Its rich Inca history has bequeathed heritage sites such as the lost city of Machu Picchu, but behind Peru’s tourist façade lies grinding inequality.
As in many other Latin American countries, a small Spanish-descended elite controls most of Peru’s wealth and power. Despite recent economic growth, indigenous people remain excluded from both.
Peru has rich mineral deposits, including silver and gold, but its leaders have often put money before people and the environment. Swathes of rainforest were offered up to foreign oil and gas companies before protests from indigenous inhabitants forced a U-turn.
As well as urban shanty settlements, much of Peru’s worst poverty is focused in the rural highlands and jungle areas.
In the 1980s and 90s, isolated villages were caught in the crossfire of civil war as Maoist ‘Shining Path’ guerrillas battled government forces. Up to 69,000 people died and innocent bystanders landed in prison.
‘Structural adjustment’ policies have encouraged food imports at the expense of local production and cut social investment. As a result, many rural women now head households as men leave to find work in the cities. Indigenous people also suffer lack of access to healthcare and education – and schools often represent a hostile environment that ignores their culture.