Keira Sparrow

10/27/14

5B

 

Peru: How the military seized power in that nation and what eventually brought about its downfall

Velasco was the Peruvian army officer. In 1929 he joined the army as a common soldier and the next year won admission to the military academy. He graduated at the head of his class four years later. He believed Peru needed fundamental reforms, without them he feared the "peace" would be impoverished and would start a Marxist Revolution.  Velasco gained much support from many of the people that hated the IPC. The IPC( International Petroleum Company) that weakened in August 1928. In 1969 he began to make many reforms that were neither communist or capitalist. Velasco's  regime also reformed the school system, expanded the national pension program, provided low-cost medical  to the poor. Very quickly the succession of the regime nationalized the banking system, railroads, public utilities, the important fishmeal industry, and Peru's giant copper and iron mimes. His  reforms worked greatly for a while...Then the "downfall" began. In 1973, Velasco encountered severe problems. The mixed economy he created lacked the efficiency of capitalism and the discipline of communism. Waste and mismanagement in often ill-conceived programs, poor export prices, and a series of natural disasters brought a deepening economic recession. Everything went down hill.Crashing rapidly. Drastic measures eroded the government's popular support. It responded to public protest with brutal force and silenced peaceful criticism by seizing the nation's newspapers. Under the stress of adversity, the unity of the military coalition began to crack. Velasco's health failed, and he behaved meanly to the poor.