Peru’s Fujimori Sees Support, Pledges Return to Democracy

President Alberto Fujimori offered reassurances Wednesday that his military-backed emergency regime is transitional and will culminate in new congressional elections.

In a nationally televised speech, his first since he shut down the Congress and courts Sunday night, Fujimori claimed overwhelming public support for his move. He said corrupt congressmen and judges had only deepened Peru’s problems, including poverty and terrorist violence, which he called “probably the most serious in Latin America.”

“For the people, what has happened--instead of a break in democratic order--is a break in the chain of corruption,” he declared.

“Our final objective is democracy,” he said. “Peru will not stop belonging to the democratic family of the continent. Have no doubts, democracy is the best of systems, when it works authentically as such--not when it is only a formality used precisely to consecrate anti-democratic privileges.

“Therefore, when we open the national Congress, the people are going to want authentic renovation.”

To keep old political elites from returning “to perpetuate themselves in the chambers” will be easy if the Congress is renewed through staggered elections and immediate reelection is barred, Fujimori said. He gave no other details of plans for a new Congress or judicial system.

Augusto Blacker, Fujimori’s foreign minister, also has denied that the emergency government will be a dictatorship. A senior Western diplomat said Blacker told him that the government will hold a plebiscite within six weeks, letting Peruvians approve or disapprove the emergency government.

Blacker has said that a referendum on a new constitution and new congressional elections is expected to be held within 18 months.

The diplomat said the United States has insisted that independent legislative and judiciary powers be restored, press freedom be respected and detained politicians be released.

In a rash of arrests after Fujimori’s coup, former President Alan Garcia was the big one who got away. Speaking from hiding, Garcia on Wednesday promised Peruvians that “full liberty and democracy will be installed.”

It was a defiant statement from the leader of Peru’s biggest party and Fujimori’s archrival for political power. An important objective of Sunday’s coup, in which Fujimori shut down the Congress and courts, was to undercut opposition by Garcia and his APRA party.

Police and troops raided Garcia’s house late Sunday and kept it surrounded in the following days. Conflicting rumors had said Garcia was under arrest, or that he had taken asylum in the embassy of another Latin American country.

Wednesday morning, a radio station in neighboring Argentina and a television station in Mexico broadcast a recording of Garcia’s voice saying, “Rumors that I am being detained in a navy barracks or an army building are untrue.” He said he was not at home when the troops came Sunday night.

“I ask you all, very briefly, to trust that soon, with the work of political forces that I am sure will unite for this goal, full democracy and liberty will be installed,” Garcia added, promising to stay in touch with “democratic and responsible parties.” He said he will be visiting APRA members in Lima and in the provinces, indicating that he was hiding somewhere in Peru.

Garcia’s wife, Pilar Nores, said she had not heard from her husband and did not know where he was. In a statement published Wednesday, she complained that security forces who raided her home broke doors and furniture and took away documents.

Peruvian broadcasters aired only fragments of Garcia’s message, apparently complying with government warnings against publicizing opposition statements.

Garcia gave no indication in his message of how Fujimori’s tough action, supported by the armed forces, might be reversed. His party issued a statement calling for international pressures.

“We invoke the democratic governments of the Americas and the world to express their rejection of the break in constitutional order and support Peru’s return to the concert of democratic countries,” the party statement said.

Some analysts have speculated that APRA might move underground to become a subversive movement.

“They have people who know how to do it. They have arms,” said Pablo Rojas, a human rights activist.

APRA has survived and even thrived in previous periods of clandestine status, resisting intermittent military regimes. Garcia, who was elected in 1985 and left office in 1990 after Fujimori’s elections, is believed to aspire to a new term in office.

While in power, APRA packed the Supreme Court and other tribunals with its allies. Fujimori said obstruction of his programs by courts and the Congress was a major reason behind his move.

Since early Monday, security forces have been holding several APRA militants, including one whose house contained a small arsenal of military weapons. The new regime also put under house arrest the presidents of both branches of the Congress, who belong to the center-right Popular Christian Party.

Other legislators say they will try soon to convene the Congress to declare the national presidency vacant because of Fujimori’s “moral incapacity.” They say they want to replace Fujimori with one of the country’s two vice presidents.