Juan Velasco Alvarado
| General EP Juan Velasco Alvarado | |
|---|---|
 |
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| President of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces of Peru | |
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In office October 3, 1968 – August 30, 1975 |
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| Prime Minister |
Ernesto Montagne Sánchez Luis Edgardo Mercado Jarrín Francisco Morales Bermúdez |
| Vice President | Luis Edgardo Mercado Jarrín |
| Preceded by | Fernando Belaúnde |
| Succeeded by | Francisco Morales Bermúdez |
| General Commander of the Peruvian Army | |
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In office 1967–1968 |
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| President | Fernando Belaúnde Terry |
| Preceded by | Julio Doig Sánchez |
| Succeeded by | Ernesto Montagne Sánchez |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 16, 1910 Piura, Peru |
| Died | December 24, 1977 (aged 67) Peru |
| Nationality | Peruvian |
| Spouse(s) | Consuelo Gonzáles Arriola |
| Profession | Army General |
Juan Francisco Velasco Alvarado (June 16, 1910 – December 24, 1977) was a left-wing Peruvian General who ruled Peru from 1968 to 1975 under the title of "President of the Revolutionary Government".
Juan Velasco was born in Castilla, a city near Piura on Peru's north coast. He was the son of Manuel José Velasco, a medical assistant, and Clara Luz Alvarado, who had 11 children. Velasco described his youth as one of "dignified poverty, working as a shoeshine boy in Piura."
He was married to Consuelo Gonzáles Arriola, and had four children.
In 1929, he stowed away on a ship to Lima, Peru, falsified his age, and joined the Peruvian Army as a private on April 5, 1929. He then took a competitive exam for entrance into the Escuela Militar de Chorrillos ("Chorrillos Military School"), and got the highest score of all applicants. In 1934, he graduated with high honors and at the head of his class.
During the Belaúnde administration (1963–1968), political disputes became a norm as he held no majority in Congress. Serious arguments between President Belaúnde and Congress, dominated by the APRA-UNO coalition, and even between the President and his own Acción Popular (Popular Action) party were common.
A dispute with the International Petroleum Company over licenses to the La Brea y Pariñas oil fields in northern Peru sparked a national scandal when a key page of a contract (the 11th) was found missing. This provided the catalyst that allowed Armed Forces to seize absolute power and close down Congress, almost all of whose members were briefly incarcerated. General Velasco seized power on October 3, 1968 in a bloodless military coup, deposing the democratically elected administration of Fernando Belaúnde, under which he served as Commander of the Armed Forces. President Belaúnde was sent into exile. Initial reaction against the coup evaporated after five days when on October 8, 1968 the oil fields in dispute were taken over by the Army.
The coup leaders named their administration the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces, with Velasco at its helm as President. Velasco's rule was driven by a desire to give justice to the poor and became known as Peruanismo. Velasco's rule was characterized by left-leaning policies, as he nationalised entire industries, expropriated companies in a wide range of activities from fisheries to mining to telecommunications to power production and consolidated them into single industry-centric government-run entities (PescaPeru, MineroPeru, Petroperú, SiderPeru,Centromin Peru, ElectroPeru, Enapu, EnatruPeru, Enafer, Compañia Peruana de Telefonos, EntelPeru, Correos del Peru, etc.), and increased government control over economic activity by enforcing those entities as monopolies and preventing any private activity in those sectors. The media became more open to left-wing intellectuals and politicos. A root and branch education reform was in march looking to include all Peruvians and move them towards to a new national thinking and feeling; the poor and the most excluded were vindicated and the Día del Indio or Peruvian Indian's day name was changed to Día del Campesino or Peruvian Peasant's day every June 24, a traditional holiday of the land, the day of winter solstice.
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