PRIVILEDGE AND POWER IN FUJIMORI'S PERU
Peru in the 1990 the year Alberto Fujimori was elected president was a country bordering on collapse. Spiraling hyperinflation had devastated the economy, guerrilla violence was on the rise, and...
...Circumstances, however, are changing...
...The recent upsurge in protest activity indicates that their tolerance is wearing thin...
...Fujimori, who lacks a political party or any other form of organized support, has relied on the military to govern from day one...
...He then set up a system of "faceless" military courts to try suspected guerrillas...
...To everyone's surprise, Fujimori not only managed to tame inflation, but he also put Shining Path mastermind Abimael Guzmin behind bars...
...As new waves of austerity are imposed on an exhausted population, protest will no doubt rise...
...As this NACLA report reveals, however, questions remain not only about the methods that Fujimori used to pull off these "successes," but about the costs they have incurred along the way...
...Judges who hand down sentences that are not to the government's liking risk losing their jobs...
...People were willing to endure poverty and even authoritarian rule given the depths of the crisis of the 1980s...
...Congress is a virtual extension of the executive, with a pro-government majority willing to do anything that the President orders...
...The IMF is singlemindedly preoccupied with ensuring that Peru continues to repay its foreign debtnow 22% of the GDP, up from 16% in 1990...
...These courts, whose guiding philosophy is guilty until proven innocent, have sent hundreds of innocent people to prison...
...The new Constitution, written by this majority, overturned Peru's one-term presidential limit in order to permit Fujimori to run for re-election...
...Fujimori's particular mix of neoliberalism and authoritarianism has served him well until now...
...Just as people begin to demand some economic relief, Fujimori finds himself in an IMF-tailored straitjacket...
...In addition, the military has used its clout to stop congressional inquiries into human rights abuses and to ensure impunity for human rights violators...
...These achievements made Fujimori popular among Peruvians of all social classes...
...Since demolishing Peru's democratic institutions, Fujimori has governed in an extremely personalistic, autocratic manner...
...Today, two of every three Peruvians is poor...
...The judicial branch remains completely subordinate to the president...
...The recent high growth rates had more to do with old-style populist spending than successful neoliberal reforms...
...The IMF, fearing that Peru's looming trade deficit could precipitate a Mexico-style crash, has chided the Fujimori government for its free-wheeling spending...
...The realization is setting in that Fujimori's neoliberal makeover of Peru has benefited only select groups: the financial sector, importers, and international investors who scooped up state-owned enterprises at rock-bottom prices...
...Given the virtual disappearance of political parties and the moderating influence they often exercise over social discontent, things might get ugly...
...With his hands freed, Fujimori imposed his neoliberal program and granted the military broad powers in the counterinsurgency war...
...After some arm-twisting, Fujimori signed a new "letter of intent" in May promising further cutbacks in state spending...
...Only one out of ten Peruvians is fully employed, and of the seven who are underemployed, four eke out a living in the informal sector...
...For the rest, poverty has risen dramatically...
...He then went on to implement a series of neoliberal reforms that have been lauded nationally and internationally for getting Peru's economy "back on track...
...Spiraling hyperinflation had devastated the economy, guerrilla violence was on the rise, and widespread corruption was eroding the government's credibility...
...Fujimori can no longer justify his acts by appealing to the war against Shining Path or inflation...
...Despite strong economic growth between 1993 and 1995, real wages fell by 10% between December, 1994 and October, 1995...
...Although Fujimori held new congressional elections in late 1992 to appease international critics, the government continues to trample on the most basic notions of democratic checks and balances...
...As social conflict increases, the government's authoritarian tendencies will likely become more manifest...
...When congressional opposition mounted to his neoliberal reforms and Draconian counterinsurgency measures, Fujimori shut down Congress and gutted the Constitution with military backing in his April, 1992 autogolpe...
Vol. 30 • July 1996 • No. 1
