In 1996, Alberto Fujimori established his perpetuity in power by enacting Law 26657, called the "Authentic Interpretation of the Constitution." This law was established so that Fujimori could run for the Presidency of the Republic for the third time.
Under the 1993 Constitution that promulgated Fujimorism, the president could only participate in two continuous electoral elections. However, Fujimori argued that having been elected in 1990, the 1979 constitution was still in force. This allowed his candidacy in 2000 to be considered as a first re-election.
A year after Law 26657 was established, the Constitutional Court stated that it was unconstitutional. However, the Fujimori ruling party will force it to be maintained by dismissing the members of this court.
In 2000, rumors of future election fraud were very strong. The members of the opposition parties express their disagreement with Fujimori's re-election. Despite this, the president's participation was not prevented.
A month before the elections, Fujimori and Alejandro Toledo led the electoral polls. On April 9, the elections were held, giving at first the candidate of the "Peru Possible" party as the winner. But surprisingly, ten minutes later, the results favored Fujimori.
The cries of fraud were immediate, causing Toledo to withdraw from participating in the second round of this contest. Toledo's resignation favored Fujimori, who emerged victorious in these elections. The elections were supervised by international observers, who rejected Fujimori as President of Peru.
Alejandro Toledo and members of the opposition wanted to make known the seriousness of the situation. This is how they made a call to all opposition parties, associations, unions, universities and the people in general, to be part of this fight.
The participation of the population was immediate. At this time, protests of this type generated some fear in the population, due to the reprisals that the government could take. However, the serious situation that existed meant that fears were put aside.
Finally, Alejandro Toledo summoned the population to carry out a peaceful march, whose concentration would begin on July 25. The demonstration was called "March of the four of them", as it referred to the four cardinal points of the Inca Empire.
The call brought together nearly 200,000 people from the capital and more than miles from other regions of the country, who arrived days before the concentration to organize and join the other delegations. Many of them were fed and housed by the mothers of the soup kitchens, who prepared communal pots for people arriving from their remote communities.
On July 25, an enormous mass of Peruvians was already concentrated in the capital. The first objective was to go to Congress to support the opposition parliamentarians, who were seeking a presidential vacancy motion.
On the 26th, a group of women dressed in black gathered in Plaza Bolognesi. That same day a group of demonstrators planned to arrive around the Congress of the Republic. Suddenly, these plans were changed for the 27th. This action allowed the ruling party to proceed to propose a strategy, which consisted of establishing a Board of Directors that would seek to evaluate the political situation at the time.
For the 27th, the publicist Alfonso Salcedo organized a march at 4 in the afternoon. This concentration had aroused great expectation among the attendees.
The distribution of the groups was very organized. Wilson avenues with Paseo Colón, Roosevelt, Bolivia and Plaza Manco Cápac had been designated for the entry of the groups that gathered in front of the Palace of Justice, where a rally would be held that would bring together some democratic leaders, including former Argentine president. Raúl Alfonsín and the leader of Peru Possible, Alejandro Toledo.
Small tents were erected that simulated being a kind of inn, which allowed the protesters from the province to spend the night. The national and international media predicted that this would be the most massive demonstration in Peruvian history.
After the speech of the leader of Peru Possible, this protest continued with a vigil that was baptized with the name of "Good Night of the Homeland".
At the same time, an eleven-year-old girl on a platform placed in front of the Palace of the Judiciary, pronounced this sentence: 'Do you swear to do all this so that in the Homeland our children return to smile without fear and the old, to lead their old age without? pain?'
Lucía Arias Urízar was a schoolgirl at the Héctor de Cárdenas school. When pronouncing this phrase before the thousands of attendees of the march, Lucía wore the Peruvian flag on her body.
“I ran out of air, my voice completely left me. But they gave me water and a little pisco, and with that I got over it,” says Lucía, who was a girl at the time.
The objective of the march was being fulfilled, to continue gathering people to join this fight. This fact led the government to summon a considerable number of police officers to apparently protect the order of the demonstration.
Meanwhile, Alberto Fujimori summoned the military forces to watch the streets, in case acts of vandalism arose. The military agglomerated in the surroundings of the Center of Lima. The ruling party did not stop denouncing that this march had Shining Path ties, thus tarnishing the courage of those who were marching for democracy.
Chaos broke out on July 28. Former presidential adviser Vladimiro Montesinos infiltrated a group of ruthless protesters, who did not hesitate to loot public buildings and attack police and protesters. That event occurred between Jirón Lampa and Emancipation Avenue, where the demonstrators were dispersed with water jets. Despite this, people continued to advance towards the Government Palace and the Congress of the Republic.
It was then that the violence broke out in the premises of the Banco de la Nación, which began to burn. The fire caused the death of six workers of this bank. This case was investigated, and the connection and guilt of the former adviser, Vladimiro Montesinos, was reduced.
According to the investigations carried out by the judicial authorities, this was a plan developed by the intelligence service, in order to disrupt the proper development of this protest.
"During the trial, evidence was shown of the responsibility of the Fujimori government, but the Judiciary has only sentenced Montesinos and some senior officers of the National Police for public security and embezzlement, but not for homicide," says the widow of Fujimori. Víctor Miranda, one of those who died in the fire at the Banco de la Nación.
Until four in the afternoon of July 28, some demonstrators threw bombs inside the building of the Palace of Justice and the former Ministry of Education.
Journalist Edmundo Cruz maintained that there was a high level of perversion in the sabotage methods used by the SIN (Intelligence Service). Cruz assures that a significant number of police officers stayed and infiltrated as civilians in the places near the incidents of the 28th.
Montesinos was only sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment, despite the 30 years determined by the Public Ministry, for the crime against public security.
On the other hand, former President Fujimori expressed his indignation at the vandalism that had arisen, attributing it to the irresponsibility of the organizers of the march.
On July 29, the government carried out the military parade behind closed doors, in order to prevent a repetition of the violence manifested the previous day.
With the passing of days, the people maintained the goal of preserving and fighting for democracy. At this point, it was perceived that the Fujimontesinistas could be defeated. This situation allowed the Fujimori regime, albeit weakened, to fall months later. In November 2000, Fujimori resigned from the presidency by sending a fax from Japan.
Almost two decades later, the March of the Cuatro Suyos has become a paradigm for future generations of Peruvians. The memory of the March prevails to show that, despite our differences, Peruvians have the spirit of unity and struggle to confront authoritarianism and political corruption that will always be lurking.
Reference
- Morales Palomino, M. (2021, October 22). La Marcha de los Cuatro Suyos. SUMAQ. Retrieved April 28, 2022, from https://perusumaq.com/2018/08/30/la-marcha-de-los-cuatros-suyos/
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