Introduction

Summary

Peru's Canete valley is about 150 kilometers south of Lima. In the first decade of the century this was about a three or four-day horseback ride or, more usually, and if you had the money, a day or less by coastal steamer. As was the case for most of the country's larger irrigated coastal valleys it was given over to export crops. Here it was cotton, grown on numerous small and medium-sized estates and sugar produced by a single large British-owned ingenio. Besides sharecroppers, about 3, 000 workers were employed either permanently or on a casual basis on the various estates in the valley. On 10 August 1914, the subprefect called an emergency meeting of local merchants, hacendados, and estate administrators in the principal town of San Vicente. A few men sat on chairs, the majority leaned against the walls of the rather small room which was becoming increasingly filled with concern and cigar smoke as the official spelled out the extent of the crisis, of which most of them were already aware. He wanted those who had contacts in the capital to ask them for immediate assistance because there was not enough cash in the valley to pay agricultural workers and estates were having to shut down. There was also a serious food shortage and the likelihood of unrest. The sudden disruption in the life of this valley was evidence that the shock waves of the recently begun European war had reached rural Peru. It had taken less than a week. In the larger cities the impact had been felt even earlier.