Peru and the United States, 1960–1975: How Their Ambassadors Managed Foreign Relations in a Turbulent Era

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Richard Walter suggests, Peru obtained a salience in US policy beyond its significance as a middle- rank Latin American country. At the same time, Peruvian politicians came to believe that successive US administrations were singling out the country for treatment that harmed its long- term interests. What lay behind this period of turmoil? Initially, problems arose following the 1962 Peruvian presidential election, when a military coup stopped the US- backed Aprista candidate, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, from taking power, but the difficulties lay deeper. The tax concessions enjoyed by the International Petroleum Company (IPC), a subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey, were long a sore point for Peruvian nationalists. In addition, Peru claimed a 200- mile fishing limit (agreed to with Ecuador and Chile in 1947) that inflamed Californian fishermen, and in 1967 the country decided to purchase Mirage fighters from...