FREE ESSAY ON PERU - JUAN PEVEZ

PERU - JUAN PEVEZ

In December of 1915 a huge step for the rights of Peasants in Peru was taken. Juan Pevez
was born in Ica, Peru and in 1915 he lead an uprising against the Picasso family who ran
the that Pevez worked on. In Water!, an excerpt from Pevez's autobiography, a dispute
over rights to water is described and how the peasants overcame . Southern Peru does not
see much rain during the year, so when it does come it is an extremely valued commodity.
In December 1915 a very unusual thing happened. The water came much earlier that year and
to the peasant's surprise it went unnoticed by the estate owners. In that time the estate
owners unlawfully kept the water from the peasants until their own fields were irrigated.
The water came that year in the middle of the night so the estate owners were clueless.
Unaware that they had the same rights to the water as the estate owners, the farmers were
reluctant to open up the Sluice gates that allowed the water to enter their own small
canals to irrigate their land. Juan Pevez, who was enrolled in the School of Agronomy
informed the farmers that legally they had a right to the water. Trusting Pevez, they all
opened their gates to irrigate their fields unbeknownst to the landowners. Soon, morning
came and the "stolen" water was noticed and a brawl broke out between the serfs and the
estate owners. After being broken up the peasants formed a delegation to make a plea to
the Technical Commission to state their concern about the unfair distribution of water.
The director of the commission, Ezequiel Gago, heard both sides argument. In December
1915 history was made when Gago ruled in favor of the Peasants. That was the first time
in the history of the valley that a group of peasants won a case against a powerful
landowner like Picasso. 
The account of this event is very important for many reasons. First, as I stated before,
this was an historical event for the peasant community in Peru as well as the rest of
South America. The event that Juan Pevez lead was a landmark event in the history of not
only peasants but everyone in South America. It was the beginning of a movement of sorts
toward a freer nation. That event had a lasting effect. The delegation that was formed to
protest the Water withholding grew and grew and now is still in effect today under the
name of the Peruvian Peasant Federation. 
This document had much importance in the time it was written for numerous reasons. First,
it was an account of something that had happened that people wanted to know about. This
was, like a I said, a historical event. This event helped others stand up to the unjust
living conditions that they were living under and served as a reminder that the peasant
community could rise above their oppressors. Another reason that it was important was
that most of the history, especially in that time, was written by authorities parties and
was biased in some ways against people of the lower class. This was an accurate account
that we, as historians, can use to better put the events in that time period into
context. 
Bibliography
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