Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A Nobel for Peru
Mario Vargas Llosa (b 1936), Peru's most famous writer, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 for
stories that explore the vagaries of corruption and power. The honorific caps an extraordinary life: as a young man,
Vargas Llosa had an affair with an aunt, whom he later married (an incident he fictionalized in
Aunt Julia and the
Scriptwriter
). In the '70s, he came to blows with Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez. The following
decade, he ran for the presidency - and lost. Upon winning the Nobel, he told a reporter: 'Death will find me with
my pen in hand.'
A Period of Renewal
Since that time, the country has enjoyed a rare period of reconciliation. In 2001
shoeshine-boy-turned-Stanford-economist Alejandro Toledo became the first person of
Quechua ethnicity to be elected president. Toledo's term was followed in 2006 by the re-
election of García to the presidency. Unlike the first time, the economy performed well -
despite the global economic crises of 2008. But it wasn't without problems. For one, there
was the issue of corruption (García's entire cabinet was forced to resign in 2008 after
widespread allegations of bribery) and there has been the touchy issue of how to manage
the country's mineral wealth. In 2008 García signed a law that allowed foreign companies
to exploit natural resources in the Amazon. The legislation generated a backlash among
various Amazon tribes and led to a fatal standoff in the northern city of Bagua in 2009.
Congress quickly revoked the law, but the issue remains a challenge for the new presid-
ent, Ollanta Humala. Elected in 2011, the former army officer was initially thought to be a
populist in the Hugo Chávez vein (the Lima stock exchange dropped precipitously when
he was first elected). But his administration has been quite friendly to business. Though
the economy has functioned well under his governance, civil unrest over a proposed gold
mine in the north, as well as a botched raid on a Sendero Luminoso encampment, sent his
approval rating into a tailspin by the middle of 2012.
Timeline
c 3000 BC
Some of the first structures are built at the coastal ceremonial center of Caral.
