Peruvian Congress is today debating a proposal by the fujimorista faction to limit foreign funding to NGOs. The apparent front for this move is the recent violence in Bagua, which President Alan Garcia has claimed had international backing (in a completely transparent ploy to stir up patriotism and distract from the miserable failings of his own adminstration), but it is yet another in a string of moves to repress human rights organisations in Peru.
Garcia is urging his ambassadors to combat the "conspiracy" against Peru and has directly cited NGOs as an enemy of the nation:
"When we talk about a conspiracy, we are not talking solely or necessarily about states. It's obvious that there are some NGOs which have carried out a systematic campaign of disinformation and have filled the world with lies through blogs and emails."
[“Cuando hablamos de conspiración no hablamos necesaria y únicamente de estados. Es evidente que se pueden identificar algunas ONG que han hecho una campaña sistemática de desinformación y han llenado de mentiras al mundo a través de blogs y mails”,]
The rhetoric of the Argentine military regime was just the same, incidentally. They took out ads in the papers warning the population of an "anti-Argentine campaign" (compare the recent TV spot of the Peruvian government) and pressured civil servants, and others, to wear badges punning on "human rights" ("los argentinos somos derechos y humanos", "we Argentines are human and right").
Pleno del Congreso debate proyecto de ley referido a las ONGs (La Republica)
Post-killings, Peru Clamps down on NGOs (Survival)
García pide a sus embajadores enfrentar “campaña internacional contra el Perú” (La Republica)
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