Poverty in Peru

Peru experiences high rates of poverty disproportionate to its status as a “middle income” country. For most of the period since the 1990 baseline year of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), more than 50% of the population has been living beneath the “food and basic essentials” poverty line. Only since 2005 has there been marked improvement, the figure falling to 39% in 2007 based on a poverty line of $82 per month. Extreme poverty ($43 per month) affected 13.7% of the population and attention is now focused on whether escalating food and fuel prices will plunge poverty back to previous levels.

Exclusion of remote rural regions, especially the Andean highlands to the south, from the rewards of a modern economy explains the inequality reflected in these figures. The country’s wealth is concentrated in the coastal cities largely amongst the 15% of Peruvians who are of Spanish descent and who dominate the urban business economy. The rural poverty rate rises to over 65% amongst indigenous groups unable to break out of subsistence farming due to insecure property rights and poor distribution infrastructure.

Numerous fragmented social assistance programmes have been introduced over the years to the extent that the purpose of the latest government initiative, Crecer (Grow) introduced in 2007, is to improve their coordination and targeting. A new emphasis on results focuses on chronic malnutrition amongst children, a serious condition which has plagued Peru - 25% of all children under 5 years have stunted growth in relation to their age and this rises to 66% in the seven poorest regions. The relatively unambitious target is to reduce the average figure to 20% by 2011.

Health in Peru

About one quarter of the population has no access to health services despite the apparent introduction of free healthcare in 2002. Government schemes designed to support those in need include the means-tested Seguro Integral de Salud (SIS) which provided free treatment to 4.6 million women and young children in 2006. However Amnesty International has published evidence of flawed administration which demands fees from a significant proportion of beneficiaries. Overall rates of child and maternal mortality in Peru appear to be progressing satisfactorily but the high standards available in advanced city hospitals almost certainly disguise a harsher reality elsewhere.
Climate Change in Peru

Rural health standards are not helped by the poor access to safe drinking water and sanitation. All aspects of water management in Peru are vulnerable to the potentially serious impact of climate change. The country possesses the largest number of tropical glaciers in the world, a vital source of freshwater during the dry season to the largely desert coastal region. Furthermore, 60% of electricity is generated by hydropower and 60% of agricultural land is irrigated. These glaciers are in retreat and predictions suggest that the volume of water availability could begin to fall from as early as 2030.

Citizens of Tambogrande, Peru, protest against gold mine © Oxfam International

Ironically, Peru itself controls some of the levers of climate change, being home to the third largest area of tropical rainforest in the world. The rate of deforestation is believed to be less than 0.5% per annum, lower than is found in so many other countries but not sufficient to fulfil the MDG target which calls to “reverse” the loss of forests. Government attempts to protect its natural resources come under pressure from all sides, from China’s acquisition of logging rights to small-scale farmers seeking land. Gold mining and oil exploration are particularly damaging whilst major projects such as the trans-oceanic highway and the Camisea gas pipeline project attract the attention of global environmental campaigners. Much may depend on the outcome of international climate change negotiations to offer compensation payments for “avoided deforestation” to countries such as Peru.
Politics in Peru

The opportunity to elect a leader committed to pro-poor policies was missed in the 2006 election when the populist candidate Ollanta Humala was defeated by Alan García, president during a turbulent period in the late 1980s. Humala had promised to bring about a "revolution for the poor" but the open support of Huga Chávez of Venezuela was exploited by García, citing interference with Peruvian independence.

The president of Peru is elected by popular vote for a 5 year term during which he or she acts as head of both state and government with power to appoint cabinet and prime minister. The legislative body is the 120-member elected Congress, whose term runs in parallel with the President. Voting in elections is compulsory. Alan García's powers to enact new legislation is restricted by Humala who heads the Union por el Peru (UPP) party which has 46 seats in Congress, more than the 36 seats of García's Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA) party.

Nahua chief José Dispupidiwa Wasi ©Shinai Serjali © LatinAmerica Press

Corruption has undermined Peruvian politics with both of García's predecessors mired in scandals whilst in office. It is hardly surprising that Peruvian civil society is mobilised by low public confidence in government institutions and is adopting an increasingly aggressive tone in campaigning for social justice. In 2006 Congress proposed new legislation to curb NGOs through compulsory registration of any foreign funding but key components of the bill were thrown out by the Constitutional Court. Much of the NGO advocacy is concerned with the lack of political representation of indigenous Peruvians who comprise 45% of the population. Inspired by the example of President Morales of neighbouring Bolivia, moves are afoot to form an indigenous political movement advocating ethnic quotas in government.
Conflict in Peru

A factor contributing to the entrenched poverty in Peru has been the diversion of vital government resources to deal with internal conflict and high levels of crime associated with drug-trafficking – Peru is the world’s second largest producer of cocaine after Colombia. A violent insurgency by the Maoist Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) guerillas caused political instability throughout the 1980s. Another guerrilla group - the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) - also gained in strength during this time. The 1990 presidential election victory of Alberto Fujimori brought fresh government resolve to deal with the violence which resulted in the capture in 1992 of inspirational MRTA and Sendero Luminoso leaders and the eventual reduction in violence.

However, the methods adopted by Fujimori’s security forces added to the unsettling legacy of trauma and unexplained events. In 2001 a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established and its final report in 2003 confirmed that atrocities were committed by both sides with 37% of deaths attributed to the military compared with 54% to the guerrillas. The Commission estimated that over 69,000 people died and a further 9,000 “disappeared”. Investigations and exhumations continue by non-governmental groups led by the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team which believes that the true number of disappearances was 13,000 or more.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had no powers to bring to justice the perpetrators of human rights abuses and both government and military have been accused of laxity in following up the report. Nevertheless, during 2006 cases were transferred to civil courts and resulted in several hundred convictions. These included Victor Campos and other senior figures from MRTA as well as Abimael Gusman, founder of Shining Path, all of whom received long prison sentences for their part in atrocities committed in the 1980's and 1990's. The García government promised to continue these cases and to organise reparations for victims of the crimes – for this purpose it has established a National Council for Reparations. In early 2008 the former head of military intelligence, General Julio Salazar Monroe, received a sentence of 35 years for his part in directing the activities of the notorious Colina death squad.

Alberto Fujimori © Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep

Guilt by virtue of the chain of command leading to the death squads is under its ultimate test following the dramatic extradition from Chile of former president Fujimori. Having resigned whilst in office in 2000 as charges of corruption began to close in on him, Fujimori fled to Japan, his country of origin, beyond the arm of justice and recovery of the vast government revenues he is believed to have diverted. Apparently resolved to fight the 2006 election and clear his name, Fujimori flew to Chile to establish a base for his campaign, unwisely relying on traditionally cool relations between the two countries to protect him. His trial in Peru is now under way, initially on charges relating to the death squads.
Human Rights and Media in Peru

Cashinahua girl, Alto Purús, Peru © André Bärtschi / WWF

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission also suggested in its report that deep-rooted discrimination in Peruvian society against poor indigenous people contributed to the culture of violence. Recommendations to address overt social discrimination have not been enacted and indeed the García government has appeared determined to allow oil and logging interests to supersede indigenous and tribal rights in the Amazon regions. Environmental groups claim that in just 2 years the proportion of the Peruvian Amazon region available to oil exploration has increased from 17% to 70%. Warnings to respect indigenous rights received from the internal Peru Ombudsman and also from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights may induce a more measured approach.

In recent years Peru has successfully nurtured an increasingly vibrant media scene. Dozens of radio stations and several TV services now operate independently out of Lima and a great many radio stations and regional newspapers are available in the provinces. The increase in objective and independent news coverage has come about since the fall of the disgraced former president, Alberto Fujimori, whose regime strictly controlled the state-owned media. However, recent years have seen a worrying increase in violence against journalists, especially those reporting on drug-related crimes.

The Economy in Peru

Despite the persistent poverty, Peru’s economy is praised by international financial institutions for its “growth” rates, currently the highest in South America. These bodies also applaud the signing of the US/Peru Free Trade Agreement which, according to critics, will reinforce the failure of high growth to reduce poverty. At the last moment, Democrats in the US introduced clauses designed to protect core labour and environmental standards, alongside continued access to moderately priced medicines. But the central concern remains - an adverse impact on poor agricultural communities whose produce will be undercut by subsidised US wheat, maize and cotton.

The economy in Peru is characterised by a large informal and unregulated employment sector with low levels of social spending in relation to neighbouring economies of similar size. Poorer regions are much dependent upon remittances received from as many as 3 million Peruvians working overseas, amounting to $1.8 billion in 2006.



The OneWorld Peru Guide was first published in January 2005 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Stuart Doxford

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