The Value of NO

On the afternoon of Tuesday, June 13, a hesitant Gilberto Siura rose to defend the controversial amnesty bill that the ruling party leadership had ordered him to present. "There's no problem with Siura. He falls in line," a member of Nueva Mayoría commented the following day. With no conviction whatsoever, he simply carried out the assignment as quickly as possible. Immediately afterward, Lourdes Flores of the PPC took the floor. It was a rousing speech. "Does it cost Engineer Fujimori so much to live under the boot of General Hermoza? Does he feel so little the weight of the vote he received last April 9 that he is incapable of putting a stop to the absurd pressure the High Command is exerting on him? This law is nothing but one more example of the political model we are living under in Peru and which we will continue to fight with firmness and clarity. It is the model of a democracy under military control." Published June 22, 1995.