Peru: Gunboat Diplomacy

The Peruvian gunboat Loreto should not be the pride and joy of anyone's navy. Built in England in 1932, it makes a mere twelve knots at flank speed and looks like a cross between the Merrimac and an early Frank Lloyd Wright house. There are seven such gunboats in the Peruvian Navy, drawing cheers from the whole country. Their crews are physicians, dentists, technicians and nurses, and their mission is to build schools and provide medical care for 800,000 people, most of them primitive Indians living in the jungles along the Peruvian...

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