Dokument #1328881
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
1 UNIR stands for Union Nacional de
Izquierda Revolucionaria (National Union of Revolutionary Left), a
maoist party composed of three groups, including Partido Comunista
Peruano (PCP)-Bandera Roja (Peruvian Communist Party-Red Flag) and
PCP-Patria Roja (PCP-Red Fatherland); as a member of the United
Left Party (a coalition of Marxist groups and parties), it holds
two congressional seats obtained in the 1985 general elections: one
in the Senate and one in the Chamber of Deputies.
2 During the National Congress of the
United Left in late January 1989, UNIR, together with two other
parties, proposed the attending delegates to start a general armed
insurgency, described as "a progressive, military solution."
3 The proposal was rejected by the
majority of the United Left.
4 Peru has no National Guard; its Armed
Forces are divided into Navy, Air Force and Army, while the Police
Forces are divided into three services, though an attempt was made
by the present government to unify them under a single National
Police force: the Guardia Civil (Civil Guard), Policia de
Investigaciones (Investigations' Police) and Guardia Republicana
(Republican Guard).
5 The Republican Guard is in charge of
protecting public property; the Investigations' Police has a
special branch called Direccion Contra el Terrorismo-DIRCOTE
(Anti-Terrorist Directorate), which participates with special
branches of the Civil Guard and Armed Forces in the fight against
terrorist groups.
6 Confrontations occur in the emergency
zones, areas where certain constitutional rights have been lifted
because of terrorist activity and where political and military
command relies on the Armed Forces, though in some areas, such as
some Northeastern jungle provinces, civilian authorities remain in
office.
7 Reports on the confrontations are
usually Armed Forces official announcements, which are brief and
avoid details, journalists frequently being denied access to the
battle zones.
8 Nevertheless, it is known that most
confrontations are ambushes by terrorist groups, which on occasions
are countered by the attacked forces and sometimes chased by
reinforcements; though during the eight years of armed insurgency
terrorists have suffered a larger amount of members, during the
last months of 1988 and 1989 the Police and Armed Forces have
suffered the heaviest losses.
9 1. Figures given by the Peruvian
Association for Human Rights (Asociacion Pro-Derechos
Humanos-APRODEH) in "Mar de Fondo", Caretas magazine (Peru),
January 23, 1989, p. 24.
2. "Peru", in Political Parties of the
World, (London: Keesing's Reference Publications, 1988).
3. "IU: Fuegos Cruzados", in
Caretas, January 30, pp. 18-19.
4. Latin American daily report,
(Washington, D.C., Foreign Broadcast Information Service), January
25, 1989, p. 4 .
5. "Peru", in Europa Yearbook 1988: A
World Survey, (London: Europa Publications, 1988).
6. Peru briefing, (London: Amnesty
International Publications, 1985), pp. 4-6.
7. A Certain Passivity: failing to curb
human rights abuses in Peru, (Washington: Americas Watch, December
1987), pp. 8-11.
8. Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1987, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of
State, 1988), pp. 588-589.
9. "La Violencia", in Caretas, Nov.
28, 1988, pp. 36-39; and "Financistas del Terror", Caretas,
Feb. 6, 1989, pp. 38-41.