"In the same manner that the Peruvian press publishes some cases of government corruption or some illegal activities by private individuals, they also hide the truth and cover up the news. Their journalists are bribed in order to slander those who are seeking to eliminate corruption . . . We will publish the names of the corrupt journalists." Dictator Fujimori, speech at the inaugural meeting of the O.A.S., Lima, June 1997.True! Through the 17 years of revolutionary struggle, the reactionary press in Peru has been an integral part of the government propaganda against the People's War, thus, faithfully serving the interests of imperialism and the genocidal dictatorships in place, especially those of Garcia Perez and Fujimori. Yes, the reactionary press in Peru hides the real political and military meaning of the revolution. It calls it "terrorism," distorting its democratic and liberating character since the launching of the armed struggle in 1980 to the present. And who is eliminating corruption in the country? Who has cleaned up large portions of the country (e.g., liberated territories) from thieves, narcotraffickers, greedy landlords and snitches? The PCP. That's the bitter truth and the genocidal Fujimori let it slip from his mouth during his speech at the OAS meeting in Lima.
In general, the reactionary press in Peru is the mouth piece of the regime and its intelligence services (SIN.) They continuously publish, without any verifying investigation, the reports released by the armed forces as part of their psychological operations against the Peruvian revolution. The relentless anti-PCP campaign such as the endless lies of "capture of terrorists," "Sendero is split," "Guzman has capitulated," "terrorists kill peasants," are the clear evidence of how corrupt the bourgeois Peruvian press is. It is enrolled in the regime's counterinsurgency campaign through bribery, intimidation and outright repression, imprisonment and murder. Therefore, Fujimori is right when he states that the bourgeois press in Peru is corrupt. But no one denies that the one who has corrupted the press the most is his regime. Can anyone deny that in the history of the Republic the bourgeois press (printed media, radio and TV) has never served the national interests, but only those of the reactionary regimes and their imperialist masters? Why doesn't Fujimori release the names of the corrupt journalists under the payroll of the intelligence services (SIN), the CIA and the narcotraffickers, as he has offered to do in his speech at the OAS?
In late May 1997, most Peruvian papers published the communique of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces against the owner of Channel 2 TV in Lima, Israeli businessman Baruch Ivcher Bronstein. A few weeks before, SIN agents raided Ivcher's home in Lima, but he was tipped before and fled to Miami. This is the background: With the active support of the regime (e.g., substantial profits, tax breaks, free tax for imports of equipment and vehicles, and the granting of the Peruvian nationality), in exchange for counterinsurgency propaganda (including its role in cover anti-PCP activities), Ivcher acquired Frequencia Latina (Channel 2.) At the time, Channel 2 as well as the daily papers La Rep£blica and Expreso, with a nationwide audience, played a major role in the psychological operations with the purposes of counterinsurgency. From time to time, these reactionary media outlets (as an expression of the splits in the armed forces), have been publishing the regime's involvement in assassinations and narcotrafficking. According to the progovernment magazine SI, Baruch Ivcher has been a regular supplier of weapons to the military. He, along with arms dealer Moshe Rothschild and Tzvi Tsudit (alias Enrique Sudit), who were reported to be associated with the Israeli Defense Ministry and Mossad, have worked closely with Vladimiro Montesinos of SIN and the armed forces, since their arrival in the late 1980s.
CHRONOLOGY OF A DEADLY CLASH: SIN vs. CHANNEL 2 (FREQUENCIA LATINA) All began when the notorious drug trafficker Demetrio Chavez, "El Vaticano" was brought to a military Court in Lima. Using its military contacts, Channel 2 reported an exclusive interview to El Vaticano. That interview blew up in their faces. El Vaticano stated that he has been paying Vladimiro Montesinos, the head of SIN and chief advisor to Fujimori, 50,000 dollars per month as bribes for logistical help (e.g., monitoring of DEA activities) and protection from PCP guerrilla attacks who are fighting against the alliance armed forces-narcos in the upper Huallaga Valley. Ivcher also reported that Fujimori, his Education Minister Domingo Palermo and Congressman Jorge Trelles knew about this deal. This charge was substantiated later when Montesinos could not explain the source of million of dollars in inoceme he "earned" since 1990. General Ketin Vidal (then head of the police) leaked to the press a copy of Montesinos' income tax reporting 200,00 dollars of income for 1996 (La Republica and Gestion, May 17, 1997) His monthly salary as advisor of SIN and Fujimori is only 800 dollars per month or 9,600 per year (it has been reported that the illegal income comes from the CIA, the Rand Corporation and the drug cartels.) Tape recordings of how the DEA's and police activities in Alto Huallaga were being monitored by Montesinos' men (e.g., SIN and Navy agents) and were passed on to Vaticano's crew, were also shown in Channel 2. Finally, what broke the camel's back was the April 6, 1997 televised reports of two despicable crimes perpetrated by SIN against its own members: Special Agent Leonor La Rosa was tortured inside the building of the Chief Commander of the Armed Forces General Nicholas Hermoza, and Agent Mariela Barreto was tortured to death and cut into pieces for allegedly selling information to the press. A photo of Special Agent Barreto (published in a daily paper) was recognized by the widow of labor leader Pedro Huillca. She said that Barreto, a former member of Fujimori's death squad Grupo Colina, had visited her home a few days before her husband was murdered on December 18, 1992.
Finally, on July 13, 1997 Channel 2 published and played the phone conversations of 198 people that were illegally taped by SIN (National Intelligence Services), SIE (Army Intelligence) and the Navy. In addition, it was reported that the Fujimori regime purchased the phone taping and surveillance equipments from Israel for the amount of 8.5 million dollars. That's the real face of Fujimori's narco-democracy!
Montesinos (SIN), Hermoza (Armed Forces) and Fujimori retaliated in kind against Channel 2 and its owner Baruch Ivcher:
- On April 9, they sent SUNAT (the Peruvian IRS or tax collectors) and Custom agents to look into the number of vehicles and other equipment that Baruch Ivcher smuggled into the country before and after the Channel was bombed by the Maoist combatants in 1993. On April 10, helicopters filmed the factory "Paraiso" in Callao, owned by a group of Israelis, among them Ivcher.
- On May 23, the Joint Command of the Armed Forces published in the newspapers it's communicate 002-97. It stated that Ivcher was conducting a campaign to discredit the military. The Supreme Court of Military Justice (the same who administers the hooded judges) issued a warrant for the arrest of Ivcher. The regime gave orders to several lower Courts in Lima to initiate judicial proceedings for "civil disobedience" against him. SIN also leaked a report and provided documents to two reactionary magazines under its influence ("SI" and GENTE) published on Ivcher's role in the weapons sale of Israel to Ecuador, during the last border armed conflict of Peru with Ecuador (Alto Canepa.) This weapon's deal included the sale of Israeli warplanes to Ecuador. A video showing Ivcher with General Paco Moncayo, head of the Armed Forces of Ecuador, was presented as evidence by SIN. No information was provided on how Montesinos acquired this video.
- On May 28, the political police (SIN) began legal proceedings to overtly confiscate and take control of Channel 2 through two small shareholders Samuel and Mendel Zuzunaga. The objective is to put this TV station once again at the service of the regime. The same day, a new immigration Law was promulgated by the regime and its Congress. Article 12 of this Law Decree read that "those who commit acts against the national security and the interest of the State will lose their naturalization." On July 13, Ivcher was stripped from his naturalization. But unfortunately for the regime, the brothers Samuel and Mendel Zuzunaga, with ties to the intelligence services, turned out to be two Polish citizens whose real last name was Winter and were using the fake Peruvian name of "Zuzunaga" to carry out psychological operations in support of the armed forces.
Regardless of how Ivcher obtained his naturalization, this is another unconstitutional decree of an illegitimate government that uses "legal" cover to commit outrageous crimes.- On June 8, Channel 2 (still under Ivcher's control) interviewed Ecuadorian General Francisco Moncayo. As expected, Moncayo denied the accusations against Ivcher.
- On May 27, 1997, Joel Sapak, Israel's Ambassador in Peru, held a meeting with General Nicolas Hermoza, Chief of the Armed Forces, and the heads of the Navy (Admiral Antonio Ibarcena) and Air Force (Gen. Esteban Bello), to discuss Ivcher's feud with the regime in view of the military assistance (e.g., advisors) that the Peruvian intelligence services receive from Israel. Israeli operatives along with CIA special agents, who train SIN death squads, have been spotted by former political prisoners who were tortured in several military installations in the country. The regime has shown world expertise not only in carrying out mass graves and mass killings against the people, but in addition, has also mastered the Israeli torture sessions called "limited physical force." Once again, in attempting to explain the high level talks of the Israeli government with the Peruvian military, Fujimori tried to fool the international press by stating: "They were talking about anti-Semitism issues."
In sum, the above shows how Israel and its agents are collaborating with the counterinsurgency war of the regime, and how contradictions can arise in the enemy's camp. After all, what Israel seeks in Peru and Latin America is not "freedom of the press"or "democracy," but to protect its huge profits from arm dealings and murky businesses.
Sources: La Rep£blica, May 28, 1997.
Revista SI, Lima, May 27.
The New Flag, January 1997
The New York Times, July 13, 1997