The Peruvian Aprista Party (, PAP) () is a Peruvian political party. The party was founded as the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (, APRA) by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, who originally intended to create a network of anti-imperialist social and political movements in Latin America. Members are called "compañeros" (fellows), based on the fraternity espoused by Haya de la Torre.
Facing international pressure from the United States, which was promoting anti-communism in the Americas, the party is said to have adopted a mild right-wing populist agenda by the 1940s. The party later adopted in 2006 a new platform as García's second presidency implemented a series of policies labelled as center-right, embracing free-market capitalism, dialogue with other right-wing parties and organizations in the country, and closer ties with the Catholic Church and Evangelical churches. A number of scholars say that the party has shifted to the right side of the left–right political spectrum.
Founded continentally in 1924 in Mexico City, Mexico, and nationally in 1930 in Lima, it is one of the oldest political parties in Latin America. Among the Peruvian political parties in activity, specifically for having been stripped of electoral victories by coups or military governments after having triumphed democratically, it also went through two long periods of illegality, both under military and civilian governments, having been persecuted by the presidencies of Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro and Manuel A. Odría. The Peruvian Aprista Party has gained in the presidency in two occasions: in 1985 and 2006, both under the candidacy of Alan García. At parliamentary level, the party was represented uninterrupted from 1995 until 2020, falling below the electoral threshold to attain legislative representation.
Although APRA does not operate throughout Latin America as its founder envisioned for, it has served as a powerful influence for other social democratic Latin American political organizations, such as the PT in Brazil, the Democratic Action (AD) in Venezuela and the Socialist Party of Chile.
History 20th century Original platform
APRA was founded by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre in Mexico City on 7 May 1924 with aspirations to becoming a continent-wide party, and it subsequently influenced a number of other Latin American political movements, including Bolivia's Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario, MNR), Dominican Republic's Dominican Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Dominicano, PRD) and Costa Rica's National Liberation Party (Partido Liberación Nacional, PLN). The party was inspired by Haya de la Torre's observations of fascist and communist parties during his time in Europe.
Initial supporters for APRA in the 1920s mainly included middle-class and wealthy Peruvians who were upset with the sugar industry's modernization. It appealed to left-wing Peruvian intellectuals, as well as the nascent Peruvian labor movement. It is the oldest surviving political party in Peru and is as much a social phenomenon as a political movement, with a membership whose loyalty to the party has been unwavering for several generations. APRA initially espoused anti-imperialism, Pan-Americanism, international solidarity and economic nationalism. Years of repression and clandestinity, as well as Haya de la Torre's single-handed dominance of the party, resulted in striking sectarian and hierarchical traits.Roett, Riordan. "Peru: The Message from Garcia." Foreign Affairs 64.2 (1985–1986): 274–286. The party's structure and its hold over its rank and file proved more lasting than its original ideological platform.
In the 1930s, the party was banned after being inaccurately labeled as communist; Italy and the United States supported the ban as they believed APRA served as a front group for bolshevism. The conflict between APRA and the authoritarian government of Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro led to civil war-like conditions. On 2 July 1932, APRA militants massacred sixty soldiers in Trujillo, which resulted in a violent response from President Sánchez Cerro that resulted with about 1,500 Apristas killed and the arrest of Haya de la Torre. Abelardo Mendoza Leyva, an Aprista, later assassinated President Sánchez Cerro on 30 April 1933.
Move to the right By the late-1930s, the United States began to share statements that it would intervene in the Americas to prevent the spread of communism, frightening left-wing parties in Latin America. By the 1940s, in an attempt for political survival, APRA adopted anti-communist and mild right-wing populist agendas to appease international critics. An example of APRA’s move to a more moderate approach was demonstrated during a speech made prior to the 1945 general election, in which Haya de la Torre declared that “In Peru it is not a question of taking from those who have but rather of creating riches for those who have not.”PERU By SIR ROBERT MARETT K.C.M.G., O.B.E., LONDON ERNEST BENN LIMITED, 1969, P.170 In 1944, APRA became part of the National Democratic Front political coalition alongside other parties spanning the left and right of the political spectrumLópez, Carlos y Aguilar, Julia (2014, 19 de septiembre). Gobierno de Manuel Prado Ugarteche. Historia del Perú. https://historiaperuana.pe/periodo-independiente/republica/gobierno-manuel-prado-ugarteche like the fascist Revolutionary Union party. The alliance led to the triumph of José Luis Bustamante y Rivero becoming president the same year. During the Bustamante presidency, APRA used its influence in CongressHaya de la Torre and the Pursuit of Power in Twentieth-Century Peru and Latin America By Iñigo García-Bryce, Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, 2018, P.77 to pursue progressive policies such as improving the pay of government employees, encouraging labor union expansion, and introducing new rights for rural workers.The History of Peru By Daniel Masterson, Publisher: ABC-CLIO, 2009, P.143 During this period, APRA also made efforts to organize openly such as by opening up its own newspaper, setting up a network of youth groups and community centers, and helping those in need by providing legal aid, social assistance, and health services.A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics, Editors: David Nugent, Joan Vincent, Publisher: Blackwell Pub, 2008, P.203
In the late 1950s, APRA was said to have shifted to the right-wing of the political spectrum. Many of its supporters became disillusioned and joined the Acción Popular.
Garcia presidency After several years of military rule, APRA was allowed to participate as a legal political party in 1979. The party gathered strong support from the electorate, managing to win a majority of seats in the newly created Constituent Assembly, and supervised the first democratic elections in 12 years.
Haya de la Torre was elected president of the Constituent Assembly and was slated to run as the party's presidential candidate in 1980. However, he died before the election. The party was divided between Armando Villanueva and Andres Townsend, each claiming to be the political and ideological heir of Haya de la Torre. APRA chose Villanueva as its candidate, while Townsend and other members left the party to create the Hayist Bases Movement. The split among the Apristas allowed former president Fernando Belaúnde Terry of Acción Popular to win the election. APRA managed to win virtual control of both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. It was also during these election that Alan García started his political career, after being elected Deputy for the Province of Lima. At this point, APRA was considered center-left, though it still retained much of its base.
The youthful and charismatic García was elected president on 14 April 1985, with 45% of the vote during the first round. Since he did not receive the 50% of the vote required to win the presidency, García was required to enter the second round against Alfonso Barrantes Lingán (the leftist mayor of Lima) of the Izquierda Unida Coalition. Barrantes, however, decided not to enter the second round of the elections, saying he did not want to prolong the political uncertainty of the country.
García was thus declared president on 1 June and officially took power on 28 July 1985. It was the first time in its sixty-year history that the populist APRA party had come to power in Peru.
His presidency was marked by world-record hyperinflation with the annual rate exceeding 13,000 percent per year. García's administration devastated the local economy as well as all governmental institutions. Hunger, corruption, injustice, abuse of power, elitism, and social unrest raised to dramatic levels spreading throughout the whole nation, spurring terrorism.
At García's farewell speech, he was booed by the entire opposition forces and prevented from speaking. The anecdotal event was televised. That same day the board of the Chamber of Deputies requested the creation of a special committee to investigate García's presidency, accusing him of massive corruption and illicit enrichment. The committee attacked García with numerous proven accusations involving embezzlement, misappropriation and bribery, based – among other trustworthy sources – on a U.S. congressional investigation that linked García with the BCCI scandal and had found millions of dollars in banks. New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau charged García officially. Later in 1992, then Senator John Kerry presided over the BCCI Scandal Report, (The BCCI Affair) which concluded that García was not only guilty of corruption, but also directly involved in an international racketeering network with activities that included drug and arms trafficking. Finally, the Peruvian Supreme Court, overturned prior judicial verdicts and declared all the probes and constitutional accusations against García "null".
In May 1989, APRA chose as its standard bearer Luis Alva Castro for the 1990 general election. For the final runoff, APRA sealed a hidden deal with Cambio 90 and Alberto Fujimori, to prevent the leading candidate Mario Vargas Llosa, today a Nobel laureate and renown novelist and political analyst, from getting elected. Fujimori, a complete unknown, was subsequently elected.
Fujimori presidency As Fujimori assumed the presidency in 1990, Congress was dominated by the opposition forces of Mario Vargas Llosa's Democratic Front. Fujimori's party had gained only 32 deputies out of 180, and 14 senators out of 60. The majority was divided between APRA (22%) and the Democratic Front, with about 32% of Congress. In 1992, Fujimori organized a successful coup d'état. This allowed García to flee Peru and request asylum denouncing political persecution, the asylum was granted by Colombian president César Gaviria. Shortly after, under the protection of president Francois Mitterrand, García received again the privilege of political refuge and left Colombia to reside in Paris.
Fujimori convened elections for a Democratic Constituent Congress, in which APRA did not participate. In the 1995 general elections, the APRA nominee for president was Mercedes Cabanillas, gaining only 4%, behind former United Nations Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (21%) and the reelected Fujimori (64%). The party only won 8 congressmen out of 120, while Fujimori's Cambio 90-New Majority dominated Congress with 67.
21st century In 2000, Abel Salinas was elected as the presidential nominee, being the worst general election for APRA, gaining only 1% of the popular vote. Only 6 APRA congressman were elected. As many assume the election was a fraud, Fujimori resigned after the corruption of his government was revealed by the opposition.