BY ELIZABETH SCHULTE
Thousands of Peruvians are continuing to strike, despite a state of emergency having been imposed by the government on May 27. Strikes and protests have spread like wildfire across the country. On June 3, more than 30,000 workers staged the biggest act of defiance against the state of emergency yet, rallying in central Lima to demand that the government improve their standard of living.
Peru's 300,000 teachers began a national strike on May 12, demanding higher wages. On May 26, farmers — asking for lower taxes on their crops and import protection — joined the strike. They brought the transportation of goods to a halt by blocking major highways. In the central Andes, near the city of Jauja, seven police officers were injured after 2000 farmers pelted them with stones when they tried to clear the highway.
On May 27, 35,000 doctors and nurses in eight government-run hospitals and 3000 health centres walked out. Court workers and students also joined in the protests.
President Alejandro Toledo called a 30-day state of emergency to "restore order", banning strikes and demonstrations and giving the police and military the authority to use force and to enter strikers' homes.
Police clashed with protesters across the country. In the north, riot cops fired tear gas at about 5000 striking teachers in Chiclayo. And in the south, soldiers shot at protesting students in Puno, killing one student and injuring at least 16 others. Despite this, protests have continued.
Farmers and health care workers called off their strikes on June 1-2, but teachers and court workers have not. "We teachers are not going to permit this kind of intimidation and aggression", Nilver Lopez, a leader of the Unico Union de Trabajadores in the Education of Peru (SUTEP), which represents 280,000 teachers across Peru, told Reuters on May 31.
A poll released on May 30 showed that 71% of Peruvians supported the protests, reflecting the widespread anger with the Toledo government's inability to live up to its promises. Toledo, seen by many as an activist and reformer, took office in 2001, replacing the corrupt 10-year reign of Alberto Fujimori. Among his promises was to create 1 million jobs a year. Yet unemployment has stayed at 10% since he took office.
While Peru has been hailed as an economic success story — the country's 5.2% economic growth rate last year was the fastest in Latin America — none of this success has been felt by ordinary Peruvians. More than half the population of 27 million lives on US$1.25 or less a day. Fifty-four per cent of the population lives in poverty, and 24% survive on half the official poverty line or less.
Strict restrictions on government spending demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and imposed by Toledo — a former World Bank adviser trained in the US — have made conditions worse. Toledo's approval rating now stands at a miserable 14%.
Last June, Toledo called another state of emergency in response to massive demonstrations in Arequipa in the south against the privatisation of two electricity utilities, as prescribed by the IMF. When martial law couldn't stop the protests, the government postponed its privatisation plans indefinitely.
Toledo's troubles are far from over. Peru's biggest trade union federation, the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers, has announced a general strike in July against the government's free-market policies.
[From Socialist Worker, newspaper of the US International Socialist Organization.]
From Green Left Weekly, June 11, 2003.
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