Peru: Harassed by Cattle Rustlers

“Cattle rustlers, that’s all,” snorted Peru’s President Fernando Belaúnde Terry when the first reports of Communist guerrilla activity filtered down from the country’s Andean highlands last June. The remark now haunts Belaúnde. Last week, in the severest crisis of his 26-month administration, Belaúnde chose to accept the resignation of his entire Cabinet rather than allow it to appear before Congress to answer criticism about the government’s laggardly response to the guerrilla threat.

Out went Premier Fernando Schwalb and a Cabinet chosen chiefly for its skills in steering Belaúnde’s reform program. In as Premier came Dr. Daniel Becerra de la Flor, 59, a leading surgeon and a Senator from Belaúnde’s Acción Popular party. With him came eleven new ministers, all Deputies or Senators, except for military men in the armed forces ministries. Said Belaúnde: “The new Cabinet will seek closer cooperation with the opposition.”

Lost Initiative. In a narrow sense, Belaúnde’s decision was an adroit maneuver to defend the executive branch against the claim of an opposition-controlled Congress that it is the supreme power in the state. In a larger sense, Belaúnde’s action showed how vulnerable he has become. For the initiative in pushing the battle against the guerrillas has been seized by his congressional enemies, the middle-roading Apristas, led by Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre, 70, and the right-wing followers of former Dictator Manuel Odría, 67.

Last month, after guerrillas had killed nine rural policemen, the Haya-Odría bloc pushed through a bill that the army wanted: death penalty for convicted terrorists. Belaúnde signed the measure into law. But his critics still charged that he was not pursuing the terrorists hard enough, accused him of knuckling under to the leftists within his loosely knit party. The Haya-Odría bloc then demanded that the government join in outlining a fullscale, bipartisan program to eliminate the Communists. When Belaúnde balked, the opposition decided to call the Cabinet on the carpet. Belaúnde fired the Cabinet instead.

Blind to Danger? Thus far, Peru’s edgy military has kept its mind on the Communists. Last week a force of 600 troops was closing in on the main body of guerrillas, estimated at about 500 men, in a mountainous area 300 miles east of Lima. But the military men are anxious for a clear indication of Belaúnde’s leadership. “Most of us do not want another military dictatorship,’ said one general, “but if the civilians are blind to the Communist danger, we would feel duty-bound to step in.”