(IPYS/IFEX) – On 23 August 2000, the executive branch of government submitted a proposed law on the Regularisation of Peruvian Citizenship Titles to congress for urgent debate. The proposal covers the situation of people who have not been able to obtain their citizenship, or whose citizenship has expired or been cancelled, as in the case […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 23 August 2000, the executive branch of government submitted a proposed law on the Regularisation of Peruvian Citizenship Titles to congress for urgent debate. The proposal covers the situation of people who have not been able to obtain their citizenship, or whose citizenship has expired or been cancelled, as in the case of television businessman Baruch Ivcher.
Minister of Justice Alberto Bustamante stated that the approval of this law will “solve the citizenship problems of the noted television businessman.” However, he also noted that the pending legal problems in the case of Frecuencia Latina “are another matter,” and that he cannot interfere with them. “By taking this step, the issue of Mr. Ivcher’s citizenship is resolved. The other issues, such as the control of Frecuencia Latina, are under the judiciary’s jurisdiction, and I cannot comment on them. The issue of citizenship is resolved,” he noted.
Nevertheless, Baruch Ivcher stated that he does not feel the proposed law benefits him, since he does not need to regularise anything, as his citizenship is supported by a Supreme Decree that was issued during the term of former president Fernando Belaúnde Terry. “I have all of my citizenship documents. Therefore, I’m not going to ask for anything,” Ivcher asserted.
Members of the opposition, such as Jorge del Castillo, from the Peruvian Aprista Party, Luis Solari, from the Peru Posible Party, and Fernando Olivera, from the Independent Moralist Party (Frente Independiente Moralizador, FIM), displayed their scepticism about the proposal, and stated that they did not consider it to be a solution to the problems facing the well-known businessman. Nevertheless, Bustamante described the measure as “a test of the government’s willingness to take significant steps in an atmosphere of good fellowship.”
It is important to recall that on 11 July 1997, Alberto Fujimori’s government suspended the aforementioned businessman’s citizenship through a directoral resolution signed by Colonel PNP Víctor Hugo Haumán Del Solar, head of the Ministry of the Interior’s General Bureau of Migration and Citizenship. In that situation, as related by Fernando Viaña in his 24 August column in the newspaper “Liberacion”, the government stated that with respect to Ivcher’s citizenship case, no “copies of the documents and papers that would have been necessary to issue the Supreme Decree” exist in any public office. The decree was signed by then-President Belaúnde on 27 November 1984.
Journalist Viaña also stated that the proposed law “attempts to restore citizenship without repealing the directoral resolution, that is, without declaring null all of the administrative acts that were committed by the minority shareholders who control Frecuencia Latina”.
At the same time, FIM Party Congressman Luis Iberico observed that passing this law will result in the Frecuencia Latina’s plundering, because it will validate the directoral resolution that gives authorises an agreement made by a group of shareholders which the businessman did not participate in. The agreement increased the amount of capital and reduced his percentage of shares from 54% to 39%. “If the law is passed, it will be impossible to solve the issues surrounding Canal 2, and the State will become an accomplice to the plunder,” Iberico stated.
Finally, it is important to note that the issue of Ivcher’s citizenship is one of twenty-nine points on the agenda to be negotiated between the government and the opposition which were brought forward by the Organization of American States. Less than forty-eight hours after the dialogue began, the executive launched an initiative into the Ivcher case which, apparently, did not arise out of a consensus agreement and has not been approved at the negotiating table.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
- protesting this initiative, since it does not resolve the real problems underlying the Ivcher case
- demanding that the directoral resolution which restores Peruvian citizenship as a direct and immediate attempt to resolve the Ivcher case be repealed
- calling for an end to the judicial harassment against Ivcher, his family and his colleagues
- asking that his television station be returned to him
Appeals To
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
President of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 427 6722/426 6535
Federico Salas Guevara Shultz
President of the Council of Ministers
Fax: +51 1 447 1628/475 0689
Martha Hildebrandt Pérez
President of Congress
Fax: +51 1 426 8290
Víctor Raúl Castillo Castillo
President of the Supreme Court of Justice of Peru
Fax: +51 1 428 0803
Walter Chacon Málaga
Minister of the Interior
Fax: +51 1 224 2405
Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
