GARCIA'S PERU One Last Chance
IN 1963, FERNANDO BELAUNDE TERRY WAS elected president of Peru. The country was the plaything of an intransigent oligarchy; Beladnde promised reforms. But his government was a failure,...
...He again embarked on his freespending ways, plunging the country further into debt...
...The APRA government will have to prove itself in a number of key areas...
...But that will surely involve some hard choices that APRA has so far avoided...
...A profound economic crisis was made worse by incompetence and corruption, and in the end a complete erosion of the government's credibility...
...To everyone's surprise, Belatinde was re-elected president in the May 1980 election...
...In October 1968, the armed forces got rid of Belatinde...
...The armed forces claimed they were deepening the revolution, but it was soon obvious that they had decided to turn back the clock, dismantle the reforms and return to civilian rule...
...Although Garcia has changed the country's selfimage almost overnight, it will be tougher for him to change its socioeconomic structure and achieve the social reforms he has promised...
...But Beladnde, apparently, had not...
...Francisco Morales Bermtidez...
...The 1985 election was a sweeping triumph for Alan Garcia PNrez of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA...
...Can he continue as he has begunconfronting his powerful armed forces over human rights, and promising to defeat the guerrillas of Sendero Luminoso through social reform rather than further violence...
...Garcia promised that his was the "government of all Peruvians," but it is unlikely to get far without exercising what the Church would call a "preferential option for the poor...
...Peru needs Garcia to succeed...
...The Belainde government started a vicious spiral of foreign debt and domestic inflation, and ignored the demands of the mass of Peruvians for far-reaching social change...
...corporations...
...Belatnde had everything-the people, the Army, the Church, loans, sympathy abroad-and he wasted the lot...
...But it is doing all it can to make sure he fails...
...They enacted land reform, nationalized the oil industry and stood up to U.S...
...Everyone understood," wrote Peruvian historian Pablo Macera, "that with Belatinde's failure, the middle class and the liberal democratic system might have lost its last chance...
...Peru seemed at the edge of the abyss...
...If Garcia succeeds, he may yet salvage representative democracy in Peru...
...Garcia must also deal simultaneously with the twin problems of insurgency and military abuses...
...In the 12 years since his overthrow, Peru had changed...
...Through a series of decisive actions and his own considerable charisma, Garcia has restored the image of a system of representative democracy that was in ruins...
...and it must reactivate the economy and hold down inflation without caving in to pressure from the IMF...
...Leading Peruvian journalist C6sar Hildebrandt, while not questioning Garcia's good intentions, is doubtful...
...Juan Velasco Alvarado, the military offered a revolution that was "neither capitalist nor communist...
...If Garcia manages to bring about the revolution we need," he said, "it will be in spite of his party, in spite of the press, in spite of Sendero, in spite of many of his own ministers, in spite of the military high command, in spite of the oligarchy...
...It must resolve Peru's debt crisis without provoking a punitive reaction by the banks...
...By the end of his second presidency, liberal democracy appeared to have failed again...
...But in August 1975, Velasco was replaced by Gen...
...When Beladinde's Popular Action party contested the next election, in May 1985, its share of the vote dropped to less than 5...
...But his government was a failure, confronting neither powerful private interests at home nor the foreign-owned corporations that operated in Peru...
...In second place was the Marxist mayor of Lima, Alfonso Barrantes Lingin, whose United Left coalition dominated the opposition...
...Under Gen...
...After nine months in office, Garcia enjoys unprecedented popularity: polls show his public support running at over 90...
...Will he choose sides decisively...
Vol. 20 • June 1986 • No. 3
