History of Peru warfare. The Revolutionary Left Movement (Peru), or MIR, launched an insurrection that had been crushed by 1965, but Peru's internal strife would only accelerate until its climax in the 1990s. The military has been prominent in Peruvian history. Coups have repeatedly interrupted civilian constitutional government. The most recent period of military rule (1968–1980) began when General Juan Velasco Alvarado overthrew elected President Fernando Belaúnde Terry of the Popular Action Party (AP). As part of what has been called the "first phase" of the military government's nationalist program, Velasco undertook an extensive agrarian reform program and nationalized the fish meal industry,
Juan José Alvarado led the party of the federal government under José Francisco Morazán Quezada and resisted the separation. On 5 April 1839 his troops were defeated by Nicaragua and to the troops of Morazán in the battle of Espiritu Santo in El Salvador. On 25 September 1839, at San Pedro Perulapán, the troops of Honduras surprised Francisco Ferrera, who was wounded and fled to Nicaragua. Although Alvarado stated that he withdrew for reasons of health, the political and military pressure from Morazán contributed to it. He died in Gracias. Juan José Alvarado Juan José Alvarado (1798–1857) was Supreme Director of Honduras from