Word: odria
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Peru (pop. 9.500,000). Well-intentioned President Manuel Odria long ago promised to run off a free election next June. At first sullenly doubtful, Peruvians finally decided that he meant what he said, began campaigning with such antigovernmental vigor that Odria's police were goaded unwisely into shooting up a political meeting in Arequipa last December. The result was a surprisingly loud outcry for a completely unfettered election. It was under this banner that Brigadier General Marcial Merino Pereyra rebelled last week in Iquitos (see below...
Soon after sunup the rest of the garrison was standing at attention in the treelined Plaza de Armas. Brigadier General Marcial Merino Pereyra, their commander, read off a manifesto explaining to his men why he had led them into rebellion against Strongman Manuel Odria. They would, he promised, "open the front door for democracy in Peru, and guarantee absolutely free elections." Townspeople gawked, then drifted off to work...
Waiting Game. General Merino, 51, an able infantry officer, then sat back to wait. His boondocks uprising was shrewdly conceived. By merely proclaiming a rebellion, Merino forced Odria to retaliate or lose his strongman's prestige. But Odria was denied any chance of easy attack. Merino claimed the whole Second (Jungle) Division of 12,000 men (the whole army numbers 55,000 to 60,000). He also claimed the navy's Amazon fleet: seven 200-to 500-ton gunboats, and about thirty 10-to 50-ton river patrol craft. Moreover, most of the troops were inaccessibly camped...
...General Odria got the point fast; his first act was a doublecheck on other garrisons. Apparently reassured, he slapped on a state of siege, denying Peruvians the right to travel or hold meetings...
With a stroke of the pen last week, Peruvian President Manuel Odria scratched Peru's name from the dwindling list of American nations that deny women the vote. In his oak-paneled office, he signed a constitutional amendment extending full political rights to Peruvian women. Only Haiti and Paraguay still discriminate against women, and Haiti does allow them to vote in municipal elections. Said Odria: "Now the Peruvian woman can elect and be elected. I believe that she is at least as well prepared as the men to make proper use of the suffrage...