Language planning with Spanish colonization. When the Spanish first arrived in Peru, Quechua served as a language of wider communication, a lingua franca, between Spaniards and Peruvian natives. As the years passed, Spaniards asserted the superiority of the Spanish language; as a result, Spanish gained prestige, taking over as a language of wider communication and the dominant language of Peru. In 1975, under the leadership of President Juan Velasco Alvarado, the revolutionary government of Peru declared Quechua an official language of the Peruvian state, "coequal with Spanish." Four years later, the law was reversed. Peru's 1979 constitution declares Spanish the only official
First presidency of Fernando Belaúnde having the will to carry out social reforms that were considered necessary. First presidency of Fernando Belaúnde The first term of Fernando Belaúnde Terry started July 28, 1963 and culminated in the coup Juan Velasco Alvarado on October 3, 1968. The presidency started on July 28, 1963. At Belaúnde's inauguration in the Legislative Palace, the President of the Senate, Julio de la Piedra gave him the presidential sash, followed by, the first vice president Edgardo Seoane's oath. The ceremony was attended by representatives of 41 states, among them being the Minister of Information and Tourism of Spain, Manuel Fraga. He