The state discourse about the "internal enemy" in Perú during the goverment of Belaúnde Terry (1980-1985)

El discurso estatal sobre el “enemigo interno” en el Perú durante el mandato de Belaúnde Terry (1980-1985)

Abstract

This research analyses the construction of the internal enemy during Belaúnde Terry’s government (1980-1985). Over this period, the Maoist subversion of the Perú Communist Party, the Shining Path (PCP-SL), disrupted the Peruvian politics at the time. In 1980, Perú could be considered a parliamentary democratic country. Both in the previous period of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces as well as during the second half of the 19th Century, there was a political line of thought in the Peruvian political culture based on the emphasis on the modernization of Perú, in other words: in the praise of progress and civilization. These principles were used by Belaúnde Terry’s government to create the discourse on the internal enemy against all those suspected of being a terrorist apart from justifying DIRTY WAR and the legal exceptionality. Thus, the Peruvian State configured its enemy as a foreign to the nation-State and to its ideas affirming that the subversivity was not Peruvian and that it was organized by foreign forces. All these elements were quickly manifested in Belaúnde Terry’s discourses, characterized by belligerent rhetoric against any type of opposition while at the same time, he encouraged the peruvianization and nationalization of the territories where the Maoist subversion was based.