Educate-Yourself.org- (Peru, April 30, 2000) Toledo Manrique Promises to Release Terrorists, Then Reverses Following Angry Outcry

Reports From Peru

Toledo Manrique Promises to Free Terrorists; Then Reverses, Following Angry Reaction

By Richard Petty Deegan
http://educate-yourself.org/rfp/nwoperumoremanrique30apr0.shtml
April 30, 2000

(Lima) On Thursday, April 27, after Stanford/Harvard alumni and Peruvian presidential candidate, Alejandro Toledo Manrique, indicated his willingness to free terrorist MRTA ringleader Lori Berenson and other convicted terrorists, the reaction in Peru was prompt and overwhelmingly negative. Although his statement, which was reported by Reuters, AP, Agencie France Presse, EFE, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, was not covered in Peru’s largest-circulation newspapers, El Comercio and LaRepublica (or on their TV/radio stations), it managed to be heard via video tape on some news shows and later appeared in those Peruvian newspapers that are not openly hostile to President Fujimori.

As the Peruvian citizenry became alarmed at Toledo Manrique’s latest attempt to self destruct, his spokesmen were quick to work on “spinning” the issue. Carlos Ferrero, of Peru Possible stated that what was said by Toledo manrique was spoken in English, and it wasn’t 'appropriate' to translate it into Spanish. Luis Solari, another designated representative, denied that Toledo Manrique had said anything at all! However, it turned out that Toledo Manrique's desire to free terrorists (which would not appeal to any Peruvian who had suffered through the era of bombs and assaults provoked and planned by these groups) was simply a repetition of statements made during a presidential debate with another candidate in Miami in March, for the television chain Telemundo, watched by many hispanics throughout the U.S..

The negative outcry in Peru against freeing these convicted MRTA and Shining Path terrorists led Toledo Manrique to completely reverse himself the next day, when he stated that he would never release any terrorist. It's interesting, that while Toledo Manrique was reported to have met for extended conversations with Berenson’s parents during his US campaign trips in March, after hearing of toledo manrique's reversal, the parents (silent for years) issued a statement saying that they could not trust anybody in the Peruvian government to help their daughter-that President Clinton must step in. Did Toledo Manrique renege on a promise to the Berensons?

Four Latin American nations criticize US intervention
The Foreign Ministers of Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia expressed their solidarity with Peru while they roundly denounced “external interference by the United States” in the internal affairs of Latin American nations. This support was manifested at the conclusion of a round of meetings of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers of the Andean Community of Nations.
Venezuelan Minister Jose Vincente Rangel said that “Undertaking this runoff is an interesting and important process, and it should be left to the Peruvians to settle their affairs by their own democratic process.” He emphasized his opposition to “extraterritorial laws and external interference”, by which he meant that “the US Congress should occupy itself with other matters and not with the Peruvian situation”. He said that the Andean nations had been hesitant in speaking “due to the harsh criticism coming from the US and the European Union.” “These countries themselves exercise the greatest watchfulness. If the democratic mechanisms are working in each country that is the best resource for resolve such matters”, he affirmed.

Ecuadorian Minister Heinz Mueller expounded a similar opinion, referring to “the importance of letting the Peruvians decide their own destiny without the necessity of advice or tutorials” Chancellor Fernando de Trazegnies reiterated international law and the UN charter under which no country may interfere in the internal affairs of another saying “If there are those who think differently, that’s their problem.”

Vice Minister Ana Maria Solares of Bolivia stated that her country always “remembers and is respectful of the international principal of non-interference in the internal affairs of another country.”

Toledo Manrique indicates need for U.S./Eurpoean 'assistance'
On the same day this joint declaration was being issued (April28) in Lima, Peruvian presidential candidate Alejandro Toledo Manrique, while campaigning in Washington (Reuters-Apr 28), stated that 'democratic' countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, with the assistance of the United States and the European Union, must serve as "models" for the integration of Latin America.

Mexico has had one-party rule for over seventy years, Chile until recently was under the control of General Pinochet (who is still in the Senate) and Argentina has yet to acknowledge or explain the tens of thousands of “disappeared” citizens.

Majority of Peruvians Favor Fujimori
Final tallies of the first election votes by Peruvians living outside of the country, show that Peruvians living in the U.S. voted 60% for Fujimori vs. 29.9% for Toledo Manrique. Latin American results were overwhelming in favor of Fujimori. Exceptions included: Mexico (49%-38% favor Toledo Manrique), Argentina (41.6%-41.4% favor Toledo Manrique) and Cuba (41% -33% favor Toledo Manrique). Toledo Manrique also led among Peruvians living in Germany, Spain, Holland and Russia.

April 29-Novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, failed candidate for president of Peru in 1990, stated today that the Archbishop of Lima, Juan Luis Cardinal Cipriani, has refused to let the Catholic Church mediate the election only because he (Cipriani) “is one of the pillars of the [Fujimori] dictatorship.”

How strange that in this "dictatorship", all political signs and billboards from the first election have been removed as required by law, except in Lima, where one-third of the entire country’s population lives. In Lima, under Mayor Andrade, all campaign has been removed except any material referring to either Toledo Manrique or Andrade. Today, at each of the fifteen busiest intersections in Lima are ten by twenty five foot billboards touting Toledo Manrique. Nowhere in Lima is there anything displayed promoting the “dictator”, Fujimori. What kind of “dictator” can Fujimori be if he supposedly uses fraud to fail to win an election by a 13,000 vote plurality and can’t send in the armed forces to take down Toledo Manrique´s propaganda?

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