Bermudez ends emergency law

Press, 31 August 1977, Page 8

Bermudez ends emergency law

NZPA-Reuter Lima i i Peru’s military Govern-11 ment has announced the lifting of a controversial 13- i month-long national state of i emergency and has restored i constitutional guarantees to < 16M Peruvians. Genera) Francisco Morales i Bermudez, Peru’s President, , told the nation in a speech < that the decision had come i in response to persistent < criticism by private citizens j and of the nation's labour . organisations The move also coincided i with the second anniversary | of the August 29, 1975, coup • ] that ousted the Leftist re- , gime of General Juan Velasco and brought the mod-

erate General Morales Bermudez to the head of the military revolution. General Morales Bermudez and his army, air force, and navy colleagues have promised a return to civilian Government by 1980. Peru has been under a ®^ te emer «ency since July, 1976. when the Government imposed tough restrictions on political parties and labour.unions to combat a wave of serious labour and street protests. Recent riots in protest against the 35 per cent inflation in the last year have kept the nation tense.