The consolidation of Alan Garcia's Government in Peru

Abstract

When Alan GarcLa Perez received the presidential sash from Fernando Belauinde on 28 July 1985, most observers thought that the 'honeymoon' period of the new government would not last for long. Despite the size of the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA) victory in the 1985 elections, the problems faced by the new president were formidable. There were problems with debt repayments to foreign creditors, many of whom had not received interest let alone principal during the last year of the Belaunde government. There were also problems in fulfilling election promises to reactivate the economy and to reverse the sharp fall in living standards experienced over the previous ten years. Garcia also faced a growing guerrilla presence in the highlands, a movement which appeared to be spreading to the cities. In addition, there was the problem of how to handle the military, which historically had shown strong anti-Aprista sentiments. A year and a half after his inauguration, GarcLa had not only shown the capacity to survive and to deal with some of these problems, but had also done much to build up a powerful political machine with himself firmly in control. The opinion polls continued to show Garcia enjoying strong popularity, mnore so than his political rivals to the left or to the right of APRA. The November 1986 municipal elections saw APRA gaining control of nearly all the municipalities in the country. The election was a further endorsement of the President and his Administration. Indeed, such was Garcla's public profile that his opposition critics declared that his ambition was to turn Peru from a republic into a kingdom. The jibe was given added force when in November 1986, just after the elections, a proposal was floated in Congress which, if passed, would have changed the Constitution to permit Garcia a second consecutive term in office, assuming that APRA won the 1990 elections. Rather than reviewing individual policies and their success or failure, the central purpose of this article is to identify the ways in which Garcia and his associates have attempted to build on this popularity so as to strengthen the position of the ruling party within the framework of Peruvian politics. In particular it examines the ways in which the party