The impact of the cuban revolution on the land struggle in Peru during the 1960s

Abstract

This study focuses on the reception of the 1959 Cuban Revolution in Peru, based on the hypothesis that the political lexicon and revolutionary strategy of the Cuban process were either embraced and mobilized or rejected by Peruvian movements, particularly in the peasant struggle for agrarian reform that unfolded during the 1960s. The political organizations of interest to this paper include: the Partido Obrero Revolucionario (POR – Revolutionary Workers' Party), linked to Latin American Trotskyism; and the Movimiento Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR – Revolutionary Left Movement), a guerrilla group that sought to adapt the Cuban experience. To this end, we analyze texts, pamphlets, testimonies, and letters from these groups, examining their interpretations of Cuban events (using terms such as 'voluntarism,' 'putschism,' 'foquismo' [foco theory], and 'Castro-Guevarism'), the Cuban texts they engaged with, and how they formulated their own political actions. The theoretical and methodological framework employed is the concept of the international circulation of ideas. Above all, we aim to understand how the Cuban Revolution impacted historical land struggles in Peru—a key factor in comprehending the country's socioeconomic formation.