Playing Into Enemy Hands : Peruvian rebels may be big winners in Fujimori’s ill-conceived ‘self-coup’

Democracy cannot be saved by killing it, even in a nation as troubled as Peru. That’s why President Alberto Fujimori is making a serious mistake by taking on dictatorial powers, closing the Congress and having political activists and journalists arrested.

The most charitable explanation that can be offered for such drastic actions is the fact that Fujimori is politically inexperienced and frustrated with the way democracy works in Peru. An agronomist, Fujimori was an obscure university president when he was swept into Peru’s presidency two years ago by voters turned off by traditional politicians (sound familiar?).

Since then, however, the traditional parties that Fujimori campaigned against have been able to stall reform, including his attempt to privatize state-owned companies and to root out corruption in Peru’s bureaucracy and legal systems. It is hard to shake the suspicion that Fujimori’s auto-golpe-- his “self-coup,” as Peruvians have dubbed it--is aimed more at his legal political opponents than at a far more serious problem in Peru: political terrorism.

Sadly, the violence associated with a long, bloody war against the fiercely Marxist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) rebels has worsened since Fujimori took office. Ironically, most analysts agree that a harsh, dictatorial crackdown is just what the rebels wanted--it shows they have made Peru ungovernable. Fujimori may have played right into the hands of democracy’s worst opponents.

The Bush Administration has wisely terminated all but humanitarian aid to Peru, warning through State Department spokesmen that a lasting solution to Peru’s problems can come only through legal, constitutional means. That message must sink in with Fujimori, or his misstep could prove fatal for Peruvian democracy.