Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

's Movimiento Etnocacerista (aka Movimiento Nacionalista Peruano or "Peruvian Nationalist Movement") is a group of ethnic nationalists

Ethnic nationalism

Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...

.
The name etnocacerista is composed of two parts: the first evokes Peru's ethnic identity (specifically, its origins with the Quechua, a Native American people often identified in the popular imagination with the Inca, a pre-Columbian royal group); the second indicates the group's veneration of 19th century president and war hero Andrés Avelino Cáceres

Andrés Avelino Cáceres

Andrés Avelino Cáceres Dorregaray was three times President of Peru during the 19th century, from 1884 to 1885, then from 1886 to 1890, and again from 1894 to 1895...

, who led a guerrilla resistance campaign against occupying Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an troops during the War of the Pacific

War of the Pacific

The War of the Pacific took place in western South America from 1879 through 1883. Chile fought against Bolivia and Peru. Despite cooperation among the three nations in the war against Spain, disputes soon arose over the mineral-rich Peruvian provinces of Tarapaca, Tacna, and Arica, and the...

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Most of its members are armed forces veterans of Peru's internal war

Internal conflict in Peru

It has been estimated that nearly 70,000 people died in the internal conflict in Peru that started in 1980 and, although still ongoing, had greatly wound down by 2000. The principal actors in the war were the Shining Path , the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and the government of Peru.A great...

 or the border disputes with Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 and Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

in the 1980s and 1990s.

External links

• L'un des frères Humala sera-t-il le Hugo Chávez du Pérou? (latinreporters.com; in French)
• Quiénes son los etnocaceristas (BBC; in Spanish)
• Ollanta Humala habla con la BBC (BBC; in Spanish)