Breakdown in the Andes

Unlike Bolivia and Ecuador, Peru has not seen the emergence of indigenous political movements and parties, even though its indigenous population is, in absolute terms, the largest in South America. And given the discrediting of politics in Peru, it is unlikely that indigenous groups will transform into a viable political force in the short term. However, such a mobilization would be salutary for Peru's democratization. The indigenous population has long suffered prolonged exclusion and profound injustice. In its analysis of human rights violations and political violence from 1980 to 2000, Peru's Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación found that three-quarters of the 69,000 victims were of indigenous descent, most of them from Peru's poorest regions. More than half of the killings were attributed to the virulent Maoist insurgency of Sendero Luminoso, which took advantage of pent-up rage and an inefficient State to unleash its violence.