On October 9, 1968, the

Peruvian Army The Peruvian Army (, abbreviated EP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missions include assistance in s ...

seized control of La Brea and Pariñas, an oil refinery in northern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, under the orders of

Juan Velasco Alvarado Juan Francisco Velasco Alvarado (June 16, 1910 – December 24, 1977) was a Peruvian Army general, general who served as the President of Peru after a successful 1968 Peruvian coup d'état, coup d'état against Fernando Belaúnde's presidency ...

's so-called Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces. The events took place in response to the controversy surrounding the oil field, which led to a long-standing dispute between its owner, the

International Oil Company Big Oil is a name sometimes used to describe the world's six or seven largest publicly traded and investor-owned oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors. The term, particularly in the United States, emphasizes their economic power and ...

, and the

Peruvian government The Republic of Peru is a unitary state with a multi-party semi-presidential system. The current government was established by the 1993 Constitution of Peru. The government is composed of three branches, being executive, judicial, and legisla ...

Background

A long-standing controversy regarding the oil field began in 1911, as an administrative error had seriously understated the number of deposits (organised as event lots called ''pertenencias'') in the oil field: the total number had been recorded as 10, but a survey carried out by engineers Héctor Boza and Alberto Jochamowitz found that the site had not 10 but no less than 41,614 ''pertenencias''. The disagreement between the IPC and the Government regarding a newfound debt continued until 1968, when the Act of Talara was signed on August 13. Soon after it was signed, on September 10, Carlos Loret de Mola (resigning president of the ) reported that the eleventh and final page was missing from the contract, allegedly containing valuable information about costs. The crisis served as a pretext for a group of army officers, led by General

, to carry out a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

less than a month later.

Takeover

On October 9, 1968, the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces ordered the seizure of the IPC facilities in

Talara Talara is a city in the Talara Province of the Piura Region, in northwestern Peru. It is a port city on the Pacific Ocean with a population of 91,444 as of 2017. Its climate is hot and dry. Due to its oil reserves, and ability to produce aviati ...

, which was carried out by the forces of the First Military Region based in

Piura Piura is a city in northwestern Peru, located north of the Sechura Desert along the Piura River. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. Its population was 484,475 as of 2017 and it is the 7th most populous city in Peru. ...

, under the command of General Fermín Málaga. This event had a great impact on the country and helped the government to consolidate power. The date of October 9 was celebrated throughout the military government as the Day of National Dignity.

Aftermath

Petroperú Petróleos del Perú (), better known as Petroperú, is a Peruvian state-owned enterprise and private law dedicated to the transportation, refining, distribution, and commercialization of fuels and other petroleum products. It has been owned by ...

was created the following year by law decree issued by General

on July 24, 1969. The newly created company was chaired by another General, Marco Fernández-Baca Carrasco and had to face the challenges of operating and maintaining the recently nationalised oil industry with local personnel. It had to do this without resources or technical support from global oil players, who had been alienated by the forced

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

of the military government. The company and the government nevertheless had the assistance of Soviet technicians and were able to retain middle managers, surviving and even thriving despite reduced production capacity. Extraction and refining progressively increased owing to oilfield discoveries in the northern jungle (Loreto Department), association agreements that followed after Velasco's deposition by another coup in 1975, and the construction of the .Petroperú denuncia toma de estación del Oleoducto Norperuano en Loreto
Consultado el 16 de julio de 2018.Petroperú aún no puede reparar Oleoducto Norperuano
Consultado el 20 de diciembre de 2018.

References

Sources

*{{Cite book , title=Historia de la República. , last=Chirinos , first=Enrique , publisher=AFA Editores Importadores S.A. , year=1985 , edition=3rd , location=Lima , volume=1. De San Martín a Leguía (1821-1930) Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces of Peru 1968 in Peru

Background

Takeover

Aftermath

See also

References

Sources