Juan Velasco Alvarado of the land, the day of winter solstice. The education reform of 1972 provided for bilingual education for the indigenous people of the Andes and the Amazon, which consisted nearly half of the population. In 1975, the Velasco government enacted a law making Quechua an official language of Peru equal to Spanish. Thus, Peru was the first Latin American country to officialize an indigenous language. However, this law was never enforced and ceased to be valid when the 1979 constitution became effective, according to which Quechua and Aymara are official only where they predominate, as mandated by law – a
Juan Ramírez de Velasco Tucumán by Philip II of Spain to replace Hernando de Lerma. Ramírez served in the government of Tucuman between 1586-1593. In 1588 being the governor of Tucumán Juan Ramirez de Velasco made expeditions against the Indians in calchaquí valley and won the allegiance of a son of Juan Calchaquí. Shortly after he founded the city of Todos los Santos de la Nueva Rioja. In 1592 he founded the city of Madrid de las Juntas in the present department Metán. In 1594 Juan Ramírez Velasco was appointed commander of the Governorate of the Rio de la Plata a position he held