The history of Peru between 1980 and 2000 corresponds to the period following the general elections that put an end to the twelve-year military dictatorship that ruled the country since 1968, with Fernando Belaúnde taking office in 1980.

General Juan Velasco Alvarado carried out a coup d'état on October 3, 1968 and proclaimed a military dictatorship known as the "Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces".

The Armed Forces convened a Constituent Assembly to modify the country's constitution so that it contained the role of the business state, a fact that was endorsed by American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA).

The president-elect surrounded himself with a liberal economic team, led by Manuel Ulloa Elías, director of the newspaper Expreso and minister of economy of his government, who displaced several of the former leaders of Acción Popular.

The same year as the elections, the Maoist terrorist group Shining Path declared war on the Peruvian State in the southern Andean department of Ayacucho.

Which, during the 1980 elections, declined to take part in this electoral process like some left-wing political groups and, instead, chose to start a guerrilla war in the high areas surrounding Ayacucho.

The perpetrators were quickly apprehended and additional ballots were taken to replace the burned ones, so the elections proceeded without major incident and the event received little attention in the Peruvian press.

[9] Starting in the following years, the group intensified its campaign, advancing throughout the mountains of Peru, causing thousands of victims, including children, women, the elderly, and authorities at all levels.

[10] The president's reaction, however, was slow and hesitant: in the face of the terrorist escalation, an anti-terrorist strategy was never designed but rather a state of emergency was simply declared and the Armed Forces were sent to combat the subversives.

The debt crisis in Mexico in 1982 had a profound effect on the economies of Latin America, so the countries of the region decided to rethink their economic policies.

Starting in 1983, the drop in metal prices began a worrying economic crisis reflected in difficulties in paying the external debt and a sharp increase in inflation and the devaluation of the sol.

[11] Additionally, a diplomatic crisis between Cuba and Peru began when six Cubans made their way into the Peruvian embassy in the country on April 1, 1980, seeking political asylum.

[13] With a majority in both houses of Parliament, the first years of his government are characterized by "state populism" focused on risky economic measures that brought a situation of apparent prosperity.

To stop the flight of foreign currency from businessmen, García announced in July 1987 the nationalisation of banking, causing panic in the financial sector.

Immediately, Peru entered a serious economic crisis that led to historic hyperinflation (the fourth highest in the world), to the impoverishment of all sectors of the population, and to the collapse of public services.

The system of generalised and indiscriminate subsidies, as well as the refusal to pay the foreign debt, closed the country's possibilities of overcoming the economic policy of the administration.

On April 5, 1992, President Fujimori shut down Congress and sent the Armed Forces to the streets, the Judiciary was intervened by the Army, political opponents were persecuted and the media were censored.

The application of liberal policies led to the privatisation of public companies (at that time, totally inefficient), which remained in the hands of foreign transnationals, which received numerous benefits such as tax exemptions and the elimination of many legal barriers to investment.

Months later, on October 29, a military uprising led by Ollanta and Antauro Humala captured Toquepala mine, near Locumba, also denouncing the elections as fraudulent.

This led to the announcement of the Four Quarters March set for July 28 of that year, a large demonstration that sought to show the population's rejection of Fujimori's government.

The demonstration was massive, but groups linked to the government instructed by one of the figures of the so-called kleptocracy, Vladimiro Montesinos, called for the execution of an anonymous destruction campaign that targeted the headquarters of the Banco de la Nación and led to the death of six people.