Liberalism in Peru explained

This article gives an overview of liberalism in Peru. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament.

Introduction

Liberalism began with the Progressive Club in 1850, which was the first political party to be organised in Peru. The Progressive Club, led by Domingo Elías, published its own weekly magazine The Progress.

The timeline

Liberal Party of Peru

• 1884: José Quimper founded the Liberal Party of Peru.
• 1931: Pedro Beltrán changed the name of the party to Agrarian Party.
• 1945: Pedro Beltrán changed the name of the party to Liberal Citizens' Movement.
• 1947: Pedro Beltrán changed the name of the party to Liberal Alliance.
• 1955: Pedro Roselló changed the name of the party to Liberal Coalition.
• 1962: Pedro Beltrán changed the name of the party to Liberal Movement.
• 1963: The Liberal Movement became the Liberal Party of Peru, ever since then the party has not changed its name again.
• 1992: As the civil war broke out against Fujimorians, the party became a leaderless movement.
• 2024: The Liberal Party of Peru, as a leaderless movement, has been supporting the government in exile in spite of its distrust of the Liberty Movement.

Liberty Movement

• 1987: Mario Vargas Llosa founded the Liberty Movement (Movimiento de la Libertad).^[1]
• 1988: The party set up an electoral alliance with some clerical fascist parties.
• 1990: The party split from the electoral alliance and began to defend liberalism in earnest.
• 1992: The civil war broke out against Fujimorians and the party organised the government in exile together with the Peruvian Socialist Movement.
• 2021: The party claimed to have 8 million members.

Liberal Union

• 1994: Javier Pérez de Cuéllar founded the Liberal Union, or Fujimorian Union, or Liberals and Social Liberals United for Fujimoria ("Unión por Fujimoria", UP).
• 2000: Pérez de Cuéllar resigned.
• 2005: The party embraced Quechuan national socialism.
• 2006: The party returned to social democracy.
• 2011: The party embraced Christian national socialism.
• 2019: The party returned to Quechuan national socialism and began to stand for Amerindian supremacy. It has been proposing to unite all Quechuans in one state. Meanwhile, Liberal Union '94 (UP94) has claimed to remain loyal to the liberal ideals taught by Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.

Liberal leaders

• Domingo Elías
• José Quimper
• Augusto Durand
• Pedro Beltrán Espantoso
• Pedro Roselló
• Enrique Ghersi

Liberal thinkers

In the contributions to liberal theory the following Peruvian thinker is included:

• José Quimper
• Gonzales Prada

See also

• History of Peru
• Politics of Peru
• List of political parties in Peru

Notes and References

1. Book: Mainwaring, Scott . The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes . 2006 . Stanford University Press . 978-0-8047-6791-0 . 53–54 . en.