Peru's Movimiento Etnocacerista (aka Movimiento Nacionalista Peruano or "Peruvian Nationalist Movement") is a shadowy group of extreme ethnic nationalists. The name etnocacerista is composed of two parts: the first evokes Peru's ethnic identity (specifically, its origins with the Inca Native American people); the second indicates the group's veneration of 19th century president and war hero Andrés Avelino Cáceres, who led a guerrilla resistance campaign against occupying Chilean troops during the War of the Pacific.

The movement's leaders are two former army officers, the brothers Antauro Humala (major, retired) and Ollanta Humala (lieutenant colonel, retired; most recently a military attaché at the Peruvian embassy in South Korea). Most of its members are also current members of the military or reservists, veterans of Peru's struggles against domestic terrorism (SL-PCP, MRTA) and border disputes with Ecuador and Chile in the 1980s and 1990s.

In October 2000 the two led 50 followers in a brief and unsuccessful uprising against President Alberto Fujimori.

On 1 January 2005, demanding the resignation of President Alejandro Toledo, Antauro Humala led a detachment of anywhere between 70 and 300 of the movement's supporters in an assault on a police station in the remote town of Andahuaylas , Apurímac. Ten police officers were taken hostage, four others were shot and killed, and a standoff ensued. Humala eventually surrendered, and was taken to Lima on 4 January 2005.

The movement's aims include reclaiming Peru's Inca heritage and reasserting it within contemporary society; specifically, this entails replacing the current élite of Europeans, Asians, and Creoles with one composed of the currenty disenfranchised and marginalised indigenous masses. The etnocaceristas also firmly oppose foreign involvement in the economy, particularly from traditional rival Chile. They support the nationalisation of the country's industry (starting with the reversion of recent privatisations), the reintroduction of the death penalty, and the legalisation of coca cultivation. Antauro Humala has also claimed to be a follower of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's "Bolivarian" political philosophy.

External links

• L'un des frères Humala sera-t-il le Hugo Chavez du Pérou? (latinreporters.com; in French)
• Quiénes son los etnocaceristas (BBC; in Spanish)
• Ollanta Humala habla con la BBC (BBC; in Spanish