Copyright 1993 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
PERU: ETHNIC STRIFE, DRUGS AND REBELS REIGN IN THE FORESTS
by abraham lama
lima, sep 14 (ips) -- a delegation of ashaninka amerindians that
came here to ask for economic aid and arms for a proposed
counter-insurgency batallion returned home with official
promises and 80 shotguns bought with private aid they received.
this was far short of the 1,000 guns they say they need to
bring order to their area, located along the ene river in peru's
central forest, and wracked by ethnic strife, rebel activity and
drug trafficking.
on aug. 18, 'sendero luminoso' guerrillas attacked six
ashaninka villages and killed 56 people -- some were amerindians,
the others settlers.
fourteen ashaninka children were tortured and their ears
hacked off with machetes, in what the authorities view as a
warning to the community and to the rest of the country.
during their visit to the capital, hector metcori, president
of the association of ashaninka communities in the central
forest, and emilio kitoniro, the association's secretary for
self-defence, received a promise from president alberto fujimori.
fujimori announced that he would modify the counter-insurgent
strategy in the forest: most of the soldiers would be young
ashaninkas and not people from the mountains or the coast, as has
obtained thus far.
the ashaninkas are the biggest ethnic group in peru's forest
region. they live from fishing, hunting and rudimentary farming
that enables them to market coffee, bananas and other crops.
they also live in constant conflict with settlers from the
mountains, who are mainly quechua indians and mestizos.
according to french ethnologist michel saenz, in the
mid-1980s, colombian bands began promoting coca cultivation in
the area ''and along with drug-trafficking came sendero
(luminoso).''
saenz, who has been living in the zone for eight years, said
the insurgents used violent methods to make sure that coca was
grown there, sometimes prohibiting people from cultivating coffee
and burning coffee plantations.
although there are laws that protect them, the ashaninkas are
very vulnerable to the aggressive expansion of the mountain
dwellers, who are more adapted to the market economy and have
closer links with local authorities.
the sendero massacre in the six ashaninka villages was seen by
the international press as a renewal of political violence by the
group almost a year after abimael guzman, its supreme leader, was
caught by the authorities.
but some peruvian experts, like carlos tapia and oscar
espinoza, felt that the killings were no new development because
the group has committed similar acts there in the past.
they admit, however, that the central forest has become
sendero luminoso's most important centre of operations following
the failure of its campaign in lima and its virtual expulsion
from the central and south-central mountain valleys.
''in lima, sendero fell victim to its mistaken strategy.
probably because of the misled personality of abimael guzman, it
made the mistake of wanting to force the outcome of the war and
its entire national and metropolitan directorate fell one after
the other,'' tapia said.
in the mountain districts, he added, peasant patrols armed by
the government have already broken the fear that was the rebels'
most important political weapon.
metcori and kitoniro travelled to lima not only to request
help for the victims of the massacre, but also to ask for a
change in the authorities' counter-insurgency strategy.
they said the ashaninkas had been unable to defend themselves
because, although they had agreed to form peasant patrols, they
never received weapons promised to them.
they told fujimori and army general commander nicolas de bari
hermosa that peasant patrols were not functioning in the forest
because the military have no confidence in the ashaninkas, but
put their faith in the settlers.
according to media reports, the military taught the ashaninka
patrols to use arms, gave them some to parade with, photographed
them and then took the weapons away.
said sociologist imelda vega centeno: ''the military chiefs do
not understand the forest dwellers. it seems to me that they
consider them nomads and believe that if they are given weapons,
the ashainkas will go into the forest and steal them.''
''they place more trust in the settlers, who are also andean
amerindians, but farmers and therefore more stable,'' vega
centeno explained.
sendero also does not give the ashaninkas firearms, but in addition
to encourages them to grow coca and helping them to sell it, they
exploit their longstanding conflict with the settlers.
the aug. 18 attack may have been aimed at punishing the
villages not only because they agreed to form patrols, but also
because they have mixed populations of ashaninkas and settlers.
survivors of the attacks said their assailants included other
ashaninkas who, although they had no firearms, acted with great
fury. these, metkori and kitoniro said, came from ashaninka
villages under the guerrillas' military control.
(end/ips/trd/so/al-oh/kb/93)
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