While most Conditional Cash Transfer programs in Latin America expanded from rural to national coverage, Peru’s Juntos program maintained a strict rural focus for 15 years, systematically excluding poor urban households. This article examines the Peruvian paradox: why, despite regional trends and internal efforts to broaden coverage, Juntos remained territorially constrained. Using process tracing and semi-structured interviews with policymakers, senior bureaucrats, former congress members, and policy experts, the study identifies two institutional legacies rooted in the neoliberal reforms of the Fujimori era. First, the institutional consolidation of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) as a powerful veto player with control over public spending; and second, the diffusion of an ideational framework centered on fiscal austerity, efficiency, and aversion to clientelism. These legacies gave rise to two policy locks, a persistent rural bias and a regime of horizontal and fiscal control, that have limited the program’s adaptability to shifting poverty dynamics and urban demands.

Pineapple cultivation is of economic importance for farmers; however, pineapple production can be affected by pests and diseases. Recently, the presence of mealybugs and pineapple mealybug wilt-associated viruses (PMWaV)-1, -2, and -3 has been reported in the provinces of Satipo and Chanchamayo, in Peru’s central jungle. This study aimed to molecularly identify mealybugs collected from the Hawaiiana cultivar and the MD-2 hybrid in those provinces to determine if they are indeed hosts of the PMWaV-1, -2, and -3. Through amplification and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer ribosomal genes, the mealybugs were identified as Dysmicoccus brevipes. In the phylogenetic analysis of these D. brevipes, Peruvian isolates were associated with isolates from India, China, Taiwan, and Japan. In addition, our results confirmed the presence of PMWaV-1, -2, and -3 in all mealybug specimens collected from both the Hawaiiana cultivar and the MD-2 hybrid tested, with these PMWaVs showing a 99% sequence identity with others recently reported in Peru. Therefore, D. brevipes is a host and probable vector of PMWaV-1, -2, and -3 for the cultivar Hawaiiana and the hybrid pineapple MD-2 in Satipo and Chanchamayo, Peru. Based on these findings and observations of crop management strategies in these provinces, we recommend integrated management practices to control this pest.

The black walnut Juglans neotropica is a forest species characterized by being a monoecious and deciduous tree with a long life. This species has great ecological, environmental, and economic value, playing a fundamental role in the ecosystem. According to the IUCN, J. neotropica is threatened by anthropogenic activities that have drastically affected its distribution. In this study, the plastid intergenic spacer marker trnS-trnfM was amplified from 74 J. neotropica samples from eight locations in Amazonas region (Peru) to determine its haplotype network, genetic diversity, and genetic divergence. The results revealed that J. neotropica from Amazonas region showed i) a lineage composed of the eight populations embedded into the Rhysocaryon section; ii) three genetic groups within the haplotype network with the presence of an ancestral haplotype (H1) and possibly candidates for new taxa; iii) a high divergence between the populations of Molinopampa and Luya (1.62–2.64% of p-distance); iv) populations with high genetic diversity indices (Levanto = 0.32, Molinopampa = 0.41) with constant threats from anthropogenic activities; and v) high genetic structuring within populations (Fst = 0.04). Overall, these results collectively support a scenario of high variability with limited interpopulation genetic exchange. Our findings provide previously unavailable insights into the vulnerability of the black walnut J. neotropica by (i) quantifying the genetic consequences of human-induced habitat fragmentation and (ii) establishing baseline diversity metrics for future monitoring. These results directly inform in situ conservation priorities by identifying populations harbouring unique alleles that warrant immediate protection. Finally, further research should include nuclear markers (e.g., microsatellites or RAD-seq) to support our findings.

This article uses non-literary essays that appeared in the Peruvian press during the Oncenio period in Peru (1919–30) to nuance our understanding of Latin American Orientalism. Critical study of the extant material shows that there were at least three strands of Orientalism circulating among Peruvian readers, with the presence or absence of Asian communities in Peru and the larger history of Spanish imperialism and Spanish-language Orientalism acting as their conditions of possibility. While the large Chinese community in Peru triggered an Orientalist backlash akin to modern Anglo-French Orientalism, the absence of Southeast Asians in the country allowed for a more medieval-colonial Orientalism to persist, one that focused more on wonder for and exoticisation of Asian cultures. The exception would be the Philippines, which due to its previous history as a Spanish colony, was presented as a ‘modern’ country comparable to any in Latin America. Given that representations of Southeast Asia are often overlooked in the study of Latin American Orientalism—which in turn tends to focus on literary representations by writers from countries like Argentina or Mexico—this article fills these gaps and contributes to the global histories of Latin America and of Orientalism.

This article examines the role of women in the guild system of Lima, Peru, during the nineteenth century. Using data from the guild system of Lima between 1838 and 1859, it shows that women participated in a variety of guilds, primarily in retail trade and food manufacturing. Most women were not part of the guilds of merchants and professionals. A social stratification analysis reveals that women in guilds were concentrated at the lower end of the income distribution, with very few reaching the highest social classes. As the economy of Lima expanded during the Guano Era, enterprises had opportunities to grow and enter profitable sectors. However, women did not advance into the most lucrative sectors of the economy, with most remaining in the lowest social classes.

The escalating dengue crisis in Peru demands immediate action from global health organizations, health care authorities, and government officials. Endemic to Peru, dengue has seen a drastic increase in cases, with the largest outbreak on record occurring in the first half of 2023, resulting in 139 366 confirmed cases and 381 deaths. Despite efforts to contain the outbreak through integrated surveillance and response strategies, the crisis worsened in 2024 due to drastic climate changes, exacerbating conditions for dengue transmission. Heavy rains since December 2023 have caused flooding and landslides, creating ideal breeding grounds for dengue vectors. Overwhelmed local authorities, especially in areas with limited access to public services due to floods and landslides, struggle to manage the crisis. With more than half the population at risk of dengue infection, urgent measures are required to control the spread of dengue and mitigate increasing mortality rates. Targeted interventions in areas with limited health care access are crucial, considering underreporting and limitations of health systems, to accurately assess the true burden of the disease and prevent further escalation of the crisis.

Intensifying storms and inter-annual El Niño events may increase psychological stress and worsen mental health. This study examines the relationship between flood exposure and long-term mental health symptoms among adolescents and young people in Peru, the world’s most affected country by El Niño. We analyzed community and self-reported survey data from the Young Lives Study to contrast mental health in 2016 among youth who lived in communities that experienced or did not experience flooding between 2013 and 2016. We pre-processed data on 1344 individuals in 93 communities, using optimal full matching on Mahalanobis distance with a propensity score caliper, and estimated relative risks to mental health scores in the general population of young people and among gender-stratified groups via quasi-Poisson regression. Exposure to floods did not yield conclusive differences in mental health scores in this sample. Further evidence is needed on mental health patterns over time, the influence of exposure severity, and the impact of disaster relief on symptomology in mounting an effective global health response.

Fuentes Históricas del Perú (FHP) se ha convertido en un recurso imprescindible para la investigación histórica en el país. Esta iniciativa, liderada por estudiantes de universidades peruanas, representa un avance significativo en el proceso más amplio de creación de recursos digitales para la investigación histórica y el desarrollo de las humanidades digitales en Perú. En esta entrevista, realizada a fines de 2023 por Paulo Drinot con Jair Miranda Tamayo, Erika Caballero Liñán y Carlos Paredes Hernández, los tres fundadores de FHP, se ofrece una perspectiva sobre los orígenes de FHP, sus características y sus objetivos.

This article examines the 1 July 1992 massacre of 18 Indigenous males and the concurrent cutting off of the hair of their wives and/or female kin carried out by the Shining Path in the Andean village of Huamanquiquia (Fajardo province, Ayacucho region). Based on first-hand accounts of the Maoist insurgents and the Indigenous women, I frame these events as a local case study of gendered atrocity that was experienced differently by men and women, focusing on the symbolic violence of haircutting. While this atrocity reflects some well-known patterns seen in other armed conflicts, it is shaped by two key factors specific to the time and place: first, particular understandings of the significance of hair within broader Andean cosmologies; second, tensions within the Shining Path movement at a key juncture in the war. I show that the Andean insurgents knew about the symbolic dimensions of haircutting, a crime against the integrity of the human body–soul – one understood to cause endless suffering in the journey to the afterlife in the Andean worldview – but they underplayed them. From this viewpoint, haircutting meant the mutilation of women’s physical integrity, with psychological, social and gender implications.

This article traces the history of estate landholding in the Andean valley of Antapampa over the first half of the twentieth century. It challenges a long-held and widely accepted belief that highland haciendas concentrated vast tracts of land in just a few hands. Rather, by the middle of the last century, many properties had fragmented into numerous more modest holdings. Others either held very little land at all, found themselves severely restricted by the mountainous terrain, or ceded most, sometimes all, of their possessions to a rapidly growing number of tenant farmers. The relative absence of mass land concentration, then, forces us to reconsider the role of a key institution in the countryside, in Peru, in Latin America and even beyond. To do so, this study draws upon extensive and original archival materials from roughly 300 Ministry of Agriculture case files, rarely, if ever, used before.

Radiocarbon dates can offer important corollaries for historic events and processes, including territorial expansion and consolidation in early empires. Eighteen new radiocarbon dates from test excavations at Ak'awillay, near the Inca imperial capital of Cuzco, reveal new perspectives on interactions between the Incas and Xaquixaguana Valley groups. Rather than persisting as a regional centre, Ak'awillay declined well before early Inca expansion, remaining largely unoccupied until after an extensive empire had been established. This new chronology adds nuance to the growing understanding of local group interactions and how they contributed to Inca state development and imperial expansion.