The most important holiday in my country, Peru, is Independence Day on July 28th. Our Independence Day was declared on the 26th of July, 1824 by the Liberator José de San Martin from the Spanish conquest. On this holiday, people have two days off. It is a general celebration in the country.
The president first gives a speech in Congress to the nation. Usually most of the time he gives good news to the nation. The next part of the celebration is a parade. Civil and military delegations such as the air force, army, navy, schools, public delegations, and the civilian population participate in the parade.
Finally, on the 29th of July everybody has a day off. Families spend the holiday enjoying and having fun together. Some of them travel to the interior of the country. It is the most important and long holidays for me. Therefore, I look forward to it every year. I used to travel to the interior and visit new cities of my country.
Peru, in western South America, extends for nearly 1,500 mi (2,414 km) along the Pacific Ocean. Colombia and Ecuador are to the north, Brazil and Bolivia to the east, and Chile to the south. Five-sixths the size of Alaska, Peru is divided by the Andes Mountains into three sharply differentiated zones. To the west is the coastline, much of it arid, extending 50 to 100 mi (80 to 160 km) inland. The mountain area, with peaks over 20,000 ft (6,096 m), lofty plateaus, and deep valleys, lies centrally. Beyond the mountains to the east is the heavily forested slope leading to the Amazonian plains.
Peru was once part of the great Incan Empire and later the major vice-royalty of Spanish South America. It was conquered in 15311533 by Francisco Pizarro. On July 28, 1821, Peru proclaimed its independence, but the Spanish were not finally defeated until 1824. For a hundred years thereafter, revolutions were frequent; a new war was fought with Spain in 18641866, and an unsuccessful war was fought with Chile from 1879 to 1883 (the War of the Pacific).
Peru emerged from 20 years of dictatorship in 1945 with the inauguration of President José Luis Bustamente y Rivero after the first free election in many decades. But he served for only three years and was succeeded in turn by Gen. Manuel A. Odria, Manuel Prado y Ugarteche, and Fernando Belaúnde Terry. On Oct. 3, 1968, Belaúnde was overthrown by Gen. Juan Velasco Alvarado. In 1975, Velasco was replaced in a bloodless coup by his prime minister, Gen. Francisco Morales Bermudez, who promised to restore civilian government. In elections held on May 18, 1980, Belaúnde Terry, the last civilian president, was elected president again. The Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso, began their brutal campaign to overthrow the government. The military's subsequent crackdown led to further civilian human rights abuses and disappearances. A smaller rebel group, Tupac Amaru, also fought against the government.
Peru's fragile democracy survived. In 1985, Belaúnde Terry was the first elected president to turn over power to a constitutionally elected successor since 1945. Alberto Fujimori won the 1990 elections. Citing continuing terrorism, drug trafficking, and corruption, Fujimori dissolved Congress, suspended the constitution, and imposed censorship in April 1992. By September, most of Shining Path had been vanquished. A new constitution was approved in 1993.
Fujimori was reelected in 1995, and again in May 2000 to a third five-year term, after his opponent, Alejandro Toledo, withdrew from the contest, charging fraud. In Sept. 2000, Fujimori's intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, was videotaped bribing a congressman. Fujimori announced he would dismantle the powerful National Intelligence Service, which has been accused of human rights violations. Two months later, he stunned his nation by resigning during a trip to Japan. Revelations that Fujimori secretly held Japanese citizenshipand could not be extradited to face corruption chargesenraged the populace.
In 2001, the centrist Alejandro Toledo was elected president with 53% of the vote, narrowly defeating former president Alan García. His rags-to-riches story and mixed Indian and Latino heritage made him popular among the poor. Inheriting a country wracked by economic troubles and corruption, Toledo did little, however, to restore confidence in the government. Early in his presidency, he gave himself a significant pay raise while at the same time calling for economic austerity. In June 2002, a popular revolt took place in the cities of Arequipa and Tacna and in other areas of southern Peru after the sale of two state-run electricity firms to a Belgian company, Tractebel. Toledo had specifically promised during his campaign not to sell these firms. Opinion polls have revealed that more than 60% of Peruvians are adamantly opposed to privatization and foreign investment, which in the past has led to price increases, mass layoffs, corruption, and few discernible benefits for the populace. To quell the rioting, Toledo suspended the decision to privatize, apologized publicly, and reshuffled his government.
In Aug. 2003, a truth commission report revealed that 69,000 people were killed during the 19802000 wars between rebel groups and the government, about twice the original estimate. The deaths were carried out by the rebels (54%) as well as the military (30%); other militias were responsible for the remainder.
Since Toledo took office in 2001, the economy has grown annually by about 4%, but this growth, centered on mining and the gas industry, has not yet created new jobs. A series of scandals and political missteps have made Toledo Latin America's least popular leader. According to a variety of polls taken between 2003 and 2005, his approval rating has ranged from 8%14%.
In the first round of presidential elections in April 2006, voters chose a former army officer, Ollanta Humala, from among 20 candidates. But in the second round in June, former president Alan García, whose 19851990 administration left Peru in economic ruin, made a startling comeback, winning with 52.6% of the votes. Election analysts have suggested that voters felt Humala, a former military leader who had once led a coup, was unpredictable and capable of eroding Peru's democracy, and that Garcia, despite his proven economic incompetence and a reputation for corruption, was the marginally better bet. Humala, whose party won 45 seats in the 120-member Congress in April elections, is expected to be a powerful opposition leader.
