Peru: Canceling the Oil Concession

Reform was the fiery charger that carried Architect Fernando Belaúnde Terry into the presidency of Peru last June, and now he cannot dismount. Belaúnde promised to redistribute land, conjured up visions of public housing to replace the slums of Lima, talked of a vast road system to open up the rich lowlands beyond the Andes. But the most emotional pledge of all—and one echoed by all his opponents—was a promise to do something drastic about International Petroleum Co., the Standard Oil of New Jersey affiliate that owns one of Peru's richest oilfields: the La Brea y Fariñas basin, 600 miles...