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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
______________________PERU____________________
Bishops address national crisis
Reaction to president’s resignation
The Peruvian bishops’ conference convened an emergency meeting in November to analyze the political crisis that arose after the surprising resignation of President Alberto Fujimori. The retired Archbishop of Callao, Ricardo Durand Florez, called Peruvians to “work for reconciliation” in response to “the worst crisis ever.”
Archbishop Durand, a former president of the Peruvian bishops’ conference and one of the most respected figures in Peru, said Peruvians should not feel discouraged, and called them to “keep the faith and the courage needed to strengthen our democracy.”
Fujimori’s resignation, made public from Japan on Sunday, November 20, caught both friends and foes by surprise. His announcement, sent by fax from a hotel in Tokyo, was harshly criticized in Lima, and prompted a sequence of major changes. “This situation is definitely critical; it is the worst crisis ever,” said the 80-year-old Archbishop Durand. “I feel deeply hurt, as most Peruvians, because this demoralizes us all and postpones the nation’s opportunity to cope with the economic crisis.”
He described the way Fujimori presented his decision as “offensive and outrageous,” but said that “his presence had become an obstacle for the pursuit of national reconciliation.” Archbishop Durand said that the country was “in urgent need to close this whole chapter with the capture and trial of Vladimiro Montesinos.” Montesinos, the nation’s former chief intelligence officer, had been exposed as the head of a large criminal enterprise that involved money-laundering, narcotics trafficking, and human-rights violations; the scandal surrounding that activity spelled the end of the president’s decade-long rule.
“Peruvians need today a great deal of peace and prudence, to avoid raising tensions and uncertainty,” said Archbishop Durand. “Being realistically aware of the critical situation, we need both the help of God and the commitment of all Peruvians to leave differences aside and work for reconciliation,” he added.
One week later, as the nation’s government began to form around a new leader, Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani of Lima, the primate of Peru, congratulated the new ministers appointed by the interim President Valentin Paniagua and called upon them to help in the “moral reconstruction” of the South American country.
A completely new cabinet was installed by the new Prime Minister and Secretary of State, former UN Secretary General, Javier Perez de Cuellar. The new cabinet was appointed after all of Furimori’s cabinet ministers resigned. The new cabinet includes ministers from different political parties, including some independent professionals who strongly opposed Fujimori’s contested third-term in office.
“I wholeheartedly congratulate the new ministers, and I offer my prayers so they may bring Peru back to the track of truth, decency, and justice,” the archbishop said. “Peru needs moral reconstruction, so the new cabinet will have a significant task in bringing values back to politics,” he added.
The archbishop said, “We have been living a tremendous crisis of moral principles, especially a dramatic lack of respect for the truth. Nevertheless, I am confident that God will help [the new ministers] to illuminate our country with decency, transparency, and honesty, for the good of all Peruvians.”
President Paniagua and his new cabinet will remain in power until July 28, 2001, when a new president, elected during general elections scheduled for April 8, takes office. Paniagua has said his main task will be “to secure completely clean, spotless elections, as well as economic stability.”
Back to Catholic World Report January 2001 Table of Contents