Indigenous communities across the Andean region have long been utilized as a force for political change, yet this has rarely manifested in meaningful political Incorporation. Over the past two decades, however, countries like Bolivia and Ecuador have seen increasing indigenous participation within formal political institutions, exemplified by the rise of Evo Morales' s MAS party and Ecuador's Pachakutik movement. Unlike the other Andean nations, this phenomena would not be seen in Peru, who remained an outlier throughout the 2000s and 2010s, where indigenous political participation remained both disconnected and unable to generate national political power. This trend shifted dramatically with the 2021 election of Pedro Castillo, whose unexpected victory reflected unprecedented indigenous and rural mobilization. Through a comprehensive analysis of the literary material on the subject, and guided by six interviews with relevant figures, this study argues that the delayed nature of Peruvian indigenous political participation (in comparison to the other Andean nations) was a result of [1] the corruption of the Peruvian state, [2] the dominance of the Fujimori family since the start of the 1990s, and [3] a long history of state violence against indigenous communities, from early colonial repression to modern military massacres; as well as third party violence, such as the internal conflict with the Sendero Luminoso guerilla group. This study also posits theories as to how this mobilization has come about in contemporary Peru, and the potential implications for the future of indigenous politics in Peru.
