Peru, 1980-1993. Armed Forces, Subversion and Democracy

In Peru, the redefinition of the role of the Armed Forces following the democratic transition (1978–80) took place in the context of an exceptionally virulent internal war by Latin American standards, unleashed from 1980 onward by the Partido Comunista del Perú–Sendero Luminoso. The fate of the democratic transition and of civil-military relations was therefore, from the outset, tied to the problem of political violence. From 1983 onward, governments handed over the conduct of the war against SL to the Armed Forces, which de facto acquired vast powers in the provinces being declared under States of Emergency. By 1990, amid hyperinflation that was pulverizing the military budget and a political crisis that was delegitimizing the entire party system and favoring SL's advance, the gap between prerogatives and responsibilities tended to become incompatible with the persistence of a democratic regime, even though this was not clearly perceived by public opinion or the political class. In the following pages, as a review of civil-military relations during thirteen years — from 1980 to 1993 — is undertaken, these arguments are elaborated further.