Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Coup fails in Peru Date: Sat, 14 Nov 92 16:22:11 EST Message-ID: \SE A \SS (WS) \HD Coup fails in Peru \SH Generals accused of leading plot \BY Monte Hayes \CR ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT LIMA, Peru LIMA, Peru - A small group of army officers tried to seize army headquarters and the national palace early yesterday in a plot to kill President Alberto Fujimori, but the attempt fizzled, the government said. About 250 loyalist soldiers and 15 armored personnel carriers were deployed in front of the palace to prevent the coup, then were withdrawn at dawn, witnesses said. By afternoon, activity on the streets of the capital was normal. The attempt may have been precipitated by a decree published yesterday that gave Mr. Fujimori control over the firing and assignment of all military officers above the rank of lieutenant. Previously, officers could be removed only at retirement age or for misconduct. Experts on the Peruvian military said there was some perception that Mr. Fujimori had trespassed on its traditional autonomy. The government said in a statement that the military plotters, led by three retired generals, had been arrested and would be tried immediately. There was no immediate word on how many soldiers or units might have been involved. "A minuscule group of army officers . . . tried to take over army headquarters and the government palace with the intention of capturing the army commander-in-chief and killing the chief of state," the statement said. Retired Gens. Jaime Salinas Sedo, Jose Pastor Vives and Luis Palomino Rodriguez were arrested as conspirators along with army commander Marcos Zarate Rota, who the statement said was under investigation for drug trafficking. Gen. Pastor denied he was involved and said that a military operation of the kind the government claimed was plotted could not possibly have been carrried out. "This is madness. Both the palace and the army headquarters are surrounded by massive security against which a group of officers would have been able to do absolutely nothing," Gen. Pastor said, minutes before he was escorted from his home by a military officer. [Reuters news agency reported that Gen. Pastor and Gen. Palomino were both high-level officers during the earlier government of President Alan Garcia. [Mr. Garcia emerged as the president's main political enemy in the months before Mr. Fujimori shut down Congress and reorganized the judiciary. ["This all smells very funny to me," a source close to the military, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters.] Mr. Fujimori apparently was warned of the plot during a three-hour meeting with army officers and left the presidential palace in central Lima about 3 a.m. under the guard of loyal troops. Reporters saw his motorcade leaving the palace and followed it to army headquarters in the suburb of San Borja. He returned to the palace yesterday afternoon. Two weeks ago Mr. Fujimori, who was elected in 1990, named a new general to head the tank division as part of a shake-up of the military command. "Once again the policy of ingratitude, the mistreatment of generals loyal to Fujimori," the newsmagazine Caretas said in its Oct. 29 issue. The coup attempt "may have been a reaction to the perception that Fujimori has undermined the institutional integrity and the merit-oriented movement through the ranks," said David Scott Palmer, a director of Latin American studies at Boston University who has written several books about Peru. "There was an awful lot of discontent over low wages, favoritism by Fujimori, major reshuffling and major corruption," said Michael Smith, director of the program on Peru at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. "He was sounding very arbitrary and very authoritarian, more so than in the past." It wasn't clear how far the plotters had gone with their plans. Diplomatic sources said it appeared that the rebel officers never reached the palace. The government said the coup was intended to block elections for a constituent assembly set for Nov. 22. The assembly, which is to serve as a Congress and write a new constitution, replaces the legislature that Mr. Fujimori shut down April 5 when he closed the courts and imposed military-backed, one-man rule. He claimed that corruption was blocking his efforts to fight leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers. On Sunday, Mr. Fujimori said U.S. intelligence services had discovered that military officers were involved in cocaine trafficking in Peru's Upper Huallaga valley, the world's greatest source of coca leaf, the raw material of cocaine. He said his government was investigating the charges. "The government will continue, without fail, with its proposal for total moralization, knocking out all the corrupt and impeding their return to the public administration," Mr. Fujimori said in a statement. More than 25,000 people have died in political violence in Peru since Shining Path guerrillas began their campaign in 1980 to establish a Maoist state. Most of the victims have been highland peasants caught in the cross fire between security forces and the rebels. Mr. Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, was an agronomist and university president with no previous political experience before he launched a campaign for the highest office in 1990. Mr. Fujimori's parents arrived in Peru from near the Japanese city of Kumamoto in the early 1930s and soon converted from Buddhism to Peru's dominant religion, Roman Catholicism. He is credited with capitalizing on Peruvian disgust with corruption and a long-festering insurgency. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM