Booker T. Washington High School

Model United Nations Club

Country Briefing: Peru

Peru has a population of 26 million people and a per capita GNP of $1,980, making it one of the poorest countries in South America.  Worse, much of the wealth is held by a small segment of the population, leaving much of the rest of the country in the worst state of poverty.  45% of the population is of Indian origin, with roots back to the Incan Empire.

History: Indian peoples have lived in this region for many thousands of years, developing sophisticated agricultural and engineering techniques.  During the Incan Empire they built huge cities and practiced farming at higher altitudes than any other people on Earth.  All this changed when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in 1533.  They conquered the Empire, pulled down its cities and enslaved many of its citizens.  The conquistadors ruled Peru however they liked, as long as they shipped silver back to Spain.  Over time, a government by peninsulares – people from the Iberian peninsula, was established over a large population of mestizos and Indians.  This continued until 1821, when Peru declared independence, along with the rest of South America.  Liberation was achieved, but government remained in the hands of a few wealthy landowners backed by the army.  In the twentieth century, Peru struggled with industrialization, urban growth, the creation of new social tensions, and the growing influence of the United States.  In 1968, a general, Juan Velasco Alvarado took power and suspended the constitution.  He also nationalized several US-owned companies, placing them under government control.  In 1975, he was overthrown in a coup launched by Francisco Morales Bermudez.  Tensions grew in the countryside as a guerilla movement known as the Shining Path adopted Maoist tactics to win over the peasants in a war against the government.  In 1980, Peru went back to constitutional rule, with US encouragement.  Elections occurred in 1985 and 1990, but the guerilla conflict continued.  Outside Alberto Fujimori, elected in 1990, turned to the military and an authoritarian style of government to crush opposition and break the Shining Path.  He was largely successful at the latter, but he faced rising protests from political elites, who forced him out in 2000.   Facing charges of corruption and possibly greater crimes, he fled to Japan, home of his ancestors.  The economy improved dramatically in the mid-1990s as Peru embraced free trade and foreign investment, but slowed again as a result of political instability and bad weather after 1998.  Trouble with rebel groups, terrorist organizations and drug traffickers continue to plague this poor country, as well as the legacy of political violence and corruption from the Fujimori era.

Diplomatic Agenda: Peru faces a number of pressing security threats.  Recently, the Shining Path has recovered some of its former strength.  Last year, it set off a car bomb near the US embassy, killing nine.  Other home-grown threats exist, such as Tupac Amaru, a peasants’ movement that seized the Japanese embassy in Lima in 1997.  Peru is one of the largest cultivators of coca, the base ingredient for cocaine, and the government is absolutely unable to police the mountainous and heavily forested “tri-border region” with Colombia and Brazil.  In the past, US aircraft flew patrols over Peruvian space to track drug flights, but this was halted when a plane carrying American missionaries was accidentally shot down.  Peru still receives substantial military and economic aid for its part in the war on drugs, but there are people in Lima and Washington who would like the United States to do more.  This could include a return to US Air Force patrols over Peru, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or the deployment of American agents and/or troops to the country.  Of course, this would open the government to criticism that it was surrendering to “the Yankees.”  It might also provoke more terror attacks, or even invite the attention of international anti-American terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda.  Economics remain a crucial question.  Can Peru return to the export-led growth of the mid-90s?  Peru has considerable mineral resources, a strong fishing industry and plenty of cheap labor.  It lacks necessary skills and foreign direct investment.  Its greatest success came when it was able to work with the International Monetary Fund to cut budgets and promote trade, but such budget-cutting can lead to inflation, loss of public services, and even more unrest.  It will also need considerable foreign aid from states like the US.  If possible, Peru would like to avoid international examination of its human rights record, even though it is doing something now to investigate political killings which took place when Fujimori was in office.  It continues to maintain a brutal prison system for political opponents, including at least one American citizen.  Its greatest environmental challenge is the problem of deforestation, as trees on mountainsides are removed to make way for farms and ranches.  This leads to soil erosion and other potentially catastrophic effects on the landscape.  Still, until poverty is relieved, economic growth is a greater priority.