From: clarinews@clarinet.com
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.politics.people,clari.news.issues.civil_rights,clari.news.election,biz.clarinet.sample
Followup-to: biz.clarinet.sample
Subject: Fujimori ups timetable for plebiscite
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government,
	political personalities, politics, civil rights, social issues,
	election
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 0:35:35 PDT
Location: peru
ACategory: international
Slugword: peru-fujimori
Priority: regular
Format: regular
X-Supersedes: <peru-fujimoriU2AD255ae@clarinet.com>
ANPA: Wc: 1046; Id: z0960; Sel: xxigf; Adate: 4-13-340aed; Ver: correction; V#: 1
Codes: yigfrxx., yiprrpu., yixhrpu., yiperpu.
Note: (1grafcorrection xxx to democracy; pickup14thgraf: The move -- Vice
 President Maximo San Roman sted Second Vice President)

	LIMA, Peru (UPI) -- Pesident Alberto Fujimori, facing increased
isolation by the international community, Sunday night announced he will
hold a plebiscite within six months to set up an elections board, a
first step to return to democracy.
	Previously, the president's ministers said a plebiscite, to consult
Peruvians about a new government and constitutional set-up, would come
within two years to 18 months.
	Fujimori, complaining of legislative and judicial corruption and
stagnation, closed Congress on April 5 and began to rule by decree.
	Asked in a television interview about his plans for the plebiscite,
Fujimori said Sunday night, ``I hope (the plebiscite) will be held as
soon as possible, within six months, to permit the organization of a
National Elections Board.''
	Asked about the possibility of a full military takeover, Fujimori
said that he did not think it was a danger.
	He said public opinion polls showed that 86 percent of the population
supported his decision to close Congress and an equal percentage opposed
military rule.
	Asked about an alleged list containing a list of 100 military and
police officials reportedly involved in corruption, a list reportly
carried to Peru by Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American
Affairs Bernard Aronson, Fujimori said he knew of no such list.
	He said if there is such a list, he would not hesitate to apply the
necessary sanctions.
	Aronson arrived in Peru the day Fujimori declared his emergency plan.
The U.S. envoy subsequently cancelled a meeting with the Peruvian
president as a sign of diplomatic displeasure with the suspension of
democracy.
	The Organization of American States is to hold a meeting in
Washington Monday to discuss the suspension of democracy in Peru. The
envoys are expected to pressure the Fujimori government for a prompt
return to democratic procedures.
	Fujimori said in a radio interview Sunday afternoon that he hoped the
OAS would make its decision with the current crisis in Peru in mind and
understand the bankruptcy of its former democracy.
	``The democracy that we had before was just a shell and now we have
to give that shell content,'' he said, without specifying a timetable
for a return to democracy.
	Fujimori, a political outsider who won the presidency on a platform
of change, also said he was not opposed to the presence of other
Peruvians such at the OAS meeting such as Vice President Maximo San
Roman, who has been designated by legislators meeting in hiding to
replace Fujimori as president.
	The move by the rebel legislators was mostly symbolic, as they do not
control the army or public administration.
	Fujimori's government is likely to find itself with few friends at
the OAS meeting, diplomats say, and there surely will be pressure for
him to backtrack.
	The Peruvian president, the son of Japanese immigrants, has
vigorously defended his assumption of total power -- the government now
rules by decree -- and said the legislature had blocked his plans to lift
the nation out of recession, fight Shining Path guerrillas and punish
drug traffickers.
	He warned that the nation was heading for chaos and called his action
``not a rupture of democracy but rather of rupture of the chain of
corruption.''
	But OAS members are likely to take a dimmer view, especially those
from South America's fragile democracies who fear Fujimori's action may
be imitated in their nations.
	While some diplomats have said they sympathize with Fujimori's
frustration in dealing with an opposition-controlled legislature and a
corrupt judicial system during his 20 months in office, they reject his
arguments that the suspension of democracy was the only way to deal with
the desperately poor nation's myriad problems.
	``There isn't a single foreign government that does not understand
this country faces the most severe problems in Latin America,'' said a
Western diplomat speaking on the condition he not be identified. ``That
does not justify the suspension of democracy.''
	Fujimori's backing by the military, which took to the streets April 5
and arrested opposition politicians, also worries some analysts,
although they say Fujimori appears to be firmly in control of the
government.
	Foreign governments and institutions already have begun to isolate
Peru, with the United States freezing millions of dollars in economic
aid and the International Monetary Fund postponing a $222 million loan.
	Most of Fujimori's South American counterparts have harshly
criticized the action and suspended all cooperation with Peru. Ecuador
and Bolivia, whose presidents have their own problems with their
legislatures, have been less critical.
	``The current administration has been surprised by the strength of
feeling its South American neighbors have exhibited,'' said another
Western diplomat. ``Fujimori has gone against the fundamentals of
democracy and rule of law.''
	Some diplomats say Fujimori may have badly miscalculated foreign
reaction to his ``auto-coup,'' but none are willing to guess whether the
tough-minded president will go back on his self-proclaimed plans for
moral and economic renovation of a country yearning for real change.
	Fujimori because of the do-nothing, selfish reputation of the
legislature and a corrupt judiciary willing to release terrorists and
drug traffickers for a hefty bribe.
	That may be, in part, why Peru has not yet been slapped with harsh
economic sanctions that experts say would badly damage Fujimori's
economic recovery plan just as elements of it are starting to take hold.
	Even some opposition politicians in Peru have said they do not want
to see sanctions against the nation because of its already delicate
economy. A majority of Peruvians live in poverty and one-third are
unemployed or underemployed.
	Some diplomats say Fujimori may have badly miscalculated their
reactions to his ``auto-coup,'' but none are willing to guess whether
the tough-minded president will go back on his self-proclaimed plans for
moral and economic renovation of a country yearning for real change.
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