[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9395-9396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      THE RUNOFF ELECTION IN PERU

  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, it is fortuitous that the Senator from 
Ohio would make his remarks before mine. I share and agree with most of 
what he has said with regard to trade.
  I rise on a point that could be a troubling cloud that, even if the 
next President and even if the next Congress were to take the 
suggestions of the Senator from Ohio, and if certain events that are 
unfolding this very minute were to take a wrong turn, could 
dramatically and negatively affect these trade opportunities.
  The Andean region--Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama, and 
Venezuela--is experiencing difficult times. I rise specifically today 
about events that are under advisement this minute in Peru.
  As those who follow events there know, very aggressive behavior by 
President Fujimori led to a constitutional override of a two-term 
limitation on his Presidency, and he is seeking a third term. The 
elections on April 9 were viewed as flawed by the international 
community. Severe questions occurred as to whether or not a fair 
election had occurred. The OAS, the Carter Center, NDI, and other 
international observers have argued that the runoff election which will 
occur this Sunday, unless postponed, is in severe doubt and question. 
The Organization of American States, along with others, has said that 
the computer system--which is crucial to the vote count and crucial to 
monitoring the election--is not in a condition for which a fair 
election can occur and as a result they would not be able to accredit 
the election. If an election occurs this Sunday, for which all national 
and international interests have said you cannot

[[Page 9396]]

appropriately observe the election, you can't tell whether it has been 
fair or not, if the government proceeds with that, it will be a serious 
blow to the democratic countries that the Senator from Ohio alluded to 
and to constitutional law and to the growth of democracy in our 
hemisphere.
  Very recently, Senator Leahy from Vermont and I authored a joint 
resolution on this matter which reads: Resolved by the Senate and the 
House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 
assembled that it is the sense of the Congress that the President of 
the United States should promptly convey to the President of Peru, if 
the April 9, 2000, elections are deemed by the international community 
not to have been free and fair, the United States will review and 
modify as appropriate its political and economic and military relations 
with Peru and will work with other democracies in the hemisphere and 
elsewhere towards restoration of democracy in Peru. This is passed by 
the House. This is passed by the Senate. This is signed by the 
President of the United States and, therefore, this is the policy of 
the United States with regard to these elections.
  The situation has not improved. As I said, we have a computer system 
that is flawed. We have the opposition candidate who has withdrawn from 
the election. We have the Organization of American States saying we 
will withdraw all observers. We are hours away from a very serious 
turnback and reversal in our hemisphere in the country of Peru. 
Constitutional law, the hemisphere of new democracies, will have 
suffered a blow.
  Supposedly, in the next 2 or 3 hours, their electoral commission will 
make a statement as to whether they will listen to the world, listen to 
the OAS, listen to the United States Congress, the President of the 
United States, and delay these elections or not.
  I rise only for the purpose of saying that it will be an acknowledged 
blemish on so much progress that had been made in this last decade. It 
will have dire and long-reaching consequences if the Government of Peru 
does not hear a world talking to it.
  I can only pray that in the next hour or two, the government will 
recognize that it must have an environment under which elections will 
be fair and observers will have the ability to adjudicate this was a 
fair election or this was not. To my colleagues, I say, there are 
events unfolding in this hemisphere to which we must pay far more 
attention. As the Senator from Ohio said, the vast majority of our 
trade now is in this hemisphere. It exceeds Europe and it exceeds the 
Pacific. It had better be a healthy place because it means a great deal 
to us and our fellow citizens.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.

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