CABINET CRISIS LIKELY SOON IN PERU

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00826A000400010027-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 13, 2004
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: March 3, 1966
• Content Type: IM

? SECRET
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3 March 1966
OCI No. 1153/66
Copy No. , L
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
CABINET CRISIS LIKELY SOON IN PERU
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
Office of Current Intelligence
SECRET
GROUP 1
Excluded from automatic
downgrading and
declassification
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This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
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OCI No. 1153/66
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Current Intelligence
3 March 1966
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Cabinet Crisis Likely Soon in Peru
There is a strong possibility that Peru will ex-
perience a full-blown cabinet crisis when the Congress
reconvenes in mid-March. Opposition congressmen, who
dominate the legislative body, are threatening censure
of the education minister, and the cabinet has served
notice publicly that it will resign en masse if his
censure is voted. Congressional censure of cabinet
ministers has occurred frequently during President
Belaunde's administration, mainly because it has
been adopted by the opposition APRA party as the
primary means of political attack on the government.
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2. The basis for the impending crisis is an in-
creasingly bitter rivalry between the executive
branch and the Congress, or, in terms of political
groupings, between Belaunde's AP and the powerful
APRA party. Repeatedly denied executive office be-
cause of the traditional enmity of the Peruvian
armed forces, APRA is using the legislative branch
as its vehicle for exerting influence. Since the
Belaunde government took office in July 1963, APRA
has striven to elevate the prestige and importance
of Congress at the expense of the presidency. Thus,
APRA and its coalition partner UNO have been extremely
sensitive to every slight by the administration--
real or imagined--to the Congress. Their attempt to
assert congressional authority or to strike back at
the executive has taken the form of ministerial cen-
sure--an action requiring a majority vote and which,
according to constitutional law, forces the censured
minister to resign his office.
3. APRA further justifies the application of
congressional censure by charging that AP ministers
have used their authority for partisan political pur-
poses. AP ministers have, in fact, worked through
their offices to build and strengthen the youthful
AP party, and the present AP cabinet ministers are
expecially active in their party roles. Naturally
jealous of its own status as Peru's largest mass-
based party, APRA hotly resents any action by a
government official which might accrue to the ad-
vantage of AP. (APRA would be certain, however, to
use the same techniques to strengthen its own party
organization if it were in power.)
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4. The current situationi 25X1
has been building since
September 1965. At that time, a new cabinet was ap-
pointed following the refusal of former prime min-
ister Schwalb to appear before congress for inter-
pellation.
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APRA is planning to censure the minister of educa-
tion when Congress reconvenes in mid-March. In that
event, the ministers reportedly have agreed to re-
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Their decision to resign has been made
public.
5. Congressional censure of a cabinet minister
has occurred five times during the life of the
Belaunde administration. Additional ministerial
changes have been made to ward off the threat of
censure. Belaunde finally moved to reduce harass-
ment of the controversial ministries of education
and government in 1964 by appointing military men
to these posts. Until replaced later by civilians,
the military ministers served without undue atten-
tion from opposition congressmen, who recognized that
they represented not only the government but also
the untouchable prestige of the Peruvian military
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