The following is an unofficial translation of a 2 July 1998 letter sent to the Research Directorate by the President and Treasurer of Peru's National Agrarian Federation (Confederación Nacional Agraria—CNA).

The letter provides information on the cases of leaders and members of the CNA who were detained, abducted, harrassed and/or killed from 1992 to 1996.

The only case listed by the CNA for 1994 occurred in July of that year. The signatories state that the leaders of the Provincial Federation of Peasants and Natives of the High Amazon Region (Federación Provincial de Campesinos y Nativos del Alto Amazonas—FEPROCAINA), Nery Salinas Dávila and Cirilo Torres Pinchi, were jailed for 9 months by the special tribunal of Trujillo. They were accused by Congressman Julio Castro Gómez of being high-ranking members of the Revolutionary Movement Túpac Amaru (MRTA). The letter states that those accusations were denied by the two leaders who were further proven innocent and released.

The signatories report that the CNA, as a representative body of Peruvian peasants and small and medium-size farmers, represents, pinpoints and channels the demands of its members to governmental bodies and defends the peasantry's resources and rights. In fulfilling that role, the CNA strongly criticizes the government and, as a result, has its telephone lines tapped (intervenidas). Its attempts to dialogue with the Peruvian government have been unsuccessful since the latter does not wish to respond to the CNA's demands nor to communicate with the organization.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Confederación Nacional Agraria (CNA), Lima, Peru. 2 July 1998. Letter from the President and Treasurer.