The first third of the century was marked by President Augusto B. Leguía(1908-12, 1919-30), who practically ruled as dictator for much of his tenure. He promoted the country’s economic development in the interests of the ruling oligarchy. In 1924 Victor Raul Haya de la Torre founded a new political party, the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA). She called for radical reforms, mainly to improve the living conditions of the local population. The party was banned for the first time by Leguía and the second time after Sánchez Cerro overthrew Leguía in 1930.
The 1930s were marked by bitter rivalries between left and right. However, President Manuel Prado y Ugarteche (1939-45) followed a more moderate course.
In 1941, according to a2zdirectory, Peru was embroiled in a serious border conflict with Ecuador and sided with the Allies during World War II. The APRA was allowed to take part in the elections in 1945 and supported the victorious José Luis Bustamante y Rivero. In 1947, however, the APRA ended support for Bustamante, and the resulting conflicts led to a military coup by Manuel Odría in 1948. The Conservative Odría remained president until 1956, when Prado was re-elected with the support of APRA.
In the 1962 presidential election, Haya de la Torre won, but did not receive the required third of the total vote. The military seized power and held elections in 1963, held by Fernando Belaúnde Terry, a moderate reformer, were won. Belaúnde opened up the interior by building a road over the Andes, but his regime was characterized by budget deficits and high inflation. In 1968 he was deposed by a military junta who installed General Juan Velasco Alvarado as president. Velasco suspended the constitution and ruled with dictatorial powers. He tried to diversify the Peruvian economy through the use of natural resources (mostly petroleum) with foreign help but without foreign control.
In 1970 a severe earthquake in northern Peru claimed over 50,000 victims. In 1975 a new military junta came to power under General Francisco Morales Bermúdez, a new constitution was passed in 1980 and the civilian government was restored. Both Morales and his successor Belaúnde took measures to support the weak economy. Inflation continued to rise, causing unrest. Maoist guerrilla groups formed in the Andes, including the Shining Path and the revolutionary movement Tupac Amaru (MRTA). Alan García Pérez, who was elected president in 1985, launched numerous social and economic reforms, but the cost of military action against the insurgents put a strain on the state budget. Inflation was not brought under control. His term of office was marked by nepotism and corruption. The army has been accused of violating human rights in its actions against the Shining Path. Alberto Fujimori
won the 1990 presidential electionagainst the writer Mario Vargas Llosa. The violence in the country continued and in April 1992 Fujimori suspended the constitution. He claimed that immediate action was needed to fight guerrillas, drug traffickers and corruption. Numerous Shining Path leaders had been arrested by mid-September 1992, and the rebel group no longer posed a serious threat to the government. After three years of economic liberalization, hyperinflation was gone and the economy grew. In 1993, voters adopted a new constitution that allowed Fujimori to run for a second term. He won the 1995 election and his party won a large majority in the new Congress. However, there has been international criticism of its authoritarian policies and concerns about the power of the Peruvian army.between Peru and Ecuador led to a brief border war ; the conflict was ended by an agreement in 1998.
On December 17, 1996, a group of MRTA guerrillas took about 600 hostages at a reception at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima . The MRTA demanded the release of their imprisoned comrades. After months of failed negotiations, Peruvian troops stormed the building on April 22, 1997, freed all of the remaining 72 hostages alive with one exception and killed 14 guerrillas. Fujimori continued its privatization program in the late 1990s. Peru struggled with a recession, in part due to the effects of El Ninoand was partly due to the Asian financial crisis. From 1999 the economy recovered.
In the 2000 presidential election campaign, the government spread numerous accusations against the opposition, but the business scholl won Professor Alejandro Toledo and forced Fujimori into a runoff election. Observers accused the electoral commission of manipulating the first round of the election. Toledo did not run for the runoff because he expected Fujimori to commit fraud again. In the 2000 congressional elections, Fujimori’s party lost an absolute majority, but remained the strongest party with more than 40% of the seats.
In September it was revealed that Fujimori’s chief advisor and head of the secret service, Vladimiro Montesinos, was bribing members of the opposition. Fujimori then offered new presidential elections in which he would not run. Persistent political instability and the possibility of a corruption investigation led to Fujimori’s resignation in November 2000 during a trip to Japan, where he remained in exile.
Congress speaker Valentín Paniagua became interim president, new congressional and presidential elections took place the following year. In June 2001, Toledo won the runoff election against ex-president Alan Garcia. Although voters did not show great enthusiasm for either candidate, the election was remarkably free from irregularities. Toledo tried to remove Fujimori and Montesino supporters from Peru’s military and security forces. Montesino himself was arrested in the middle of 2001 and later convicted of corruption and overturning plans against Fujimori, among other things.
Toledo’s popularity declined after political promises were not kept and several ministers of his government were embroiled in scandals. Regional elections in November 2002 resulted in a victory for Alan Garcíafrom the APRA party. In July 2004, Toledo was accused by a former advisor of accepting a $ 5 million bribe from a Colombian company. Toledo denied the charge. In January 2005 a group of 150 army reservists started an uprising in Andahuaylas (southern Peru). They called for Toledo to resign, but gave up after four days. Allegations that Toledo and his party were involved in forging signatures to register for elections in 2000 led to a congressional committee in 2005. After the investigations, Toledo accused Toledo of electoral fraud. However, Congress did not vote to remove Toledo from office.
In October 2005, voters rejected a government proposal to group the 25 regions into 5 macro-regions. In December 2005, an ambush by the Shining Path guerrillas led to the declaration of a two-month state of emergency in eastern Peru. In January 2006, the Peruvian government accused Venezuelan President Chavez of meddling in politics. Chavez met with presidential candidate Ollanta Humala and offered him assistance. Humala was a nationalist who led a military uprising in 2000 (his brother led the uprising in 2005). Both nations withdrew their ambassadors in April 2006 and diplomatic relations were resumed eight months later. Also in January, Fujimori’s application to run for president was denied.
Humala won the presidential election in April 2006, but remained well below 50% of the vote. He had to run in a runoff election against former President Alan García in June 2006. Garcia won the runoff, largely because he was seen by many as the lesser of two evils. However, Humala’s party won the most seats in the Peruvian Congress. In December 2006, Humala was accused of rebellion in connection with the 2005 Andahuaylas uprising.
In August 2007, an earthquake in the region of Ica (southwestern Peru) claimed more than 500 victims and caused extensive destruction. In September 2007 Fujimori was shipped from Chile to Peru.
