A supporter of a reformist policy, Alán García quickly lost the support he enjoyed, finding the hostility of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) abroad and the gradual removal of the left from within. In fact, the search for army support, foreign to the traditions of the APRA, the project of nationalization of the banking system and the severe deflationary measures had led to strong popular discontent and numerous trade union unrest (1988), such as to decree bankruptcy. of the purposes of a national planning and therefore the decline of the policy of García. The presidential elections of April 1990, after a second round, decreed the unexpected defeat of the writer Vargas Llosa, Alberto Fujimori (June), leader of a center-left group called Cambio 90. The achievement of the objectives indicated as priorities by the new government for the rehabilitation of the economic situation (fight against corruption of the state administration, reduction of inflation which in 1989 had reached a rate of 2770%), contrary to the promises of the electoral campaign, was entrusted to a rigid austerity policy (accompanied by a tax reform and radical economic liberalization measures), faithful to the directives of the IMF but which produced a strong reduction in the purchasing power of the population, also affected by a severe cholera epidemic. Therefore, having lost the consent of the nation, on 5 April 1992 Fujimori, supported by the high hierarchies of the armed forces, carried out a white coup, simultaneously dissolving Parliament and the highest body of the judiciary, and limiting the freedom of the press, with the promise of restoring a more democratic parliamentary structure within a short time. In September, Fujimori, with the capture of the leader of the Sendero Luminoso guerrillas, Abimael Guzmán, preceded a few months by that of Victor Polay, head of the pro-Cuban Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru, put an end to twelve years of guerrilla warfare obtaining a great personal success. The elections of 22 November 1992 for the Constituent Assembly, in which the main opposition parties did not participate as a sign of protest for the April autogolpe, were won by the Nueva Majoria-Cambio 90 party of President Fujimori, awarded by the voters for the hard line followed against the guerrillas of Sendero Luminoso. The new Constitution, approved in a referendum in October 1993, gave the president greater powers, allowing him to run for a second term. The fight against the Sendero Luminoso guerrillas, which had not responded to the call for disarmament launched from the prison by Guzmán (October 1993), therefore continued with the arrest of the alleged military leader Abdon Cruzzat (June 1994). In January 1995 the troops of Ecuador entered Peruvian territory to occupy the border region disputed since the time of the Rio Protocol, but in March, after the stipulation of a cease-fire, the two countries arrived under the aegis of Argentina, Chile, Brazil and the United States, at the signing of the Montevideo Protocol, which provided for the demilitarization of the disputed area. In this same year, presidential and legislative elections were held; Fujimori, thanks also to the hard blows inflicted by his government on terrorist organizations, was re-elected with a large margin of votes, clearly defeating his most direct opponent, the former UN secretary Pérez de Cuéllar, while his party won an absolute majority of seats in Congress. Fujimori’s second term also proceeded with a markedly liberal policy that had an increasingly heavy impact on the poorer classes, and exasperated the authoritarian traits of his government.
After having signed a new peace with Ecuador (1998), Fujimori presented himself, for the third time, to the presidential elections of 2000. These, held in a climate of great tension, attributed the victory to Fujimori in the first round, despite the popular uprisings and the suspicion of electoral fraud raised by the opposition candidate, Alejandro Toledo, favorite until the end; the ensuing clashes induced the United States to intervene in favor of a ballot between the two candidates. Toledo, however, withdrew from the electoral challenge for fear of new fraud, allowed Fujimori to stand alone in the ballot and win. In September of the same year, however, a scandal involving Fujimori’s right hand man, Vladimiro Montesinos, head of the secret services, decreed the end of the president’s regime. After Montesinos was arrested the following month, Fujimori fled to Japan, where he announced his resignation, in order to avoid answering the corruption charges, also brought against him. He was appointed interim presidentValentin Paniagua, who recalled the former UN Secretary General Javier Pérez De Cuellar to Peru, a country of South America defined by cheeroutdoor, com, to lead the country as prime minister towards the elections in April 2001, which was attended by former president Alán García, candidate of the APRA, and Alejandro Toledo, candidate of the Perú Posible moderate formation. In the second round of the following June, Toledo was the winner. The new president, even if elected with the consensus of both the organized left, which did not welcome the return of Alán García, and the conservatives of the Moralizing Front, the anti-Fujimori bourgeoisie, found himself facing a rather difficult situation when he took office. difficult in Parliament, not having a majority.
The need, therefore, to reconcile all the political forces and the economic deficit that weighed on the country represented for Toledo the first problems to be faced. A neoliberal economic plan was thus launched which, while guaranteeing the country a significant increase in GDP, had heavy repercussions on the poorer strata of the country. In 2003, following a wave of strikes to protest against the government’s economic policy, Toledo declared a state of emergency, which was then revoked due to numerous protests. Subsequently, the government resigned in protest against the tax plan presented by the president who appointed B. Merino as prime minister, who was forced to resign in December. Carlos Ferrero Costa was appointed in his place. Also in December 2003 the country joined Mercosur as an associate member. In 2005 Ferrero Costa resigned, due to disagreements with the president over the appointment of the foreign minister, and Pedro Kuczynski was appointed in his place. In June 2006 the presidential elections were held, won with 54.70% of the votes by Alan Garcia. In September Jorge Del Castillo Gàlvez was appointed premier. In the same year, the parliament approved the free trade treaty with the US, despite the hostility of part of the population. In October 2008, the president accepted the resignation of the government, involved in a corruption investigation and appointed independent Yeude Simon as the new premier. In 2009 the attacks against the army of the Sendero Luminoso terrorist group resumed, while the government had to renounce two decrees authorizing the exploitation of the Amazon region. after indigenous groups strongly opposed it. In July, President Garcia appointed Javier Velasquez of the APRA as Prime Minister. In 2011, the presidential elections won by Ollanta Humala took place, while in 2014 Ana Jara Velàsquez became prime minister.
