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Peru Internal Threats
The Peruvian armed forces have had to face several
internal
threats to national security since the 1930s. APRA, Peru's
first
mass-based political party, mounted at least seven
attempts to
take power by force between 1931 and 1948, after being
frustrated
in its efforts to gain access through elections. Its
reformist
agenda was perceived as revolutionary and totally
unacceptable to
the senior military command, although the party did have
some
success in gaining support among junior officers, NCOs,
and even
an occasional senior official. The most serious of the
APRA coup
attempts were the revolt of February 1939, led by army
General
Antonio Rodríguez, second vice president and minister of
government in the administration of General Oscar Raimundo
Benavides (president, 1914-15, 1933-39), and the October
1948
naval revolt in Callao by APRA cells among junior
officers. Both
were put down violently by loyal army forces, but had the
effect
of further inflaming military opposition to APRA because
of the
party's attempts to subvert the integrity of the military
institution itself. This military opposition lingered well
into
the 1960s even though the 1948 revolt was APRA's last
attempt to
gain power by force.
Data as of September 1992
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