The APRA-led Trujillo uprising of 1932 was a major armed revolt against the Sánchez Cerro government, shaping Peruvian political memory for decades.
Key Facts
- Uprising start date
- July 7, 1932
- Suppression date
- July 10, 1932
- Last reprisals
- July 27, 1932
- Organising group
- American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA)
- Target location
- Ricardo O'Donovan Barracks, Trujillo
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Members of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) opposed the government of President Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro, whose administration they viewed as hostile to their movement. Political tensions and repression of APRA pushed the party toward armed resistance in 1932.
On July 7, 1932, APRA members led by Manuel 'Búfalo' Barreto Risco and Agustín Haya de la Torre seized the Ricardo O'Donovan Barracks in Trujillo. The revolt rapidly spread throughout the city before the Peruvian Armed Forces suppressed it by July 10, with final reprisals carried out on July 27.
The uprising and its violent suppression became a defining moment in APRA's political identity, referred to in Aprista historiography as part of the 'year of brutality' and the 'civil war of 1932–1933.' It deepened the antagonism between APRA and the Peruvian military for generations.