The Union Por el Peru (Union For Peru, UPP) is the main opposition group in Peru. It is described by one publication as an "alliance of disparate elements put together by former UN secretary-general Javier Perez de Cuellar to back his unsuccessful attempt to prevent Fujimori securing a second term in 1995" (Andean Group Report 10 Oct. 1996, 7). The same source adds that "UPP is a rum collection of political oddments, including former IU [Izquierda Unida, or United Left] stalwarts such as Henry Pease, Daniel Estrada and Gustavo Mohme (the director of La Republica [the main opposition newspaper] ), on the one hand, and former Accion Popular minister Alfonso Grados, on the other" (ibid.). Rather than being an ideologically-defined and well organized political party, the UPP is described as a loosely-structured organization with some powerful personalities (ibid. 16 Nov. 1995, 6).

The UPP won 17 congressional seats out of 120 in the 9 April 1995 general elections, thus forming the largest congressional caucus besides the ruling Cambio 90-Nueva Mayoria coalitoin with 66 representatives (ibid. 25 May 1995, 2-3). The representatives elected were Daniel Estrada Perez, Graciela Fernandez Baca, Henry Pease Garcia, Alfonso Grados Bertorini, Gustavo Mohme Llona, Jorge Avendaño Valdez, Aldo Estrada Choque, Francisco Pardo Mesones, Miguel Ciccia Vasquez, Maria Ofelia Cerro Moral, Harold Forsyth Mejia, Rigoberto Esquerra Caceres, Anel Townsend Diez Canseco, Roger Guerra Garcia, Santos Reto Neyra, Jorge Luis Donayre Lozano and Carlos Chipoco Caceda (ibid.).

In late 1996 the IU's two elected representatives discussed joining the UPP to form a broader opposition movement (ibid. 10 Oct. 1996, 7). A broad umbrella opposition grouping joining the UPP with IU and other political parties and organizations, known collectively as the Foro Democratico, engaged in a signature-collection campaign to demand a referendum on the possibility of Fujimori standing agains for a second re-election in the year 2000. The opposition group presented 1.4 million signatures, but the referendum initiative was dismissed by the ruling majority in congress, and soon after the public prosecutor opened legal proceedings against the Foro Democratico claiming that 600,000 of its signatures were falsified (Latin American Weekly Report 15 Sept. 1998, 425).

Information on abuses attributed to the Servicio de Inteligencia del Ejercito (Army Intelligence Service, SIE) and its parent organization, the Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (National Intelligence Service, SIN) against opposition figures can be found in Human Rights Watch World Report 1998 and Amnesty International Report 1998, both available at your Regional Documentation Centre. The Human Rights Watch World Report 1998 includes references to an SIE investigation against La Republica (whose owner, as indicated above, is an elected representative of UPP) and an attack against its general editor. The latter and other attacks against opposition figures, as reported by Human Rights Watch, appeared to be violent common crimes, but the perpetrators seemed uninterested in robbery, and a car that was taken was later found burned (1998, 135-36). The Human Rights Watch World Report 1998 also refers to the alleged SIN tapping of the telephones of journalists, businessmen and politicians, including the UPP leader's (136). Another source states that the recordings included more than 1,000 conversations from 1994 and 1995 involving Perez de Cuellar's "political associates, friends, relatives and even the family maid," adding that "Perez de Cuellar's home served as campaign headquarters for his Union For Peru coalition" (ABC News 5 Aug. 1997). Hours after the telephone tapping was exposed by a television station, the government revoked the citizenship of the foreign-born owner of the station alleging a technicality, and the internal revenue service, SUNAT, initiated an unannounced audit (ibid.; Latin American Weekly Report 22 Apr.. 1997; Andean Group Report 7 Apr. 1998).

In 1996 La Republica published details on three operations of the SIE known as "Bermuda," "Narval" and "El Pino," designed to intimidate journalists and opposition politicians (Latin American Weekly Report 22 Apr. 1997). In addition to actions directed against the above-mentioned television station, "others who have received the attentions of suspected intelligence agents are senior executives of La Republica, Lima's most outspoken opposition paper, and SUR, a group of opposition intellectuals, whose premises suffered a break-in in late March [1997], when computers, membership lists and manuscripts were removed, but more valuable items were left untouched" (ibid.).

The London-based Andean Group Report states that SUNAT is apparently being used by the government to silence critics (7 Apr. 1998, 3). The publication also reports that Delia Revoredo, dean of the Colegio de Abogados de Lima (Lima College of Lawyers) and former member of the constitutional tribunal, denounced congress and the judiciary as being "under the thumb of the military high command, and particularly its intelligence apparatus," mentioning the head of the SIN as one of the effective heads of government, and attributing to "this sinister military-intelligence apparatus responsibility for the laws passed by congress that have significantly reduced freedoms in Peru" (ibid.).

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.

ABC News. 5 August 1997. "Peru Launches Inquiry." [Internet] http://archive.abcnews. com/sections/world/ap_peru804/index.html [Accessed 24 Sept. 1998]

Latin American Regional Reports: Andean Group Report [London]. 7 April 1998. "Tax Charges Silence Critics."

_____. 10 October 1996. "Old Left Declares Itself Redundant."

_____. 16 November 1995. "End of Line For APRA as HQ Phones Cut."

_____. 25 May 1995. "Fujimori Secures Grassroots Support."

Latin American Weekly Report [London]. 15 September 1998. "Opposition Harried Through the Courts."

_____. 22 April 1997. "Murder Takes Lid Off Rivarlries in Regime; Death of Intelligence Agent Leads to Mass of Leaks." (NEXIS)