In "The Last Days of La Prensa, Jaime Bayly tells the story of his grandfather who spends all day insulting Velasco Alvarado, for Agrarian Reform confiscated their land.
"Yeah, Grandpa, calm down, that happened 30 years ago," says the grandson. But the old man never settles down and lives with a permanent hatred. Finally, died of a heart attack after attack with rocks the house of a priest "Velasco."
This metaphor illustrates very well, as some people still yearn for the past and nostalgia for the "old order." And perhaps, as the grandfather of Bayly spend the rest of his life regretting a past event. That is why they are called "pasadismo."
Agrarian Reform (1969) meant a radical change in the ownership of land in Peru. But meant no progress in the field. Our agriculture is backward and in that time.
However, the Reformation was a national requirement at the time. Velasco just opened an outlet in a situation that really was unsustainable in the field. It is said that Belaunde had planned it, but the military took him out early.
Some scientists argue that if he had not carried out agrarian reform, the Shining Path would have won the war in a few years. True, because one of the claims of the guerrillas at the time was the land. (Javier Diez Canseco, Diego Garcia Sayan and Hugo Blanco then encouraged the "taking of land").
Y Velasco, tal vez sin quererlo, le quitó a los senderistas una de sus banderas revindicativas. Por ello, nunca tuvieron real apoyo campesino.
Por cierto, la Reforma Agraria no fue un fenómeno exclusivo del Perú. Se ha dado en todos los países del mundo. En algunos lugares, como China y México fue sangrienta. En otros fue concertada. En el Perú la hicieron los militares de forma pacífica.
La Reforma Agraria fue, pues, un hecho histórico (como la Conquista o la Guerra con Chile) que no tiene marcha atrás. Tal vez, no terminó como hubiésemos querido, pero sucedió y sobre esa realidad debemos actuar.
El Presidente Fujimori percibió muy bien the new face of Peru (post Reforma Agraria) and hence its success in governance, and enormous popular support. In 1992 he was a clamor to close Congress and he did.
Unfortunately, other "pasadismo" curse that decision because they say there began dying democracy. Surely, they will end their days condemning the closure of Congress, as the grandfather of Bayly, who died ranting of Agrarian Reform.
