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Article: No light, no law. (Peru) (special issue: 35th Anniversary 1955-1990)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- November 5, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1990 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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AT THE TURN of the century, the Peruvian writer Gonzalez Prada compared his country with an abseess. "Press it anywhere," he wrote, "and pus comes out." Three centuries earlier, Poma de Ayala had said, To write [of Peru] is to weep." If these men were to return now to their country, they would have little cause to change their opinion.
The economic statistics are horrible, but the world is used to horrible statistics. In the five years of Alan Garcia's demagogic government, inflation was 1,000,000 per cent. In the last year of his rule, wages (which only a third of the adult population earned) declined in real value by half. In the last month of his rule, ...