Terrorism has not ended in Peru, it has mutated, because remnants of the Shining Path, the terrorist organization that caused so much damage to the country, have become, according to the latest social studies, a gang at the service of drug trafficking, who still bleed the country of the Incas. Operating clandestinely, the fear that they still produce in places lacking the presence of the State (mostly entrenched in the rugged geography of the Peruvian jungle) is due to their use of guerrilla techniques and asymmetric combat to beat the forces of order and State institutions, which try to prevent their new modus operandi. During the previous government (2006-2010), they became aware of the threat to governance that terrorism represents, and for this reason they established strategic policies focused on the restructuring of the ways to face the serious problems that have been originating, giving priority to terrorist actions in the Apurimac and Ene river valleys, located in the southern part of the country, where the greatest violence is concentrated, adding to the purely military strategies others that allow the development of the area and the presence of the State, However, in practice, it left aside another area where there are still men who have taken up arms and who, hiding behind their socialist claims, protect the drug cartels in the upper Huallaga River basin. Therefore, it is necessary to develop effective, concrete, quantifiable policies similar to those of the southern area in order to support the police and State institutions that counteract this threat in this part of the country, which is the final objective of this paper.
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Latin America continues to be a breeding ground for violent groups, as exemplified by the rise of drug cartels in Mexico and narcoterrorist organizations such as the Colombian FARC and the Peruvian Shining Path. A question that has not yet been properly addressed, however, is whether there is the possibility that ideologically oriented violent groups, like the Paraguayan EPP or the Mexican EPR, will rise again. This article provides a general review of the security situation in the region, focusing on violent armed groups and discussing to what extent they may have a political ideology.
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We note that an increase in transnational drug trafficking activity, through the Mexican cartels, is threatening, to varying degrees, the national security of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. As a result of this, in Andean subregional security policy, with the support of the United States, a new multilateral antidrug strategy must be formulated that can successfully confront the new levels of drug trafficking and criminal violence practiced by stateless transnational players, such as the Mexican cartels in the Andean region.
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The essay examines the impact of military assistance on the levels of state violence against civilians during civil wars. Azam and Hoeffler argue that outside funding raises the levels of counterinsurgent brutality. This essay claims that this may be true for development assistance, but not for military aid. Using data from Peru and El Salvador, it is suggested that military aid may sometimes be inversely related to the levels of violence against civilians. This is explained by two factors. First, development aid only increases the funding of brutal regimes, whereas military assistance can also induce them to abandon brutality. Second, while traditional military aid programmes have been driven mostly by strategic concerns, those implemented in Peru and El Salvador also incorporated human rights considerations.
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The article centers on the factors that influenced Peru’s decision to participate in the peacekeeping operations in Haiti, as well as the difficulties it had to face in order to implement that decision. Perhaps the most important influencing factor was the reinsertion of the Peruvian Armed Force in the Western military community after years of struggling against Sendero Luminoso, which had led to serious human rights violations. Other important factors were the aim of achieving prestige and a presence on the international stage, the economic advantages to be gained for the troops, the training benefits, and lastly collaboration with the United States in a mission that was of interest to that country.
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This paper describes the organizational structure of the Peruvian National Defense System. After discussing the role of the different entities that make up the Defense System, the budget assigned to each sector is analized. Special emphasis is placed on transparency of the defense sector budget and, in particular, of the budget of the intelligence service. The initial analysis of the defense sector and its budget indicate that the available information is scarce and almost useless given that it does not allow for analysis of the social worth of individual projects associated with that sector. Likewise, a large part of the budget is destined for actions oriented toward social spending programs. This causes a distorsion in the analysis of the rest of the government's social spending policy. It is difficult to measure how defense spending destined for social programs complements or substitutes other government actions. A common theme throughout the sector is the cult of secrecy and the lack of transparency, as well as difficulty in accessing data. The situation has recently improved with the publication of the Defense White Paper. However, in our opinion, there is still much to done.
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This article briefly describes the law as pertained to obligatory military service in Peru between 1823 and 2000. From there the author goes on to describe the recent reforms to obligatory service made by the Peruvian legislature. The author indicates that global changes in attitude toward obligatory service, as well as the changing situation in Peru were factors in the decision to overhaul the laws regarding obligatory service. The article discusses some of the particular changes made by the law, which took effect January 1, 2000, and indicates that, unlike the tendency in other countries, however, the Peruvian reform is not seeking to establish a completely professional military. Instead the new Peruvian model is one of a rotational volunteer service in which enlisted personnel would receive occupational training for their eventual, productive reincorporation into Peruvian society.
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