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History and Government
History: The indigenous Inca civilisation of what is now Peru was conquered by Spain in the early 16th century. The city of Lima was founded in 1535 and became the effective capital of the vice-royalty of Peru, established seven years later. Spain ruled the country until the early 19th century, using the rich silver reserves to finance its costly imperialist struggles with France, England and The Netherlands. The wars of independence, which expelled the Spanish from virtually the entire South American continent, reached Peru in the early 1820s. After the 1821 declaration of independence, Peru was challenged by the royalists. The new government appealed to the revolutionary leader, Simon Bolivar, for assistance.
Arriving from Colombia, Bolivar defeated the royalists at the Battle of Ayacucho in December 1824, after which he became head of state. Relations between Peru and its neighbours were difficult in the early years of independence. There were border disputes with Brazil and Ecuador – which have not been settled to this day – but especially with Chile. The War of the Pacific, which broke out between Peru (supported by Bolivia) and Chile in 1879, ended after five years, with a complete victory for Chile and the loss to Peru of some southern territories. Internal problems dominated the agenda for the next 30 years, as a series of governments struggled to keep the economy, which was almost completely destroyed as a result of the Pacific War, from disintegrating.
The first of Peru’s many military coups was in 1914. The junta lasted five years, before giving way to the civilian government of Augusto Leguia. Between 1919 and 1930, despite rampant corruption, Leguia instituted important reforms in education and social services. His tenure ended with another military take-over. While the military has always been a powerful force in Peruvian politics, its principal opponent and the country’s largest political party for much of the 20th century has been the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA), founded by Dr Victor Raul Haya de la Torre in 1924, as a continent-wide anti-imperialist movement, although increasingly moderate and Peruvian-centred in its appeal.
APRA has nevertheless been illegal for much of its history. Civilian administrations from 1963-67 and 1980-85 were headed by right-wing President Belaunde Terry of the Accion Popular Party, although APRA was usually the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies. Under Alan Garcia, APRA took power for the first time in 1985. Garcia’s administration was a failure on both the political and economic front. On the political front, Garcia was faced with the continuing growth of the Maoist guerrilla movement, Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), which benefited substantially from the deteriorating economic situation. The failure of the Garcia government froze APRA out of the 1990 presidential election, which developed into a two-way race between Mario Vargas Llosa – the world-renowned author who led the Democratic Front coalition – and the comparatively unknown independent centrist candidate, Alberto Fujimori – an agricultural engineer of Japanese extraction – who was the surprise landslide winner.
The new government followed the trend on the Latin American continent for economic shock treatment, although continuing capital flight and the distorting effects of the illegal cocaine economy have proved insoluble problems. The ‘war on drugs’ was at the heart of relations between Peru and the USA, which has concluded a number of agreements with the capital, Lima. Otherwise, Peru’s foreign policy under Fujimori has been devoted to economic matters – principally trade agreements and aid commitments – and the resolution of border disputes. There was a bitter disagreement with Ecuador over access to the Amazonian river system and control of the potentially mineral-rich Condor mountain range. Full-scale fighting broke out after long-running bilateral talks broke down in early 1995. This continued intermittently until a settlement was reached in 1999.
At home, the security forces made a major breakthrough in September 1992, by capturing Sendero leader Abimael Guzman. This was the beginning of the end for Sendero, which, although still active in a few coca-growing regions, is now a pale shadow of its former self. The capture of Guzman helped to bolster Fujimori’s position at a time when he was under severe criticism at home and abroad for the ‘constitutional coup’ he had launched with the backing of the security forces, six months earlier. Congress was suspended indefinitely while Fujimori ruled by decree.
In 1993, Fujimori unveiled a new constitution that, once accepted by a national referendum, returned Peru to constitutional government. This, plus the mild economic recovery and the demise of Sendero Luminoso, gave Fujimori victory in the April 1995 presidential election over the former United Nations Secretary-General, Javier Perez de Cuellar. Any assumption of total victory on the part of the state was premature, as shown by the take-over of the residence of the Japanese ambassador by guerrillas of the leftist MRTA a week before Christmas 1997. The guerrillas held the complex for four months, until it was stormed by Peruvian troops. Since then, the various guerrillas groups have been very quiet.
In early 1998, large areas of the country were devastated and hundreds of lives lost in storms associated with the El Niño climatic system. For the next 18 months, the political agenda was dominated by more of Fujimori’s constitutional machinations, as he engineered an unprecedented third term of office. Fujimori’s main opponent, Alejandro Toledo, felt that he had no option but to withdraw from the May 2000, leaving the president to ‘win’ a third term by default.
Fujimori’s triumph, such as it was, was short-lived. During his first two terms, he had relied heavily on the dubious services of his intelligence chief and principal fixer, Vladimir Montesinos. The mysterious appearance of a videotape showing Montesinos bribing an opposition assembly member to switch sides triggered Montesinos’ fall. As investigations into his activities widened, he was found to be implicated in an extraordinary range of illegal activities, including drug trafficking, money laundering and organising death squad killings. Although arrested by the army in September 2001, he managed to slip out the country two months later. Located in Venezuela for eight months, he was returned to Peru, where he is now due to stand trial.
Montesinos’ demise also meant the end for Fujimori, who was implicated in many of the same crimes. He resigned the presidency in November and quickly left for Japan – he carries dual Japanese/Peruvian nationality. So far, Tokyo, which never extradites its own nationals, has refused requests for his extradition. Bizarrely, Fujimori now apparently believes that he can make a political comeback, possibly at the 2006 presidential election.
The fall-out from the Montesinos affair has forced the resignation of dozens of politicians, government officials and military officers. Some face criminal charges. In April 2001, Alejandro Toledo, who had conceded the May 2000 election to Fujimori (see above), won a new presidential poll, defeating the APRA candidate, ex-president Alan Garcia. Following simultaneous national assembly elections, Toledo’s party, the centrist Peru Posible, leads a governing six-party coalition. Toledo, the first Peruvian president of native Indian origin, has had a difficult time, largely due to the poor economic situation. In June 2002, a state of emergency was declared in the country’s second city, Arequipa, after riots broke out. In early 2003, the country was hit by a wave of major storms and floods.
Government: Under the new constitution introduced at the end of 1993, executive power is held by the president and legislative power by a 120-member single-chamber Assembly. Both are elected for five-year terms.
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