[retro October 1948]

“Can I go abroad.”

“Where?”

“Spain perhaps? America?”

“You may go to Italy. That is it.”

The President of Peru let out a heavy sigh and acceded to the demand… not that he was in a position to negotiate, with several gun barrels in his face.

Mere hours earlier, a mutiny gripped the deck of the destroyer in the navy. Its crew, all Aprista loyalists, had begun a “revolutionary seizure of power.” However, it was to be ill-fated. Little did the aspiring revolutionaries know, but their moment was in reality the moment for forces far more powerful.

Almost immediately after the mutiny, the garrison near Peruvian Navy’s headquarters in Callao rushed into action. The army moved towards the Navy’s officer school and surrounded it. Elements within the Callao garrison seemed to be prepared, and garrisons elsewhere in Peru marched into the streets. A general state of emergency was announced in Lima before anyone could even realize what was going on. Peruvian Army trucks drove through the streets with loudspeakers announcing to residents to stay home and that an attempted mutiny was being thwarted.

Roads in and out of Lima were blocked by tanks, and before long, tanks began to roll towards the presidential building. The Peruvian air force bombed the muntineering destroyer.

Soldiers of the Peruvian Army led by General Manuel Odria marched up the steps of the Parliament, which was currently in session, and kicked down the door. Odria strode the halls to the Parliamentary chamber and entered the room. Almost casually he walked to the podium, where a MP was speaking. Odria cut him off and announced to the assembled delegates that:

1. The security situation was untenable, and that the Army needed to seize direct power to maintain the nation.
2. APRA had instigated a mutiny and as such, will be fully investigated by the law.
3. The Army would conduct a thorough internal investigation into the other branches, looking for Apristas and communists.
   
4. Suspension of Diplomatic Relations with the Soviet Union, whom they accuse of fomenting the mutiny.
5. Suspension of diplomatic relations with Chile and the closure of the border with Chile and Bolivia, announcing that chaos in the continent has emboldened APRA, and directly blaming Chile for supporting the mutiny attempt.

President Bustamante was led out of the chambers and into an office nearby, where he was offered the choice to leave with dignity or stand trial for the mutiny in shame.

He chose Rome.

When all was said and done, the new State of Peru was declared. Twenty sailors were killed in the recapture of the mutinying destroyer. Over 2,000 people have been arrested in the first day.