During the last 6 months of 1996, the gasoline prices have increased 51%. That has boosted the price of foods and public transportation, which not only affects the masses, but also affects Peruvian capitalists who export their products abroad. In Peru, gasoline costs more than in the U.S., and is much higher than in neighboring countries even though Peru is self-sufficient in crude oil, and refines 75% of its own oil production in Lima (refinery La Pampilla.)
The domestic consumption of sea products in 1996 decreased 2.8% relative to 1995, and the sales dropped 3.2% in the same year (La República, November 3, 1996).
In November of 1996, 100 big foreign and national capitalists associated with the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland-Peru met in Lima and criticized the economic policies of Fujimori. They concluded that: "The economy is cooling down, sales have dropped, businesses have difficulties with their bank accounts, capital investment has frozen, and with the 'resurgence' of Sendero, anything can happen in Peru." (La República, November 10, 1996)
Even the profits of imperialist companies have dropped. For example, the net income of the U.S. mining company Southern Copper Corp. for the quarter ending September 30, 1995 was $62,100,000, but in 1996, during the same quarter, it dropped to $37,900,000. Net income for the first 9 months of 1996 as compared with the same period of 1995, dropped $137,400,000. (Wall Street Journal, October 28, 1996, p. c-13) Still, the dictatorship desperately throws up a smoke screen, by publishing full-page paid advertisements written by the Yankee mercenary Steve Yolen ("International Investors Show Confidence," Wall Street Journal, October 1, 1996, p. b-10)
These candid admissions of the ruling classes reflect an existing fracture in the big bourgeoisie and the military. It is not a surprise that foreign capitalists now warn potential investors in Peru, that Fujimori has dropped 50 points in his so-called "popularity" since the beginning of 1996. If this trend continues, the tyrant's reelection dream will turn into a nightmare, since it will facilitate the strategic offensive of the People's War, that will surely take him out of power to be tried publicly for his crimes against the people, or will simply end his miserable life as a lackey of imperialism with enough lead in his head.
He boasts of "modernizing" Peru (on paper) with a myriad of anti-people Law Decrees, most of them copies of federal regulations used in imperialist countries (e.g., Ministry of Women & Human Development of Germany.) Fujimori not only reads plagiarized speeches (the essay of Michael Coppedge at the OAS General Meeting in 1992), but also babbles policies given to him by his imperialist masters. This "modernization" by decree, reminds us of the time of Belaunde Terry (another demagogue of the big bourgeoisie) tried to imitate in Peru, the U.S. Food Stamp program. This social quixotism died at birth for lack of oxygen.
These laws have failed even in imperialist countries, so how will they succeed in a semi-feudal country such as Peru? None of those decrees address the fundamental problems of the economy: massive unemployment, hunger, misery, destruction of the national economy and the long-term recession.
The condition for the above agreement was a down payment of $1,256 million dollars in 1996 to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, International Development Bank, USAID, and Japan.
Main creditors: 180 banks represent 99% of the debt, among them City Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, Bankers Trust Co, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Tokio-Mitsubishi Ltd, Banque Nationale de Paris, and Dresdner Bank.
| Total Debt | $9,317 |
| Principal | $4,400 |
| Interest | $4,917 |
| Annual payments | $300 (1997-2001) |
| $640 (2001-2007) | |
| $700 (2007-2016) |
UNEMPLOYMENT INCREASED IN 1996
Although that according to independent economists the unemployment rate is the highest in the last 16 years as a result of the policies of hunger and misery, the regime officially claims a 9% unemployment rate (a lower figure than many cities in the U.S.!) But this bogus number includes the millions of street peddlers, beggars and informales as if they were fully employed.
Labor-management agreements on working conditions, labor stability, and minimum wage were abolished by the regime. The additional 50% earned for overtime time work was reduced to 25%.
The exploitation of children and the youth has been aggravated by a government program to pay them a reduced wage, without any social benefits. It is estimated that only 10% of the workers of each employer receive social benefits (paid health insurance, holidays, etc.) and 90% of them are in reality, temporary workers without rights.
No matter what type of cosmetics they used as make-up, the rotten old State is a dead corpse that is being buried by the People's War. Only the New Power will be able to address the critical problems faced by the Peruvian people.
The "official" percentages for underemployment during the Fujimori regime are:
| Year | % Unemployed |
| 1990 | 73.1 |
| 1991 | 78.5 |
| 1992 | 76.8 |
| 1993 | 77.4 |
| 1994 | 74.3 |
| 1995 | 74.0 |
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, La Republica November 3, 1996.