Baker, at OAS, Offers Peru Carrot or Stick

Secretary of State James A. Baker III pledged Monday that Western democracies will help Peru solve its severe economic problems if it restores constitutional government but that it faces international isolation and deepening poverty if it does not.

In a speech to an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States, Baker expressed sympathy for Peru’s troubles but denounced President Alberto Fujimori for trying to solve those problems by suspending his nation’s Congress and dismissing much of the judiciary.

“The actions taken by President Fujimori, whatever the justification given, are unjustified,” Baker said. “They represent an assault on democracy.”

The OAS was expected to adopt a resolution condemning Fujimori’s military-backed power grab and calling on the Peruvian president to rescind his action. A high-level delegation headed by OAS Secretary General Joao Baena Soares and Paraguayan Foreign Minister Hector Gross Espiell will go to Lima to try to persuade Fujimori to change course.

In Lima on Monday, members of Congress conducted their second symbolic meeting--without interference from security forces who have surrounded the building since the legislative body was disbanded April 5.

Last week, a majority of the members, meeting in their homes, declared the national presidency vacant and elected Carlos Garcia Garcia, the second vice president, to replace Fujimori. On Monday, 143 of the Congress’ 240 members were listed as present, including five renegade members of Fujimori’s Change 90 party.

Asked if the Congress might negotiate a compromise with Fujimori, Senate President Felipe Osterling said, “There is no compromise with a dictatorship.”

U.S. officials said there is reason to hope that the OAS can persuade Fujimori to restore constitutional government to spare his country additional international pressure.

A voluntary reversal would relieve the United States and the OAS of having to consider economic sanctions, a step that the Bush Administration is loath to take because it would shatter the country’s already fragile economy and probably play into the bloody hands of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) terrorists.

As if to underscore that concern, a van loaded with dynamite exploded near the main police station in Callao, the port of Lima, before dawn Monday, wrecking a nearby apartment building and killing four people, police said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the bombing was believed to be the work of Sendero terrorists. If so, it was the third major terrorist attack in the Lima area since the crackdown.

The Bush Administration also is reluctant to disrupt Peru’s faltering anti-narcotics effort. The country produces about 60% of the world’s supply of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine.

Times staff writer William R. Long in Lima contributed to this article.