[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20]
[Senate]
[Pages 29050-29051]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



EXPRESSING CONCERN OVER FREEDOM OF PRESS AND ELECTORAL INSTITUTIONS IN 
                                  PERU

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
now proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar No. 378, S. Res. 
209.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 209) expressing concern over 
     interference with freedom of the press and independence of 
     judicial and electoral institutions in Peru.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the 
resolution appear at this point in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 209) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 209

       Whereas the independence of Peru's legislative and judicial 
     branches has been brought into question by the May 29, 1997, 
     dismissal of 3 Constitutional Tribunal magistrates;
       Whereas Peru's National Council of Magistrates and the 
     National Election Board have been manipulated by President 
     Alberto Fujimori and his allies so he can seek a third term 
     in office;
       Whereas the Department of State's Country Report on Human 
     Rights Practices for 1998, dated February 26, 1999, 
     concludes, with respect to Peru, that ``government 
     intelligence agents allegedly orchestrated a campaign of 
     spurious attacks by the tabloid press against a handful of 
     publishers and investigative journalists in the strongly pro-
     opposition daily La Republica and the other print outlets and 
     electronic media'';
       Whereas the Department of State's Country Report on Human 
     Rights Practices for 1997, dated January 30, 1998, states 
     that Channel 2 television station reporters in Peru 
     ``revealed torture by Army Intelligence Service Officers'' 
     and ``the systematic wiretapping of journalists, government 
     officials, and opposition politicians'';
       Whereas on July 13, 1997, Peruvian immigration authorities 
     revoked the Peruvian citizenship of Baruch Ivcher, the 
     Israeli-born owner of the Channel 2 television station; and
       Whereas Baruch Ivcher subsequently lost control of Channel 
     2 under an interpretation of a law that provides that a 
     foreigner may not own a media organization, causing the 
     Department of State's Report on Human Rights Practices for 
     1998 to report that ``threats and harassment continued 
     against Baruch Ivcher and some of his former journalists and 
     administrative staff . . . In September Ivcher and several of 
     his staff involved in his other nonmedia businesses were 
     charged with customs fraud. The Courts sentenced Ivcher in 
     absentia to 12 years imprisonment and his secretary to 3 
     years in prison. Other persons from his former television

[[Page 29051]]

     station, who resigned in protest in 1997 when the station was 
     taken away, also have had various charges leveled against 
     them and complain of telephone threats and surveillance by 
     persons in unmarked cars'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, 

     SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON ANTIDEMOCRATIC MEASURES BY 
                   THE GOVERNMENT OF PERU.

       It is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the erosion of the independence of judicial and 
     electoral branches of the Government of Peru and the blatant 
     intimidation of journalists in Peru are matters of serious 
     concern to the United States;
       (2) efforts by any person or political movement in Peru to 
     undermine that country's constitutional order for personal or 
     political gain are inconsistent with the standard of 
     representative democracy in the Western Hemisphere;
       (3) the Government of the United States supports the effort 
     of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to report on 
     the pattern of threats to democracy, freedom of the press, 
     and judicial independence by the Government of Peru; and
       (4) systematic abuse of the rule of law and threats to 
     democracy in Peru could undermine the confidence of foreign 
     investors in, as well as the creditworthiness of, Peru.

     SEC. 2. TRANSMITTAL OF RESOLUTION.

       The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this 
     resolution to the Secretary of State with the request that 
     the Secretary further transmit such copy to the Secretary 
     General of the Organization of American States, the President 
     of the Inter-American Development Bank, and the President of 
     the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

                          ____________________