An Eruption of History in Peru's Bicentenary

Abstract

Pedro Castillo's election as president of Peru in 2021 unleashed an unexpected series of historical debates in the bicentenary year of Peru's independence. A left-wing union leader and rural teacher, Castillo was confronted by a stubborn conservative opposition that denounced his alleged communism, in a renewal of ideological confrontation that raised more questions about Peru's nation-building process. This article argues that, paradoxically, the country's present political precariousness created the conditions for the reemergence of these historical debates-and, because of that same reason, they might prove to be just another ephemeral process in a volatile country still coming to terms with its recent internal conflict.