This takeover is focusing world attention on Peru. There are now over 5,000 political prisoners in Peru. Political detainees in Peru are generally held incommunicado for fifteen days or more, during which time they are routinely tortured.
Political detentions are widespread.
Lawyers who defend political prisoners have themselves been imprisoned, or killed. All these measures are a desperate response of the Peruvian regime to a People's War led by the Communist Party of Peru which, since 1980, has organized hundreds of thousands of peasants, workers, students and middle class allies in an armed struggle to liberate Peru from principally US domination. Free market investments and privatizations have resulted in multinational corporations reaping millions in profits while the level of poverty has doubled since 1990. IMF imposed austerity measures have kept wages down, increased unemployment, and made it almost impossible for the poor to survive. Over 35,000 children die each year before age 5 from malnutrition and poverty.