Develop the People’s War

The International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Dr Abimael Guzmán (IEC)

The International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Dr Abimael Guzmán (IEC) was established within a matter of days of the leader of the Communist Party of Peru – Sendero Luminoso, also known by the nom de guerre as President Gonzalo, was captured by the Peruvian Security Police (Dincote) on 12th September 1992.

To get a rough idea of the background to the International Emergency Committee watch the video, produced in 1994, entitled ‘You must tell the world’. (Not a particularly clear video but it does give an idea of how the IEC started out and how widespread was the support for the defence of Abimael Guzmán.)

(Apologies in advance for the poor quality of some of the scans below. Money was in short supply most of the time (hence duplication rather than printing) and often speed took precedence over quality. And, it should not be forgotten, no one at that time was really thinking of these documents being made widely available in a digital format. Many of the documents were published for an internal distribution so were, in effect, working documents.)

On the new IEC pamphlet.

The International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Dr Abimael Guzmán – a booklet giving information about the struggle in Peru, the Communist Party fo Peru – Sendero Luminoso, Dr Abimael Guzmán (Presidente Gonzalo), his trial and imprisonment and the campaign to defend his life.

Call to support the International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Abimael Guzmán – with partial list of early signatories

The IEC Legal Project

Urgent appeal for funds for the International Emergency Committee – paper, printing, postage, delegations to Peru cost money and all organisations such as the IEC were constantly short of money.

Committee to release and Defend the Life of Dr Abimael Guzman – Bangladesh, February 1993

IEC Founding Conference, Krefeld, Germany, 27-28 February, 1993

Invitation to the Founding Conference of the International Committee to Defend the Life of Abimael Guzmán

Invitación a la Conferencía Inaugural del Comite Internacional de Emergencía para Defender la Vida de Abimael Guzmán

Build for the IEC Founding Conference – Committee to Support the Revolution in Peru

Agenda for the Founding Conference of the International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Dr Abimael Guzmán

The Conference

Speech by the de la Torre’s, in-laws of Abimael Guzman, at the opening of the Conference – Spanish
Speech by the de la Torre’s, in-laws of Abimael Guzman, at the opening of the Conference – English
Introduction
Why We Call Dr. Abimael Guzman the Most Important Political Prisoner in the World Today – Massoud Rahimi
The Peruvian and Philippine Revolutions – Jose Maria Sison
U.S. Intervention in Peru – Heriberto Ocasio
On the IEC South Asia Regional Conference and Developments in the Campaign in Nepal
In Memory of Mr. Metin Can
Resolutions Adopted by the IEC Steering Committee at the Founding Conference on 28 February, 1993.

International Call to Action – 12-24 September, 1993

Call of the International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Abimael Guzmán, 1993

International Call to Action! 20-21 May 1994

Materials on the Revolution in Peru – CSRP

To the Coordinating Committee and to the other members of the Steering Committee of the International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Dr Abimael Guzmán (IEC) – Letter from Swedish Steering Committee member about the CC PCP Declaration of 7th October, 1993 (12 04 1994)

Al Comité Coordinador y a los otro miembros del Comité Directivo del Comité Internacional de Emergencia para Defender la Vida de Abimael Guzmán (CIE) – carta de un miembro de la Comité Directivo Sueca sobre la Declaración del CC del PCP de 7 de octubre, 1993 (12 04 1994)

Why does the RIM help US Imperialism encircle the PCP? – Informationsblad, No 24, English, 12th August 1994

A proposal to Convene a Plenary Meeting of the Steering Committee of the IEC. Letter from Swedish Steering Committee member 26th February 1995.

Declaration concerning certain suspicions – Sweden 27th April 1995

The ‘Trail’

The trial and the events surrounding it is covered in ‘Current Issues in Criminal Justice’ (an Australian based, peer-reviewed law journal), Volume 4, Issue 3, of March 1993. Chris Everson, who had been a member of the 3rd IEC Delegation to go to Peru in November 1992, a lawyer working with the South Wales Aboriginal Legal Services at the time, wrote an article entitled ‘The Railroad and Imprisonment of Abimael Guzmán’ for the magazine.

IEC – Emergency Bulletins

from the start there was an intention to keep people informed by the regular publication of an ‘Emergency Bulletin’. This went up to a total of 61 issues. Unfortunately not a complete collection you will be able to get an idea of how the campaign developed (together with the organisation of – eventually – seven separate delegations to lobby of Presidente Gonzalo’s behalf. You will also be able to learn of the ongoing attacks of the Peruvian State against anyone who dared to stand up against the abuse of State power.

Request for an Emergency Bulletin subscription.

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 10

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 16

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 17

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 18

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 19

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 20

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 23 – in Spanish

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 24

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 25

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 26

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 27

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 28

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 29

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 30

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 31

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 32

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 33

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 34

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 35

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 36

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 37

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 38

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 39

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 40

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 41

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 42

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 43

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 44

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 45

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 46

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 47

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 48

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 49

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 50

After issue No 50 the EB’s started to be published very sporadically – reflecting the struggles that were taking place with what was known as the ‘Two line Struggle’ and the move away from the long established base in London to the United States.

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 52

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 54

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 55

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 56

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 57

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 58

The only versions available for issues 59 and 60 were originally posted on the internet. They are as they were posted apart from the deletion of any hyperlinks – they don’t work now. Also there were one or two typos corrected.

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 59

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 60

IEC – Emergency Bulletin No 61

We are not aware of any other Emergency Bulletins after No 61 published in February 2001.