on electricity pylons at the Huinco and Callahuanca
power stations.
According to the Spanish agency EFE on 27th July, several Peruvian
newspapers had reported that imprisoned Shining Path leader Abimael
Guzman had signed a document admitting that the group had been
defeated and surrendering unconditionally, whilst urging members of the
group to follow his example. President Fujimori would reveal the document
publicly on 28th July, Independence Day, EFE said.
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts
July 29, 1993, Thursday
SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; D. LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
PAGE: ME/1753/D
HEADLINE: BOLIVIA; FORMER AND NEW FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS
RELATIONS WITH CHILE
SOURCE: Television Nacional, La Paz 0100 gmt (i) 27 Jul 93 (ii) 28 Jul 93
(i) Excerpts from relay of interview with former Foreign Minister Ronald
MacLean by presenter Carlos Mesa from Television Nacional studios in La
Paz (ME/1752 iii)
[Mesa] Foreign Minister Ronald MacLean made a decision that is unusual
and without precedence in modern Bolivian politics: he voluntarily
resigned over obvious disagreements with President Jaime Paz Zamora.
Mr MacLean, thank you for being here with us tonight. How did a crisis
of this magnitude occur less than 15 days before the conclusion of this
administration?
[MacLean] I believe what happened was completely unexpected. The
declarations by the President, as I understand it, introduced a substantial
change in the way we were negotiating with Chile. Our strategy was one of
gradual peace, integration and development. Its essential form was a way
of communicating with Chile, a way of erasing the image given by Bolivia
of being harsh and aggressive, a belligerent country with which it was
difficult to talk, with which it was better not to have any relations due to
its usually belligerent attitude. The second element is that Bolivia has, over
the years, given signals of a change of attitude in its foreign policy. Not in
its objectives because they have been clear ever since the Pacific War, but
in the way of dealing with them. And the third element is that we have
always been looked upon as a country of confrontation over this problem.
[Q] Did the President contact you before his speech and the reiteration of
his position 24 hours later?
[A] No, unfortunately I was out of the country at that time. I returned
early in the morning of 23rd July. We then spoke and I understood it was
a problem of context. But from what I saw after the President reiterated
his position, he was convinced that this was the right way to express the
frustration of the country over the maritime problem. But we all share this
frustration. Our differences lie in the way of relating and expressing
ourselves to Chile, with which we have worked and we are working
towards creating the necessary environment of trust before discussing the
basic issue of the Bolivian landlocked situation.
[Q] Can the President's attitude be interpreted simply as removing his
support from the policy of his Foreign Minister?
[A] I talked to the President about this issue. He does not see a change in
Bolivian foreign policy and has not in any way indicated or told me that
there is an important change or mistrust on this issue. On the contrary, in
the long conversations we held, the President asked me to explain this
position, a position that is not inconsistent with the policy we are
implementing. Unfortunately we are people with established criteria. I
disagree in the sense that I believe the very harsh declarations of the
President changed the relationship we were developing with Chile thus
altering the conditions and the environment of trust that was being
created. . .
We cannot pretend to be aggressive when we are not going to war and
we are not in a war situation. I believe we must use diplomatic
instruments. We must be clever, prudent and cautious because these are
the instruments of diplomacy that we must use to progress on issues that
interest us by looking to conciliate interests, because no one will give us
anything for nothing. . .
[Q] The million-dollar question that has always been asked about our
foreign relations with Chile is: how can we conduct reasonably good
relations with Chile without putting aside the sea outlet problem, assuming
Chile is not interested in discussing the sea issue.
[A] It is difficult for Chile to discuss the sea issue because Chile also has a
problem of internal public opinion. Bolivians and Chileans have taught
their children different versions of history. One of the first things we
should do is to try to write history together. But the other main problem is
the lack of trust and dialogue or communication between the two
countries. This also happens between people. If I wanted to collect a debt
you owed my grandparents, for example, and if I constantly ill treat you
and act snobbishly, you will avoid having any contact with me, you will
avoid having a relationship, just like Chile now prefers not to have
relations with Bolivia. The possibility that the debt will be repaid will be
very remote. We have to work on a long-term strategy - which we know
will not have immediate results - by creating an environment of trust, of
common interests. This strategy will, in addition to leading us to the final
objective, give us partial results through an improvement in our trade with
Chile and will enable us to export more, obtain more investments, and
acquire new technology. If we continue with this position that in more
than 100 years we have not moved one millimetre closer to the sea, we
will merely lose the war for a second time due to a harsh, intransigent and
aggressive attitude that cannot produce results. [Q] Is this a criticism of the
president?
[A] The president inspired, conducted, and supported the policy until a
few days ago. If it is criticism it is because this change in our
communications - not to say a change in our strategy because he said there
was no change and I believe him, I obviously accept what he says - is a
retrograde step. It is precisely this attitude that created the image that
Bolivia is not a valid and consistent interlocutor with which a reasonable
agreement can be reached. . .
[Q] One last question: what will remain from the Jaime Paz Zamora
administration, the agreement signed in Salvador, Bahia, or the statement;
indolent adversary, retrograde and Stone Age?
[A] I think something very important happened, something neither the
President or I would have ever expected: the President's remarks received
almost unanimous rejection by the media. If the media reflects, at least in
part, the opinion of the people, I believe a substantial change has occurred
in Bolivia. A few years ago such a declaration would have received much
greater support. To our great surprise I believe the seeds we planted have
rooted much better than we had imagined. We see there is consensus
about the need to communicate with Chile at a level of respect, firmness
and clarity and not by creating more friction or resentment. I believe this
is very important progress. I believe this represents progress towards the
modernisation of the country, I also believe it shows that the consensus
follows that line. Furthermore, I believe the next government will return
to the policy, as I said, carried out by President Paz Zamora. The policy that
was inspired and supported by him but which, at the last minute,
witnessed this about-turn of which the people clearly disapprove. . .
I also believe that this ministry has laid a path to be followed in the
future. I believe we have created - despite all the criticisms and
controversies - a consensus that there is a modern, aggressive, serious yet
serene way to communicate with Chile and I believe this has given almost
immediate results. I will mention just two examples: not since 1904, 89
years ago, have we resolved all border problems with Chile. Chile has not
even been able to do so with Argentina. We also signed a very important
complementation agreement. One minister recently said that through this
new environment we have resolved many other problems in mining, ports
and transport that we could not have resolved before. As I said, if I could
to do it again, I would do exactly the same. With greater experience I
believe we would go much further. . .
(ii) Text of interview with incoming Foreign Minister Roberto Pena We
have the first remarks made by Roberto Pena as Foreign Minister.
[Pena - recording, in progress] - the work I have been undertaking as
minister is to support the President. On this occasion he asked for my
cooperation in concluding the work at the Foreign Ministry. By no means is
it an uncomfortable thing.
[Unidentified reporter] Do you have an objective for the last eight
working days during which you will be fulfilling these duties?
[Pena] I will basically conclude what is left to be done, which is the
government transition that we have to implement. It is one of the final
commitments for closing this government's term. We must accompany the
President to his negotiations in Peru, which will be held in the next few
days. During these few days left we will continue with the normal work at
the Foreign Ministry.
[Reporter] Do you think relations with Chile have been impaired by the
latest events, at least at a commercial level?
[Pena] We don't think so, because the main reasons that have promoted
those relations - that is, the search for equilibrium in the balance of trade,
and bilateral economic relations - remain unchanged. We believe they
should not undergo any type of alteration.
Copyright 1993 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
July 29, 1993
SECTION: News
HEADLINE: Chinese vice FM to visit Latin America
DATELINE: BEIJING
BEIJING, July 29 (AFP) - Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Huaqiu is to
visit Bolivia, Peru and Colombia in August, the Xinhua news agency
reported Thursday.
Liu is to attend the August 6 inauguration of the Gonzalo Sanchez de
Lozada as president of Bolivia in the capacity of special envoy of the
Chinese government, the agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as
saying.
He is to travel on to Peru and Colombia from Bolivia, it said, but did not
specify the length of the trip or the exact dates of the visits.
Copyright 1993 Kyodo News Service
Japan Economic Newswire
JULY 29, 1993, THURSDAY
HEADLINE: Fujimori declares victory in Peru's war with terrorists
DATELINE: LIMA, July 28 Kyodo
President Alberto Fujimori on Wednesday declared victory in Peru's
ongoing war with ultraleftist guerrillas in an Independence Day address to
the Congress.
Fujimori, who shut down the Congress in April 1992, also defended his
decision to rule by decree as necessary to restore peace and stability to the
impoverished South American nation.
The one-time university rector hailed the accomplishments of his three
years in office by saying that a series of reforms were already under way
and that Peru was continuing to change itself into a modern society.
Singling out his suspension of constitutional rule, Fujimori said the
measures were taken to eradicate the chaos associated with Peru's
violence, bribery and corruption.
'In less than a year, Peru has been changed from a most dangerous
country to a country of stability and security,' said Fujimori, rejecting
criticism of his suspension of human rights.
He said that in the 10 years prior to 1991 a total of 575 terrorists were
sentenced, while 589 were sentenced in just 11 months under his special
rule.
Fujimori called for the addition of an article to the new constitution
stipulating a life sentence in prison for drug traffickers and kidnappers.
Following the restoration of social stability, Fujimori said he wants to aid
the low-income members of Peruvian society, who make up about 70% of
the population, especially in the areas of education and agricultural
reforms.
He also promised measures to control inflation, promote exports and the
promotion of natural resources development through encouraging
privatization.
The Xinhua General Overseas News Service
Xinhua General News Service
JULY 29, 1993, THURSDAY
HEADLINE: chinese vice-foreign minister to visit latin america
DATELINE: beijing, july 29; ITEM NO: 0729056
chinese vice-foreign minister liu huaqiu will, as the special envoy of the
chinese government, attend the inauguration ceremony of the new
president of the republic of bolivia, gonzalo sanchez de lozada, on august 6
at the invitation of the bolivian government. a chinese foreign ministry
spokesman made this announcement here today. following that, liu will
pay a working visit to peru and colombia upon invitation. the spokesman
said.
Copyright 1993 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
July 28, 1993
SECTION: News
HEADLINE: Peruvian president calls for life imprisonment for drug
kingpins
DATELINE: LIMA
LIMA, July 28 (AFP) - President Alberto Fujimori called Wednesday for
life imprisonment for drug kingpins, a punishment now reserved only for
rebel leaders who have bloodied Peru for the past 13 years.
In a speech on Peru's independence day and the third anniversary of his
inauguration, Fujimori said he was sending legislation to congress to alter
the law.
Peru is the source of about half of the world's raw cocaine. The country's
Upper Huallaga valley has become a major source of coca, about 200,000
hectares (500,000 acres) of coca being grown there.
Both the Shining Path, which has been fighting the government since
1980, and the younger Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement have made
agreements with traffickers - recieving money in return for protection,
experts said.
The president also attacked opposition legislators, who have accused
him of using unconstitutional means to fight the Shining Path.
Without such means, he said, "maybe some of our supporters, as well as
our opponents, would not be here but enjoying the perpetual peace of the
cemetery."
Fujimori's efforts have led to the arrests of top Shining Path leaders,
including founder Abimael Guzman, now serving a life term in a specially
constructed prison here.
However security was tight as Peruvians celebrated independence day,
with guards posted in central buildings and troops manning key roads into
the city, the airport, the cathedral and the Congress, where the celebrations
of the 172nd anniversary of Peruvian independence were held.
Violence in the capital has left four dead and about 12 injured since
Monday, despite Fujimori's claim that Shining Path rebels has been all but
wiped out since he made a military-backed power grab last year.
Late Tuesday, Shining Path guerrillas bombed vital power lines,
plunging most of the city into darkness and sending independence
celebrators scurrying for safety.
The attacks came hours after a van loaded with explosives blew up
outside the U.S. embassy causing heavy damage and injuring two police
officers. A suspected guerrilla was shot and killed while trying to escape,
police said.
The U.S. embassy bombing was a spectacular come-back for the group,
which had been relatively inactive in recent months.
In his speech, Fujimori rebutted opposition requests for a fight against
poverty as a way of fighting leftist rebels. "The impoverishment and
exploitation of millions of Peruvians over centuries has worsened in recent
decades because of weak governments and terrorism," he said.
Seven million Peruvians, about one-third of the population, live in
extreme poverty, according to government figures.
Fujimori also defended Peru's human rights record, saying it was "a
policy that we follow scrupulously as can been seen since the prisons are
filled with 2,000 terrorists."
The president stressed his success at re-inserting Peru into the
international financial community, which had viewed the country as an
economic pariah because then-President Alan Garcia slashed foreign debt
payments to a percentage of export revenues in 1985.
Privatizations and a decline in inflation are creating a "new economic
reality" in Peru, which will help it recover from a recession and lower
unemployment.
"We need credit and we count on external financing to help us start
growing and sustain that economic growth," he said.
Government sources have predicted that three billion dollars in foreign
loans and investment will flow into Peru in the next two years, and that
the economy will grow by more than three percent this year while
monthly inflation figures remain below three percent.
While still high by developed world standards, that inflation rate is
significantly better than 300 percent registered in August 1990.
Copyright 1993 Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 6; ZONE: N
HEADLINE: Peru rebels plant bomb outside U.S. office
BYLINE: From Tribune Wires.
DATELINE: LIMA, Peru
A car bomb exploded outside the U.S. ambassador's offices Tuesday,
wounding two guards. The bombing by Shining Path guerrillas came a day
after attacks in Lima killed two people and wounded four. No one was
killed by Tuesday's bombing, but Peruvian guards fatally shot a passerby
they mistook for a terrorist. The rebels engaged in a shootout with guards
before pushing a van loaded with 330 pounds of dynamite toward the
building, according to police, who also deactivated several small bombs.
Copyright 1993 The Christian Science Publishing Society
The Christian Science Monitor
July 28, 1993, Wednesday
Maoist rebels exploded a car bomb outside the US Embassy on July 27,
seriously wounding two Peruvian guards and killing at least one guerrilla,
police said. It was the first major attack on a US installation in Peru since a
bomb killed three Peruvian guards at the US ambassador's residence in
February 1992.
On July 26, rebels exploded a car bomb in front of a private school in an
apparent bid to mar President Alberto Fujimori's third anniversary in
power. No injuries were reported. Other rebel attacks on July 26 left two
dead and four wounded around Lima.
Copyright 1993 The Dallas Morning News
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, HOME FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; AROUND THE WORLD; Pg. 19A
HEADLINE: AROUND THE WORLD
BYLINE: From Wire Reports
Bomb blast severely damages U.S. Embassy in Peru
LIMA, Peru -- The U.S. Embassy was extensively damaged by a car bomb
Tuesday, and a passing taxi driver was killed in a shootout that erupted
between police and suspected Maoist guerrillas. Police said suspected
Shining Path guerrillas packed a van with 330 pounds of explosives and
detonated it a few feet from the embassy on a main thoroughfare in
downtown Lima.
Copyright 1993 Financial Post Ltd.
The Financial Post
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, DAILY EDITION
SECTION: SECTION 1; News; NEWS DIGEST: THE WORLD; Pg. 2
HEADLINE: NEWS DIGEST: The World
PERU BOMB ATTACK
The U.S. embassy in Lima was extensively damaged by a car bomb
yesterday and a passing taxi driver was killed in a shootout between police
and suspected Maoist guerrillas, authorities said. Four others were injured
in the incident. Police said suspected Shining Path guerrillas packed a van
with 150 kilograms of explosives and detonated it a few metres from the
embassy, on a main thoroughfare in downtown Lima.
Copyright 1993 The Financial Times Limited;
Financial Times
July 28, 1993, Wednesday
SECTION: Pg. 4
HEADLINE: Fujimori looks set to 'finish the job'
PERU'S governing coalition has abandoned an impossibly tight race
against the clock to get a new constitution promulgated by today, national
independence day and third anniversary of President Alberto Fujimori's
assumption of office.
Parliamentary debate over a draft of the constitution is unlikely to be
complete before mid-August. But the chief innovations - which include
allowing the president to stand for a second successive term and the death
penalty for convicted terrorists - already look set in stone.
Both changes to the earlier 1979 constitution enjoy the virtually
unanimous support of the majority alliance in congress, Cambio (Change)
90 and New Majority, both of which were created to support Mr Fujimori's
candidacy. Both changes are almost certain, therefore, to become law,
unless they are overturned by the referendum which Mr Fujimori has
pledged before the constitution is approved.
Many observers in Lima are convinced that the principal motive behind
the military-backed coup last April, when congress was dissolved and the
constitution suspended, was to ensure that Mr Fujimori could stand again.
Since Mr Fujimori's earliest days in office, military and intelligence sources
have stated their belief that a prolonged period of stable leadership was
needed to consolidate the programme of liberal economic reforms begun in
1990.
The new constitution is intended to enshrine those reforms, to 'embody
very clear and tremendously precise rules which will attract foreign
investors', in the words of Mr Victor Joy Way, Peru's second vice-president
and a former trade and industry minister. 'We must free economic agents
to shoulder responsibility for the development of the country - the state
will no longer interfere nor intervene, simply orientate.'
While the new constitution will be undoubtedly more 'modern' and
economically liberal than its idealistic, socially-aware predecessor, lawyers
complain it lacks coherence. Many grandly ambitious articles have been
retained because they sound good - or to avoid confrontation with a
vociferous parliamentary opposition. Innovations have been tacked on
piecemeal.
As the draft stands, the legislative body will be reduced to a single, 120-
seat chamber. Representatives will continue to be elected via the
traditional - and widely criticised - system of party lists. Reformers had
hoped for the introduction of constituency-based elections to increase both
regional representation and accountability.
The questions of a second successive presidential term and the death
penalty for terrorists have dominated an uninspired national debate,
however. Successive terms for the head-of-state has traditionally been
viewed with suspicion in Peru and other Latin American countries and is
unconstitutional in most.
But the 'Fujimori phenomenon' seems to have wiped clear the collective
Peruvian memory. Mr Fujimori's domestic prestige and approval ratings,
(still around 65 per cent, according to limited urban polls) are uncommonly
high for a president past mid-term. The general feeling is that he should
be given time to 'finish the job'.
Mr Fujimori scoffs at the arguments against successive terms. 'Why
should we follow the traditions of Latin America where corruption and
poverty reign? We must break with taboos . . . modernise . . . look towards
France, Spain, the US and Singapore,' he says.
Introduction of the death penalty for convicted terrorists also appears to
have broad popular backing. Peruvians believe that Sendero Luminoso and
MRTA guerrilla leaders, held responsible for 26,000 deaths and Dollars
22bn in material damage over 13 years, richly deserve to die. One leading
opposition congresswoman has even spoken of 'necessary social cleansing'.
But the move will put Peru again on a collision course with human rights
organisations. Crimes of terrorism in Peru are summarily heard by
'faceless' judges in secret military tribunals. Amnesty International
recently expressed concern that, with the death penalty approved,
'prisoners could be executed . . . following conviction in military trials
which fall short of international standards'.
A last lament from constitutional critics concerns the enhancement of
already wide presidential powers, including the right to dissolve congress,
and to appoint ambassadors and senior military and other officials without
need for congressional ratification.
'This is just what Peru does not need,' commented one senior diplomat
in Lima. 'What Peru should be doing is to strengthen its institutions, not
the person of its president.'
For constitutional expert Mr Marcial Rubio, 'this one . . . will last only as
long as Mr Fujimori remains in power; shortly after he leaves it will be
drastically changed. But that's nothing new in Peru.'
Copyright 1993 Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service
July 28, 1993, Wednesday
HEADLINE: FINANCE: WORLD BANK GAINED $1.13 BILLION IN 1993
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, July 28
The World Bank announced here today that it posted a net income of
$1.13 billion for fiscal year (FY) 1993, which ended July 1.
The net income reached $1.645 billion last year. The Bank also increased
its loan-loss provisions from 2.5 percent to three percent of outstanding
loans based on an assessment of risk for its total loan portfolio.
The loan-loss provisions totaled $3.15 billion as of the end of the fiscal
year, $610 million higher than in 1992.
The Bank, whose membership grew from 160 to 176 countries in FY 93,
also reported that seven members found themselves in non-accrual status
by the end of the year.
The seven, which include three former republics of Yugoslavia, accounted
for 2.4 percent of outstanding loans, the Bank said, but noted that
Guatemala and Peru cleared their arrears during FY 1993.
The statistics released today covered only the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), as the World Bank is formally
known.
They did not address the record of the Bank's affiliates, such as the
International Development Association (IDA), which provides no-interest
loans to the world's poorest nations, and the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), the affiliate which provides support to the private sector
in developing countries.
The IBRD made record loan commitments of almost $17 billion in FY
1993, up from $15.2 billion in 1992. It disbursed $12.9 billion during FY
1993, up from $11.67 billion the previous year.
At the same time, it made new borrowing from capital markets of $12.7
billion, up from $11.8 billion last year. The Bank also refinanced the
equivalent of $3.8 billion in short-term borrowings to take advantage of
lower interest rates.
The Bank said its standard variable lending rate declined by 17 basis
points to 7.43 percent during 1993.
The Bank's reserves-to-loans ratio amounted to 11.4 percent at the end
of FY 1993. Reserves totaled $11.7 billion. The Bank said it hopes to
increase the reserves-to-loans ratio to 13 to 14 percent for 1994 and 1995,
respectively.
Copyright 1993 Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service
July 28, 1993, Wednesday
HEADLINE: PERU: POLICE SEARCH FOR SIX POSSIBLE CAR BOMBS
DATELINE: LIMA, July 28
The police in Lima are searching for six vehicles that were stolen at the
same time last night, probably to be used as car bombs by Peru's two
guerrilla organisations.
All six vehicles, five taxis and a minivan, were stolen in the same
manner -- the drivers were stopped at gunpoint, injected with a sleep-
inducing drug, and dumped in isolated areas.
July 27 marked the 172nd anniversary of Peru's independence from
Spain, and the date has traditionally been used by the Shining Path or
Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) to launch some sort of
attack.
The guerrillas launched a total of five attacks July 26 and yesterday,
including car-bomb explosions outside a Catholic high school and the U.S.
Embassy in Lima.
The bombing near the school and gun attacks on two police lieutenants in
poor districts of Lima were carried out by the Shining Path.
The Tupac Amuru Revolutionary Movment claimed responsibility for the
attack on the police barracks in the San Borja district, and police also
blamed this group for the car bomb at the U.S. Embassy, given the
sophisticated nature of the explosive device used.
Last night the Shining Path destroyed an electric tower, knocking out
power for 20 minutes in Lima and several coastal towns.
The civil war in Peru, which began in 1980 in the south central
highlands, has cost an estimated 25,000 lives.
Although both rebel groups are reported to be going through something
of a crisis following the capture of their respective top main leaders, their
capacity to launch military strikes appears undiminished.
Copyright 1993 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Maoist Shining Path rebels detonated a car bomb Tuesday outside the
U.S. ambassador's office in Lima, Peru, seriously wounding two Peruvian
guards. A man described as a rebel was shot to death. The only American
inside the office, a U.S. Marine security guard, was unhurt. A U.S.
spokesman said the blast caused structural damage to the building. Shining
Path has carried out few attacks since leader Abimael Guzman was
captured in September.
Copyright 1993 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The Plain Dealer
July 28, 1993 Wednesday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 4A
HEADLINE: U.S. ENVOY'S OFFICE HIT BY CAR BOMB
BYLINE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: LIMA, PERU
A car bomb exploded outside the U.S. ambassador's offices yesterday,
wounding two guards and heightening fears of a rebel offensive to disrupt
celebration of President Alberto Fujimori's third year in power.
The bombing by Maoist Shining Path guerrillas came a day after attacks
in Lima killed two people and wounded four. No one was killed in
yesterday's bombing, but guards fatally shot a passer-by they mistook for
a guerrilla.
The 6 a.m. blast broke windows, splintered window frames and chipped
concrete in the four-story building housing the U.S. ambassador's offices on
bustling Garcilaso de la Vega Avenue.
Copyright 1993 The Times-Picayune Publishing Co.
The Times-Picayune
July 28, 1993 Wednesday, FIRST
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. A14
HEADLINE: CAR BOMB HITS NEAR U.S. OFFICE
DATELINE: LIMA, PERU(AP)
A car bomb exploded outside the U.S. ambassador's offices Tuesday,
wounding two guards and heightening fears of a rebel offensive to disrupt
celebrations of President Alberto Fujimori's third year in power.
The bombing by Shining Path guerrillas came a day after attacks in Lima
killed two people and wounded four. No one was killed by Tuesday's
bombing, but guards fatally shot a passer-by they mistook for a guerrilla.
Police said they deactivated several small bombs Tuesday and took down
dozens of rebel flags bearing the hammer and sickle that had been set
around the capital
The 6 a.m. blast broke windows, splintered window frames and chipped
concrete in the four-story building housing the U.S. ambassador's offices on
bustling Garcilaso de la Vega Avenue.
Police said the rebels engaged in a shootout with Peruvian guards before
they pushed a van loaded with 330 pounds of dynamite toward the
building. Two guards suffered minor wounds from the explosion, police
said.
The blast wrecked an armored personnel carrier in front of the building
and shattered windows in dozens of buildings up to six blocks away. A
brief fire blackened part of the ambassador's building, one of several
scattered sites housing the U.S. Embassy staff.
The only American inside, a U.S. Marine security guard, was not injured.
It was the first major attack on a U.S. installation in Peru since a car
bomb killed three Peruvian guards at the American ambassador's
residence in February 1992.
The blast Tuesday came a day before Fujimori completes his third year
in office on his birthday and hours before a military parade to
commemorate Peru's independence day today.
Copyright 1993 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 3; Column 1; Foreign Desk
HEADLINE: 4 Wounded as Rebels Bomb U.S. Embassy in Peru
BYLINE: By NATHANIEL C. NASH, Special to The New York Times
DATELINE: LIMA, Peru, July 27
Guerrillas presumed by the police to be members of the Maoist
movement Shining Path set off a huge car bomb early this morning in front
of the American Embassy here, wounding four people, shattering glass and
causing fires in the four-story concrete building.
The police said an unidentified Peruvian was killed in his car in the
crossfire of shooting between guards and guerrillas.
The attack was the most serious against the United States Government
in Peru since February 1992, when an even larger car bomb was set off
next to the American Ambassador's residence and killed three Peruvian
guards. American diplomatic buildings here have now been the target of
guerrilla attacks five times.
The explosion was Shining Path's reminder to President Alberto K.
Fujimori that despite being weakened in recent months by the capture of
its leader, Abimael Guzman Reynoso, and most of its top leadership, the
group can still strike important targets.
Force 'Greatly Diminished'
"Shining Path is saying it is still around," said an American official who
spoke on condition of anonymity, "but its force has been greatly
diminished. Their attacks are now often not as well planned and the effect
is less potent, killing far fewer people."
This evening, a 450-mile section of the coast, including Lima, suffered a
30-minute power blackout after rebels attacked electricity pylons, a state
electricity company spokesman was quoted by The Associated Press as
saying. Explosives experts said rebels dynamited a bank in Lima's
working-class district of San Martin de Porres during the blackout, The
A.P. reported.
The bombing of the embassy came in the week in which Peru celebrates
its independence, a time when Mr. Fujimori would like to proclaim victory
over the guerrilla group that has been called the most violent subversive
organization in Latin America.
Last September the Peruvian police captured Mr. Guzman in a Lima
neighborhood and soon arrested most of its top political leaders, leaving
the Shining Path splintered among its regional commanders. It was a
crushing blow to the organization, and came five months after Mr.
Fujimori, with the backing of the military, closed down the Peruvian
Congress and courts and assumed broader powers.
Mr. Fujimori, who was isolated internationally for a time, has repeatedly
sought to justify his seizure of power by asserting that there was no other
way to stop guerrilla violence. He has promised that with his increased
powers he will defeat the Shining Path by the time his term expires in July
1995. And he has kept a high level of public support, currently more than
60 percent, according to most pollsters.
On Wednesday, the President celebrates the beginning of his fourth year
in office as well as his 55th birthday.
In what may be another stunning accomplishment for the President,
rumors are circulating among diplomats and in the press that after months
of solitary confinement Mr. Guzman has agreed to concede defeat and call
off the 13-year battle with the Government. Nearly 30,000 people have
been killed in the insurgency.
Hard Core Likely to Fight On
Some Peruvians say such a change of heart would certainly dishearten
many Shining Path members, but would not stop hard-core fighters from
continuing their campaign.
This morning thousands of members of the Peruvian military and police
marched down one of the city's major boulevards in what has been called
"the parade of pacification."
The only American in the embassy when the bomb went off at 5:45 A.M.,
a Marine guard, was not hurt, embassy officials said. They said there was
no structural damage to the building.
The car bomb, which the police estimated to contain more than 300
pounds of explosives, was loaded in a van that rebels pushed toward the
building. It left a crater 15 feet wide.
On Monday, guerrillas set off three bombs around Lima, including one in
the fashionable Miraflores section. Two people were killed in the bombings
and four were wounded.
The attacks are the first wave of violence in the city since 10 people
were killed in May.
Less Violence Than Last Year
But the violence is significantly less than a year ago when the Shining
Path and Peru's other guerrilla group, the pro-Cuban Tupac Amaru
Revolutionary Movement, were mounting perhaps the deadliest of their
attacks in Lima.
Experts on the insurgency say that while the number of attacks has not
significantly diminished, their deadliness has. In Lima, the number of
bombings and killings has dropped significantly.
The optimistic mood now in Peru, with people confident that Mr.
Fujimori is well on the road to defeating the Shining Path, is almost a
complete reversal from early 1992, when fear caused many to predict that
the insurgents were about to bring down the Government.
The police have arrested 2,500 people suspected of being guerrillas, and
more than 100, including Mr. Guzman, have been sentenced to life in
prison. Terrorist experts say about 300 guerrillas, mostly Tupac Amaru
members, have surrendered in exchange for lenient treatment.
"Looking back, I think most people exaggerated the strength of the
Shining Path," said Enrique Obando, a researcher for the Peruvian Center
for International Studies.
Times Publishing Company
St. Petersburg Times
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, City Edition
SECTION: NATIONAL; THE WORLD IN BRIEF; Pg. 10A SOURCE: Compiled
from Times Wires DATELINE: LIMA, Peru;
LIMA, Peru - A car bomb exploded outside the U.S. ambassador's offices
Tuesday, wounding two guards.
No one was killed in the attack by Shining Path guerrillas, but guards
fatally shot a passer-by they mistook for a guerrilla.
The 6 a.m. explosion broke windows, splintered window frames and
chipped concrete in the four-story building housing the U.S. ambassador's
offices. The only American inside, a U.S. Marine security guard, was
uninjured.
It was the first major attack on a U.S. installation in Peru since a car
bomb killed three Peruvian guards at the American ambassador's
residence in February 1992.
Tuesday's blast came a day before President Alberto Fujimori completes
his third year in office. He is scheduled to make a state of the nation
speech today that is expected to deal with the guerrilla insurgency, which
he has vowed to crush before he steps down in 1995.
Copyright 1993 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, HOME EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 14; Other Edition: Nassau and Suffolk Pg. 14, City Pg. 16
HEADLINE: Bomb Attack in Peru
BYLINE: COMPILED FROM NEWS DISPATCHES
A car bomb exploded outside the U.S. ambassador's offices in Lima, Peru,
yesterday, wounding two guards and heightening fears of a rebel offensive
to disrupt celebrations of President Alberto Fujimori's third year in power.
No one was killed.
The bombing by Shining Path guerrillas came a day after attacks in Lima
killed two people and wounded four. No one was killed by yesterday's
bombing, but guards fatally shot a passerby they mistook for a guerrilla.
The blast came a day before Fujimori completes his third year in office
on his birthday and hours before a military parade to commemorate
Peru's independence day today.
Copyright 1993 Reuters Limited
The Reuter Washington Report
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: THE REUTER DIARY OF MAJOR EVENTS
Week of July 28, 1993
Below are major news events scheduled in the Washington area for
approximately the next month. This diary will be updated weekly, and the
events will be listed in more detail in The Reuter Daybook. The diary
editor is Steve Ginsburg. Tim Ahmann, Eric Beech, Melissa Bland, Will
Dunham, Peter Ramjug and Paul Schomer also are available to help you. If
you have any questions, please call 202-898-8345. For service problems
call 1-800-435-0101.Items listed with a + sign appear for the first time.
Contact names and numbers, when available, are in parentheses. -----
-----
[deleted]
+Aug. 9: Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Lee Brown gives a
briefing at the Foreign Press Center on his upcoming trip to Bolivia,
Colombia and Peru. (202-724-1635)
[deleted]
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: FUJIMORI STRONGLY DEFENDS APRIL 1992 EMERGENCY RULES
BYLINE: By Mary Powers
DATELINE: LIMA, Peru
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, marking three years in office
Wednesday, strongly defended his decision to suspend constitutional rule
in April 1992, saying he had saved Peru from the brink of collapse.
Fujimori, in his first address to Congress since constitutional rule was
resumed last December, also proposed life prison terms for kidnappers and
drug lords who coerce farmers to grow coca or use funds to finance rebel
activities.
"On April 5, 1992, I was at a crossroads: either Peru continued its rapid
advance towards the abyss of anarchy and chaos, pushed forward by
terrorism and the state's passivity, or I risked everything to give the state
the instruments to end this threat," Fujimori said.
"No economic program, no matter how coherent and no matter how much
support it enjoyed, could have been applied succesfully without national
pacification," he said in a State of the Nation address to mark
Independence Day.
Citing keen interest by foreign investors in many sectors of the economy,
Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, said Peru was being transformed
"from one of the world's most violent countries to one of the most stable
and secure."
But on the eve of the address, Maoist Shining Path guerrillas set off a
powerful car bomb outside the U.S. Embassy and later downed electricity
pylons, plunging the city into darkness.
The bomb extensively damaged the embassy and a passing taxi driver
was killed in a shootout that erupted between police and guerrillas, police
said. Four other people were injured.
Shining Path guerrillas suffered a major setback last year with the
capture of the rebel group leader Abimael Guzman, a development
underscored by Fujimori.
He said that "the days were gone when the chief of the Shining Path
considered himself omnipresent and invincible," saying he was now in
"Peru's most secure jail."
He added that the anti-terrorist legislation decreed after he suspended
constitutional rule had permitted the sentencing of 589 guerrillas on
terrorism charges, compared with 575 in whole of the previous decade.
More than 27,000 people have been killed in political violence since the
Shining Path took up arms in 1980.
Fujimori said he would propose to Congress using the same penalties
applied against guerrillas, life sentences on treason charges, against drug
traffickers who force Peruvian farmers to grow coca leaves or use drug
money to support guerrillas.
The crime of kidnapping would receive similar treatment, he said. Leftist
guerrillas have kidnapped about half a dozen businessmen since last year.
Fujimori, who turned 55 on Wednesday, said he hoped to announce the
approval of a new constitutional draft by Peru's Congress.
But the legislature failed to finish debate on the text, which could contain
controversial new clauses like immediate presidential reelection and death
penalty for terrorists.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: PERU INDEPENDENCE DAY MARRED BY GUERRILLA ATTACKS
BYLINE: By Mary Powers
DATELINE: LIMA, Peru
Suspected Maoist guerrillas exploded a powerful van bomb in front of
the U.S. embassy and later downed electricity pylons, submerging the
capital in darkness on the eve of Peru's Independence Day, police said.
One civilian died in crossfire after the bombing, police said.
An embassy guard and a policeman were wounded when the van packed
with 330 pounds of explosives blew up a few yards from the embassy in
central Lima, police said. Two other policemen were wounded in a shootout
with guerrillas.
One guerrilla was detained after an exchange of gunfire.
Police and U.S. officials said the method used was similar to the pattern
of previous attacks by the Maoist Shining Path.
The bomb left an armored car in front of the embassy a twisted mess of
metal and caused heavy damage to the right side of the four-story
building, police and witnesses said.
Acting U.S. Ambassador Charles Brayshaw said there was a lot of broken
glass and that a number of small fires had ignited inside the embassy but
they had been extinguished.
"This is an attempt to instill us Americans and the Peruvian people with
fear," Brayshaw said. "They cannot intimidate us. We will continue our
work."
President Alberto Fujimori, who was due to address the nation
Wednesday, was with members of the diplomatic corps for the traditional
Independence Day greeting when the blackout occurred.
The van bomb was the worst in a wave of attacks carried out by Peru's
two guerrilla groups in the run-up to Wednesday's celebrations and hours
before an event billed "Parade of the Pacification."
On Monday, Shining Path guerrillas shot and wounded the deputy mayor
of the Villa El Salvador shantytown, the third Villa deputy mayor to be
killed or wounded since February 1992.
The Shining Path and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA)
insurgencies have suffered serious setbacks since the capture of Shining
Path chief Abimael Guzman and other guerrilla leaders over the last year.
Thousands of rebels have been captured and hundreds of MRTA rebels
have surrendered, about 50 of whom marched in a civilian-military
parade.
More than 27,000 people have been killed in political violence since the
Shining Path took up arms in 1980.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Money Report. Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: PERU LOOKING TO FIX DATES FOR BANK TALKS -- SOURCE
BYLINE: By Mary Powers
DATELINE: LIMA, JULY 28, REUTER
Peru has proposed to talk with some creditor banks on treatment of its
foreign debt, but the meeting was requested to discuss preliminary
matters, a Peruvian economy ministry official said.
Peru had contacted some of its commercial creditor banks requesting a
mid-August meeting, which would be the first major meeting between the
Citicorp-led bank steering committee and President Alberto Fujimori's
government, the official said.
But he said the letter had only suggested a meeting to talk about
preliminary issues like setting up a schedule of dates for the talks.
"We are not talking about sitting down right then to restructure the debt
or resume interest payments," he added.
A banker on the steering committee in New York said banks hoped to
cover restructuring the debt and restarting interest payments at the talks.
A ministry adviser visited Washington last week to deal with some
issues on the commercial debt, the Peruvian official said.
But the negotiating team had yet to be designated because of
government changes that may be announced on Wednesday, Peru's
Independence Day, he said.
Bankers say Peru, isolated from world debt circles when former
President Alan Garcia capped debt payments in 1986, owes about $10
billion in principal and arrears.
Investors in Latin America appear optimistic that Peru will settle its
private sector debt following agreements with the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank and a debt restructuring deal with the Paris Club of
creditor nations.
But many economists here say Peru will be hard-pressed to service more
of its debt with current government revenues.
The price of Peruvian loans on the secondary market rose to a record
38.375 of face value on Tuesday on news of Peru's request for the meeting,
up 1-3/8 from Monday and a huge increase over the sub-20 percent level
at the start of 1993.
Expectations were high in banking circles that Fujimori could make some
announcement on the use of Peruvian debt paper in the privatizations of
state enterprises, several of which are due to be sold off this year.
Copyright 1993 Pacific Press Ltd.
The Vancouver Sun
July 28, 1993, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: Pg. A10
HEADLINE: Shining Path bombings disrupt president's party
BYLINE: VANSUN
DATELINE: Lima, Peru
A car bomb exploded outside the U.S. ambassador's offices Tuesday,
wounding two guards and heightening fears of a rebel offensive to disrupt
celebrations of President Alberto Fujimori's third year in power.
The bombing by Shining Path guerrillas came one day after attacks killed
two people and wounded four.
