Peru emergency
Socialist Press1978 1978-09-06Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 2 →
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Mengistu er to power the shape of the Derg.
In seven provinces of Peru a state of emergency has now been declared and all civil liberties suspended by the military dictatorship of General Bermudez.
This repression- is directed against the miners' strike, now entering its fifth week.
The miners are demanding the re-instatement of over 300 miners sacked during the last 18 months because of their militant union activities.
Rejected
Both state-owned and privately-owned. companies are rejecting this call for a labour amnesty, but some private firms have now been driven to offer individuals pay-offs of around £3,000.
The union has so far rejected the government's proposal to lift the state of emergency and consider each case on a purely individual basis if the strike is ended.
The dictatorship claims that the strike is causing a loss in foreign exchange revenue of over £1 million each day, at a time when the government is attempting to stabilise the Peruvian economy by agreements made with the IMF at the expense of the working class.
But the generals' main concern is not. with, this crippling economic blow so much as the political significance of the strike.
Their serious miscalculation in calling elections to a Constituent Assembly has placed them in a vulnerable and precarious position, where any independent action by the working class poses a major threat to their rule.