Liberalism in Peru

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) together with some celebrities who had recanted clerical fascism.^[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). In spite of its claims of being a liberal party, this party has supported Fujimorians since the beginning of the civil war.
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

References

^ Mainwaring, Scott (2006). The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes. Stanford University Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-8047-6791-0.

[1] Mainwaring, Scott (2006). The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes. Stanford University Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-8047-6791-0.

[1]