Programa Nacional de Población in addition to Peru's political instability and dependency on capitalist order from international governments - left the country in a vulnerable political, social, and economic position. In positions such as these, the poor are left inevitably to suffer from the failed policies of the upper class. This vulnerable state proved to be detrimental to Peru's constitutional government and civil society when the military overthrew President Fernando Belaúnde Terry in 1968 and remained in occupation of the government for an entire decade. Within this decade-long military regime under appointed President Juan Velasco Alvarado, Peruvian government made significant leftist reforms and intended
Juan Bautista Alvarado Frémont arrived in Monterey at the beginning of 1846. Afraid of foreign aggression, Castro assembled his militia, with Alvarado second in command, but Frémont went north to Oregon instead. An unstable political situation in Mexico strained relations among the Californios and it seemed that civil war would break out between north and south. On July 7, Commodore John D. Sloat occupied Monterey, declaring to the citizenry that the Mexican–American War had begun. Pico, Castro, and Alvarado set aside their differences to focus on the American threat, but by the end of August, Pico and Castro fled to Mexico, and Alvarado