Dreams for the Land

The military government and the conflict over the Huando estate during the agrarian reform (1969-1973)

Abstract

During the implementation of agrarian reform, numerous land conflicts took place in different parts of Peru. In this context, the confrontation between landowners and workers of the Huando hacienda union stood out. After months of disputes, the military government of Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968-1975) gave in to the farmworkers' demands and expropriated the hacienda—which stood out as a symbol of modern agricultural enterprise—to make way for the creation of the cooperative. Using a review of documentation from the Huando hacienda, press articles, presidential speeches, interviews, and draft minutes of the Council of Ministers of the military cabinet, this thesis analyzes how this conflict marked a key rupture in the military regime's relations with landowners in the early 1970s and, similarly, how the resolution of the Huando conflict reflected the radicalization of the Velasco administration's implementation of agrarian reform.