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Urban Squatter Settlements in Peru: A Case History and AnalysisAuthor(s): Henry DietzReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of Inter-American Studies, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Jul., 1969), pp. 353-370Published by: Center for Latin American Studies at the University of MiamiStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/165418 .

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Henry DietzPh.D. Candidate in Political ScienceStanford University

URBAN SQUATTERSETTLEMENTS IN PERU

A CASE HISTORY AND ANALYSIS*

One

of the most important developments in Latin America since the( end of World War II, has been the rapid growth of all major

cities, generally at a pace well beyond the rate of growth of therural areas as well as the countries as a whole. The expansion due tonormal growth (high birth rates coupled with declining death rates and in?creased longevity) is at times high. However, such growth has often beenaugumented sharply due to a seemingly irreversible flow of migrants fromthe rural areas. And among the many problems and difficulties raised bysuch migration, the very large squatter shantytowns are perhaps the mostobvious as well as the most misunderstood developments that have re?sulted. Both popular journalists and academic social scientists have com?mented at length and in lurid terms about the "belts of mushroomingmisery" and the "festering sores" which these squatter settlements sup?posedly comprise.In this paper I intend to examine the phenomenon of these settle?ments in Peru (more precisely in Lima), by employing a microcosmicpoint of view. I propose to relate the life history of a single, specific indi?vidual in a particular Lima barriada, to analyze his story, and then toexamine and to amplify its meanings for Peru, using secondary sourceswhen necessary and applicable.

* This study was originally carried out during the summer of 1967, and wasmade possible by a grant from the Center for International Studies at Indiana Uni?versity, whose assistance is gratefully acknowledged. I would also like to thank.Dr. Paul Doughty of Indiana University for aid received during that summer, andfor comments concerning a first draft of this paper.353

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354 Journal of Inter-American Studies

The Peruvian term barriada (or barrio marginal) refers specificallyto squatter housing settlements formed for the most part illegally on eitherpublic or private lands. These settlements are often initiated through ac?tual and physical invasion of such land; they are largely unplanned andunauthorized, and the land they occupy has rarely been improved aheadof settlement by facilities such as electricity, water, sewerage, etc. TheLima barriadas, developing primarily because of the migrant flow men?tioned earlier, surround the central core of the city and provide livingquarters for an almost exclusively migrant populace.1 In Lima, there areprobably more than 700,000 persons in the barriadas, and nearly 90 per?cent of all the heads of resident families were born outside of metropolitanLima-Callao.2

Such areas provide strong evidence of a lack of planning and pro?visions for low-cost urban housing, which can be partially ascribed to well-intentioned but shortsighted official legislation. A law passed by thePeruvian legislature in the late 1930's, for example, prohibited thefurther construction of the traditional callejones, which had provided(and still do provide) the cheapest housing in the downtown area of Lima.This sudden cessation of callejon construction, precisely on the eve of thegreat migrant waves that followed World War II, created extremely over?crowded conditions, both for the traditional lower classes who live per?manently in the heart of Lima, and also for the newly-arrived migrantswho can afford nothing above the absolute minimum in rent and hence inservices and creature comforts. The barriadas, therefore, have arisen fromthe lack of decent, low-cost housing within the city proper, and from thedesire and the determination of people to have, as John Turner's filmtitle states, "A Roof of Their Own." 3

The very size of the barriadas in Lima, due almost entirely to mi?gration of a rural/urban nature, is overt demonstration that massive socialchanges have been occurring in Peru since the end of World War II. Whenit is noted that approximately one million people have made their way fromoutside Lima to the metropolitan areas of that city, the resulting ramifi-

1 This statement refers to the adult population. As might be expected, theaverage age in the barriadas is very low (median less than 15 years), and oftenall the children in a family have been born within the city. Thus, while more thanhalf of the barriada populace can claim Lima as its birthplace, probably more than80 percent of the heads of families are migrant in origin.2 Jose Matos Mar, "Migration and Urbanization: The Barriadas of Lima"in Philip Hauser, ed., Urbanization in Latin America (New York: InternationalDocuments Service, 1961), p. 179.3 John Turner, a British city planner with a decade of work in Peru, produceda film of an actual barriada invasion with this title.

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Urban Squatter Settlements in Peru 355

cations are extremely significant for the nation of Peru and its social,economic, and political fabric.One cannot disagree with those who say that this phenomenon ofrapid urbanization presents any country with manifest difficulties, nor canit be disputed that the squatter settlements of cities such as Lima have in?deed created problems, often of a serious nature. However, it can beargued that there is an obverse side of the coin, that areas such asbarriadas are not properly defined as "slums," and that to view all suchsettlements as "festering rings of misery" may become misleading andself-defeating.Rather, the barriadas of Lima, especially the largest and more recent,are not slums, if by that word social and physical disintegration are tacitlyassumed. Further, in many cities and in many areas, squatter settlementsprovide a better solution to low-cost housing than the government or theprivate sector could supply. And third, regardless of what some observ?ers may consider to be extreme poverty and sub-human conditions, thevery great majority of the squatter inhabitants view their position in thecity as one which offers hopes and alternatives, and as therefore preferableto their previous situation in more rural areas. It would be misleading toclaim that the barriadas have not created problems; but, given the condi?tions in the cities and in the rural areas of Peru, and given the lack ofpersonnel, of capital, and oftentimes of control over the social situation,the squatter settlements frequently offer a viable and satisfactory answerto an extremely difficult and complex problem.4It is my intention to develop these and other points later in this re?port. I want, first, to present the background and story of a single man andhis family who live in one of the newer barriadas a few miles outsideLima. These individuals are not in any sense composite or imaginarycharacters. Segundo and his family today live in the area described, andthe story of their experiences as they told it to me has been corroboratedby their neighbors as well as by government officials who became involved.Segundo related his story to me under very informal circumstances, oftenduring work breaks when I was helping him with the brick-making ma?chine. He had no hesitancy in telling me about his past and about his life

4 The Social Progress Trust Fund Report of the Inter-American DevelopmentBank is an example of a narrow viewpoint. The 1961 Report states that only 11percent of all dwellings in Peru could be considered as meeting "minimal stan?dards," while 89 percent were either "badly substandard" or in need of "rehabilita?tion." This evaluation, based on some undefined scale, gives little recognition tothe possibilities for improvement through self-help; furthermore, it assumes thatany housing within a squatter settlement is by definition substandard and thereforeInadequate.

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and hopes; his wife was considerably shyer and said little except to agree.Segundo today appears younger than his age and experiences of the pastfew years might imply; he is friendly and open, although he speaks witha noticeable stammer. I retell his story as objectively as possible; any re?marks about his feelings and thoughts included here were openly ex?pressed, and have not been inferred by me.

Rural-Urban Migration: A Case StudySegundo Micha was born in the department of Cajamarca, in the

town of Celendin, in 1945. Celendin was at that time, and still is, a smallsierra village, despite the fact that it is a district capital. Segundo was thesecond son of the family; his older brother had been born five yearsearlier. His father deserted the family when Segundo was four monthsold, and went off to start another household. Segundo grew up in a rural,largely agricultural environment; his mother took care of the family asbest she could, primarily by doing laundry and by serving as a domesticat sporadic intervals.

When Segundo was thirteen years old, his older brother left Celen?din to complete his military duty on the coast, and then remained in Limaupon its termination. He found a two-room flat in a quinta in an area ofLima known as Magdalena Nueva, a lower-income, older district of thecity. Three years later, when Segundo was fifteen and bored with sierralife, his brother sent him money for land passage by truck from Celendinto the coast and to Lima, and Segundo came to the capital for the firsttime. He promised to send for his mother when there was enough money,and when there was room for her to live somewhere in Lima. Segundostayed with his brother in Magdalena Nueva for about five years, but hewas not happy with the cramped quarters of the quinta or with the rentthat he had to help pay. The two rooms were back to back off a long alley?way, and the lighting and the ventilation were very poor. The drains wereclogged most of the time, and the whole building was very noisy, crowded,and dilapidated. Segundo dropped out of school in order to take a job witha construction crew, but even though he earned a steady wage, the renttook a large part of his income, and he was not willing to spend money toimprove his quarters since they did not belong to him. His brother likewisewas dissatisfied with their situation, which became even more difficultduring the fifth year: on a vacation trip back to Celendin, Segundo marrieda girl whom he had known, and both his wife and his mother came to livein the flat with him and his brother.

During this same year, Segundo learned through a friend of his (whoalso worked on the same construction crew) that a group of families was

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secretly forming to invade a government housing project called Ciudaddel Rio. This low-cost housing development lies alongside the large, well-established barriada of San Martin de Porres. At the time that Segundo'sgroup took shape over a period of some months, the Ciudad del Rio proj?ect was almost completed and ready for occupancy. All the houses hadbeen bought through the Junta Nacional de la Vivienda (the JNV, orNational Housing Board) by families that had made down payments. Itwas the plan of the invading group to occupy the empty houses in the hopethat they might be allowed to stay or at least receive some aid from theJunta. The group planned that two hundred families would participate inthe invasion, but when the actual move came only one hundred and twentybecame involved.

The hope that they would be allowed to stay in the houses in Ciudaddel Rio did not materialize; the Junta, with the help of the Civil Guard,forced the invaders to move out after five days of occupancy, and aftermany arguments, pleas, and threats by both sides. The JNV offered atlength to make land available on the periphery of another new settlementcalled Pampa de Arena south of the city, where a group of four or fivehundred families had been relocated after a fire. The Junta promised tolay out lots and to give the people a chance to gain provisional title to theland in the future, and some forty families of the invasion group, includ?ing Segundo, agreed; the others decided either to return to their formerlocations or to look for other possibilities. Then two days before Segundo'sgroup was due to be transferred to the newly created lots in Pampa deArena, these lots were themselves invaded by over fifty families, some ofwhom were members of the original Ciudad del Rio invasion group. Thefinal outcome, after extended discussion, was for all families to be allowedto occupy temporary lots in Pampa de Arena until the JNV could surveythe area thoroughly, and Segundo actually arrived in Pampa de Arena, ina section called El Mariscal, on June 5,1966.

His first move was to purchase five pieces of estera (woven strawmatting) and some two-by-two inch stakes, and with these to constructhis house on the back edge of the eight-by-twenty meter lot provisionallyassigned to him. He moved in with his mother and his wife, who was bythis time pregnant. He quit his job with the construction crew for a fewmonths and agreed to work with a North American professor who was in?volved in Pampa de Arena under the auspices of a United States com?munity development organization.

Segundo learned how to operate a vibrating machine for makingbricks, which his employer helped to buy for the community. It washoped that the machine would be able to manufacture bricks for a lower

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price than commercial firms, and thus allow the inhabitants of Pampa deArena to build their houses at minimal cost. Segundo received less paythan he had for his construction work, but the new job was close to hishome and involved no transportation costs or delays. As the work con?tinued, however, he found that he simply could not make financial endsmeet. Furthermore, he hurt his back and was unable to work for over twoweeks. Since he was employed by a private individual, he could not re?ceive social security benefits or medical care at the Hospital Obrero(Worker's Hospital). For these reasons, when he recovered he rejoinedthe construction crew and received, along with social security, about 90soles a day, which was a third more than he had received operating thebrick machine.5 The construction job has its own difficulties, however; hehas to leave home each morning about 5:00 or 5:30 in order to arrive inCallao in time for work?about an hour away by bus. He does not arrivehome until late in the evening, and has little time for work on his houseexcept on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.Work on his house has progressed, however; late in 1967 the Juntaawarded him a provisional title to a specific lot, but a different one fromwhere he had constructed his house. Segundo, therefore, had to dismantlehis house and re-erect it on the lot the JNV granted him. His land title wasnot free; he had to pay 650 soles (about 5 soles a square meter) for thetitle, but the knowledge and security of having his own land made theextra trouble and expense worthwhile. Furthermore, his house today hasanother room, also of estera matting, and he has built a waist-high stonewall around his lot. His mother does most of the cooking outside on apressure kerosene stove. There are no utilities, but El Mariscal has sup?plied itself with water through community effort by tapping off a Juntawatermain and installing six standpipes at various locations throughoutthe settlement. Tank trucks are supposed to circulate through the area tofill each house's 5 5-gallon waterdrum, but private entrepreneurs haveaugmented this service by selling water from their own trucks when theJunta supply is insufficient. There are no sewerage facilities of any kind,although they have been promised by the JNV since the first days of oc?cupancy, nor is there any electricity. However, Segundo owns (as do mostof his neighbors) a small transistor radio that is in constant use through?out the day.

Segundo is a charter member of a small housing cooperative whichwas started by an assistant of Segundo's former employer; there are pres-5 At the time of field work (June, 1967), the Peruvian sol was worth 26.82 toUS $1.00. The sol has since undergone further devaluation.

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ently about twenty-five members, and each contributes three hundredsoles monthly to remain a member. Segundo hopes that more people willbe persuaded to join the co-op; at any rate, he plans to start constructionof his permanent house when he has accumulated sufficient capital for aloan. He plans to use brick and mortar, and to build a house with fourrooms, with a roof strong enough to support an eventual second story.Although there is a local association of families of El Mariscal, Segundofeels that he has little time for either neighborhood or national politics. Ifanything, the JNV is his major connection to the national government,and he wants the Junta to follow up on some of its promises to supplywater, schools, and other facilities.

Despite the physical hardships and time-consuming aspects of hisjob, Segundo is basically content with his situation in El Mariscal. Thewhole area has grown since the middle of 1966 from five hundred familiesto over three thousand, most of whom invaded the land without the ap?proval of the Junta. His wife dislikes the dust (the whole area is built onan enormous sand dune, and it never rains) and the lack of water in thehouse, but they both feel that they are better off in El Mariscal than theywere either in the quinta or in Celendin. Segundo has no thoughts or desireto return to his home town, except possibly for a vacation or for a specialfiesta celebration. He thinks that life is more tranquil and quiet than it waspreviously in Magdalena Nueva; he knows most of his neighbors, and acousin of his from Cajamarca named Guillermo Villar lives two housesaway. Guillermo has a job during the evenings at an expensive restaurantnear their old home in Magdalena Nueva and is able to continue hisschooling during the mornings. He also helps with the brick machine fromtime to time, which is now managing to produce bricks at a slightly lowercost than the usual market prices.

Segundo definitely feels that by coming to Lima he has had a chanceto improve his life, and that he has taken advantage of that opportunity.He wants very much for his son to have as much education as possible,and is concerned with the fact that there is only one school (elementary)for all of Pampa de Arena, and that it is extremely overcrowded andunderstaffed. Segundo's main concerns are obtaining a modicum of se?curity for himself and his family, and finishing the house. His wife spendsher time with the baby; his mother, who does the marketing and cooking,still wears the traditional sierra dress?a long full skirt and a straw hat,with her hair done in two long braids. Segundo and his wife both wearmodern dress, although their clothes are somewhat old and generallypatched. Segundo is presently twenty-four; his wife is two years younger,and their son is about two years old.

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The story of Segundo's coming to Lima and his eventual settlementin a barriada is basically typical of hundreds of thousands of migrants inthe Lima-Callao area. Some particular details of his experience?espe?cially the abortive invasion of the Ciudad del Rio housing project?cannot be viewed as usual occurrences. But the general pattern of hismovements holds true for the majority of barriada inhabitants. I wouldlike to analyze such patterns, and then discuss some of the social andpolitical implications of people such as Segundo and his family.6In the first place, the overwhelming majority of heads of familieswithin the barriadas are migrants. They may come from either small coast?al towns or from the sierra, and they may or may not have lived in anurban environment before their arrival in Lima. Various studies and sur?veys7 show that the character of Lima's population has changed dramat?ically during the past thirty years, both in composition and in size. Insofaras composition is concerned, perhaps the easiest and most effective man?ner of demonstrating such a change lies in noting the native-born/migrantratio for the city. In 1936, some 65 percent of Lima's inhabitants werenative-born, and 33 percent had originated in the provinces. By 1965,more than 62 percent of Lima had come from the provinces, and only 35percent had been born in the city.8

Segundo, of course, is a member of this migrant populace, and ofparticular concern are his movements from a rural village to a downtownquinta and thence to a barriada some years later. Observers have noted9that most barriada inhabitants pass a considerable amount of time in thecentral districts of the city before they move on to an outlying settlement.There are various reasons for this pattern; in the first place, the most read?ily available jobs (and the most menial and unskilled) exist in the centerof Lima, especially around La Parada, the sprawling downtown wholesalemarket. Moreover, living in such a locale allows a migrant to become ac-

6 It could be argued that since Segundo now lives in an area planned by theJunta, he is not a barriada resident. Yet more than half of Pampa de Arena isinhabited by families who arrived through invasion, and the area is referred to inthe offices of the Junta as a barriada.7 See, inter alia, William Mangin, "Latin American Squatter Settlements: AProblem and a Solution" in Latin American Research Review, II, No. 3, (Summer,1967); Joseph Stycos and Cara R. Dobyns, "Fuentes de la migration en la granLima" in Henry Dobyns and Mario Vazquez, eds., Migracion e integracion en elPeru (Lima: Editorial Estudios Andinos, 1963); Ernesto Paredes, "Fuentes de lapoblacion de la barriada Fray Martin de Porras" in ibid.8 Stycos and Dobyns, ibid., p. 38.9 See Mangin, ibid., and also Mangin, "Urbanization Case History in Peru"in Architectural Design (August, 1963).

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culturated to an urban way of life.10 Such acculturation may include manynecessary and profound steps if the individual is to succeed and survivein the city: he may have to learn what it means to live within a moneyeconomy when his previous experiences have been largely with subsistenceagriculture. He may have to learn, or at least to improve, his Spanish,change his dress, and become accustomed to what is likely to be an entire?ly new way of working, living, and thinking.

Segundo's five years in Magdalena Nueva allowed him to undergothis process of acculturation and socialization. In his particular case, itpermitted him to find steady employment and to become accustomed toand acquainted with the city. Much more important in the long run, how?ever, was the gradual conclusion on his part that life in the quinta failed toprovide him with what he wanted. From this point, he came to the furtherrealization that he had the possibility of alternative courses of action, andthat these alternatives depended upon himself. That is, no one (govern?ment, family, friends) who in Celendin might have aided him could orwould help him improve his position, and although changes and pre?sumably improvements were possible in Lima, the outcome and decisionsrested with himself.

This realization constitutes the major differences between Segundo'sexistence in Celendin and his life in Lima. Even though the simple andharsh life in the sierra offers, in a sense, a type of security, it is a securitybased on the absence of choice. To live in the sierra on the level of a sub?sistence farmer demands certain existence patterns which are so firmlyset by tradition and necessity that fundamental and widespread changehas simply not been able to occur as yet. On the other hand, the city isheterogeneous and composed of many groups with diverse backgroundsand interests. Such diversity creates opportunities for freedom of personalbehavior which do not and cannot exist in a rural context. Although thisfreedom and diversity constitute the main "pull" or attractive force of thecity, they impose concomitant responsibilities on an individual to decidefor himself just how he will behave and indeed survive. Fewer standardsof conformity exist in the city, and for persons unused to making choicesand untrained in independent action such a freedom may be demoralizingand confusing to an extreme.Peruvian rural life does not permit as yet this basic freedom and itsaccompanying responsibilities. Therefore, the only feasible possibility forchange in the sierra lies in the choice made by Segundo: to leave, and tostart again elsewhere, in an environment where alternatives do exist?

10 See the case studies by Richard Patch in the American University FieldStaff Reports, West Coast of South America vol. XIV (1967) nos. 1, 2, and 3.

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namely, the city. Whether or not Segundo would have left Celendin of hisown accord is not the point; that he did leave and did not return but in?stead created a new life for himself and his family remains the significantfact.

Segundo's present surroundings are in most respects the same as inany invasion-formed barriada.11 The fact that the Junta is responsible fororiginating Pampa de Arena and for having placed Segundo where he ismakes little real difference; in actuality, his position and possibilities aremuch the same as those of his neighbors who have actually invaded theland. If Segundo stays in good health and keeps his job, his future can besketched with reasonable accuracy.His house, as noted, is today constructed of estera matting, and hastwo rooms, with a cooking alcove attached to one side. The house sits onthe back edge of the lot, and Segundo has already built a stone wall todemarcate his land. When he has the money, his first step will be to builda brick wall about seven feet high to replace the stone. This wall will pro?vide him with privacy and will at the same time become the walls of thehouse. He may build about four rooms on the front of the lot, and cast areinforced concrete roof, strong enough for a second floor. He can then re?move the estera hut and use the land for a small corral for livestock(chickens, pigs, etc.). Since he knows something of construction methods,,he may be able to do much of the work himself; however, he will requirehelp from friends, relatives, or neighbors to place the roof. He may pos?sibly contract to have most of the work done, and be content to help outand to make sure that the house is built as he wishes. The whole processmay take anywhere from five to ten years, or even more.12As for Pampa de Arena, it is considerably more difficult to predictwhat may happen. The chances for further invasions and expansions arevery high; however, to guess at an ultimate population total would be im?possible. There is little reason to doubt (since the JNV is assigning pro?visional lot titles) that permanent house construction will proceed rapidlyand widely once people have a feeling that they actually do own the landon which they live. Eventually, the often-promised basic services (water,sewerage, electricity, and other facilities) will be installed as well. All thiscan be forecast with some assurance since Pampa de Arena has been apart of a legal district of Lima since the local elections of 1966, thus re?moving a major hurdle in the way of official help.

11 See note 6. Pampa de Arena had, by the end of 1967, some eight zones, sixof which had been formed by invasion. These six account for roughly 80 percentof Pampa de Arena's population of 20,000.12 See John Turner, Architectural Design (August, 1963), p. 377.

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The present political situation is chaotic. Each of Pampa de Arena'seight districts or zones (such as El Mariscal, where Segundo lives) has alocal association, and often more than one dissenting splinter groupformed around a policy issue or around political party divisions. As aresult, a great deal of energy and time vanishes because of intra-barriadasquabbling and bickering. Just how such a situation might be resolvedremains to be seen; perhaps the area can at some point elect a localmayor, or at least unite the various associations in meaningful and co?ordinated efforts.

Some of Segundo's opinions and self-perceptions now merit discus?sion and comment. First, his intentions to remain in Pampa de Arena andin Lima are of primary importance. The barriadas of all Peruvian cities?and squatter settlements generally throughout Latin America?must beunderstood to be permanent settlements built by people who, althoughmigrants, have no intention of returning to their place of birth. In thePeruvian case, a lot and a house in a barriada represent the end point ofmigration, and a distinct step upwards for the inhabitant insofar as physi?cal environment and personal pride and satisfaction are concerned. Se?gundo's opinion of the quinta in Magdalena Nueva is considerably lowerthan his view of Pampa de Arena; he has little doubt that any disadvan?tages he now faces are outweighed by his opportunities. He is planninghis future very carefully; he wants to build a well-constructed house, andhe is willing to wait as long as necessary to accumulate the money heneeds. A latent pride of ownership is, in effect, manifested by this willing?ness to wait. In turn, such a willingness is based on the belief that, in thelong run, the end result will be worth waiting for, and that any accompany?ing delays or difficulties will simply have to be overcome as they arise.

Perhaps the need for a clear distinction between the terms "slum"and "barriada" can be made here. "Slum" in general usage connotes socialand physical decay; such an image, however, may be inaccurate. If theterm "slum" is loosely applied to any area of burgeoning urban growth,it is inadequate and may be misleading. Poor-quality and temporarydwellings should not be thought of as automatically hopeless and dete?riorating, nor should such dwellings be labeled a "slum" until the observerhas done considerable research and careful analysis. What at first glanceappear to be areas of permanent blight and decay may be, in fact, whatCharles Stokes13 refers to as "upward-escalating hopeful" areas.Stokes' typology of slums makes the point very clearly: there areslum areas of self-improvement and betterment as well as of deterioration.

13 Charles Stokes, "A Theory of Slums" in Land Economics (August, 1962).

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His example of a squatter settlement on the tidal flats of Guayaquil, Ecua?dor, provides an illustration of a most important and subtle character?istic, i.e., the tendency and ability toward self-improvement and evenself-elimination through individual and community initiative if (as Stokesemphasizes) the community as a whole has the time and patience to wait.The Guayaquil settlement will probably "clean itself up", and may eventu?ally arrive at the point where it will simply be a lower class residentialdistrict of the city. The English word "slum" has no connotation of suchself-improvement. To equate the Peruvian word barriada with slum istherefore to do more than to mistranslate; it is to commit a serious error,and to express what may be a rigid and narrow point of view.In a barriada settlement, a strong pride of ownership, coupled withthe prospect of permanence, produce an environment favorable to com?munity as well as individual betterment. The physical improvement of thedwellings in a barriada provides the most obvious manifestation of theinhabitants' attitudes and goals. Given sufficient time and opportunity, anarea such as Pampa de Arena may well become a valuable addition toLima. A settlement known as San Martin de Porres, begun by invasion in1952, today has approximately 75,000 inhabitants; the main street is apaved, divided highway, flanked by three-story buildings, banks, cinemas,etc. A large number of houses are plastered and painted and have waterand sewerage and electricity. San Martin is not an isolated instance; evenlarger areas have started since its founding and show every sign of follow?ing its patterns of development. If, then, rural/urban migration trendsare accepted as largely inevitable and as irreversible (at least in the fore?seeable future), then the barriadas indeed provide what is undoubtedlythe most practical and satisfactory solution available for the problems oflow-cost urban housing. There are, of course, migrants to Lima who arenot able to adjust to the city, and who fall by the wayside and simply dis?appear into the lower social and economic strata of the city.14 Others showno desire to move away from the center of the city, and may remainthere.15 But some hundreds of thousands have managed, one way or an?other, to realize that alternatives are available to those willing to takeadvantage of them. Segundo is simply one of these; if his plans for thefuture go as he hopes, his transculturation from the sierra to the city willbe completed.16

Segundo's basic concerns are for his family, his job, and his house,14 See Richard Patch, "La Parada, Lima's Market: Part I?A Villager WhoMet Disaster" in AUFS, op. cit.15 See Patch, "La Parada, Lima's Market: Part III?Serrano to Criollo, AStudy of Assimilation" in AUFS, op. cit.16 See Caroline MartuseellL "Some Characteristics of Personality Related to

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and his entire existence revolves around these three. As mentioned, thereis an organization of "The Fathers of El Mariscal," which comes as closeas any group to being a local ruling association within the area.17 However,Segundo is vague as to its specific purposes and organization; he feels thatthe Junta is a far more important and relevant organization for him. Inso?far as national politics are concerned, he shows little enthusiasm and lessknowledge. He knows that the mayor of the whole district in which Pampade Arena is located (called Pampas de San Juan) is a member of theopposition party; however, he did not vote in the local election of 1966 ashe had not obtained the necessary papers. He feels that his vote or partici?pation really matter very little, and that he has little time to worry aboutpolitics generally. Such attitudes are the rule;18 barriada inhabitants,especially recent arrivals, are far too busy trying to keep their lives goingto devote much time or interest to party politics. For those who did par?ticipate in the 1962 and 1963 presidential elections, the majority of thebarriada vote went to the conservative ex-president Odria.19 It might beexpected that such lower-class people would be attracted by radicalspokesmen. However, during his administration, Odria gave work to manybarriada men as laborers on public works' construction crews. He alsomaintained low prices and a low cost of living. Such achievements, wheth?er democratically engineered or not, constitute no mean feat in Peru, andare remembered by the lower classes.

From this analysis, it should not be concluded that the barriadas con?sist of conservative and fully contented people. Segundo's expectationsfor himself are one thing, but they are quite another for his children. Hecame to Lima with basically low aspirations, which for the most part havebeen fulfilled, or will be in the future: a chance for alternatives, for choicesin his life, and the chance to learn a trade and to own his own house. Buthis aspirations and hopes for his son, although not clearly formulated orverbalized, are probably much higher. It is very common for a father toexpress the hope that his son become a doctor or a lawyer or an engineeror some sort of middle-class professional. But such desires are wildly un-Upward Social Mobility in an Unstable Environment," United Nations E/CN.12/URB/8, for a discussion of squatters in Rio de Janeiro. Martuscelli's findings pro?vide a good description of personality traits of individuals such as Segundo; theprimary characteristics are (1) the ability to function with relatively little supportfrom the environment; (2) a strong capacity for initiation and organization; and(3) the ability to overcome successfully social and other environmental hurdles.17 Since the 1966 elections, when Pampa de Arena was able to participate inelecting a mayor for the whole district of Pampas de San Juan, this association hasno longer enjoyed the power and prestige it once had.18 See Mangin, Latin American Research Review, op. cit.** Francois Bourricaud, "Lima en la vida politica peruana," in America Latina(October-December, 1964).

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realistic, considering the present educational and social conditions whichexist in Peru. If, therefore, a generation is being born in the barriadaswhich is raised on high aspirations and expectations, but which at thesame time has a low actual achievement potential, then radicals or agita?tors may indeed find discontented and receptive audiences.20 As Ger-mani has pointed out,21 status incongruency or inconsistency is gen?erated by a wide disparity between aspirations and opportunities. Unlessthere are special structural arrangements prepared to absorb newly mobilegroups, very serious difficulties may arise for the stability of the socialsystem.This last observation leads to a manner through which the barriadas'function in the urbanization process can be conceptualized. It is arguedhere that the barriadas do in fact supply precisely the "structural arrange?ments" necessary to absorb the first generation of migrants. These ar?rangements, furthermore, can be most clearly expressed and understoodby reference to Merton's concept of manifest/latent functions. Merton'sdistinction between these two provides a particularly valuable mechanismfor dealing with the barriadas, since it attempts to replace naive moraljudgments with a stricter sociological analysis. Moral evaluations of asociety, especially by outsiders, are generally couched in terms of themanifest or obvious consequences of a practice or an institution. Further?more, these judgments, based as they are on evaluations of the obviousfunctions or appearances of a structure, tend to be unrealistic, that is,"... they do not take into account other actual consequences of that struc?ture . . . which may provide basic support for the [society]." 22 It is not,therefore, surprising that analysis of the latent functions of a structureoften conflicts with accepted views.Two sociological variables must be considered for the proper evalua?tion of a social structure. First, the structural context may make it im?possible to implement acceptable structures to fulfill vital social functionsor needs, and thereby allow outside or unapproved structures to fill the"social vacuum." Secondly, any societal subgroup may have particularor unique needs which are not met by society except through the latentfunctions which the unapproved structure does indeed provide and fulfill.23

20 See Mangin, Architectural Design, op. cit, p. 370; see also Caretas (Lima),August, 1967.21 Gino Germani, "Social and Political Consequences of Mobility," in N. J,Smelser and S. M. Lipset, eds., Social Structure and Mobility in Economic Develop?ment (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 1966), pp. 364-94.22 Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, revised ed., (NewYork: Free Press, 1957), p. 72.23 Ibid., p. 72.

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It is asserted here that the barriadas of Lima have as a basic manifestfunction the supplying of low-cost housing for large numbers of ruralmigrants. Since the great majority of wage earners in these areas havevery low incomes, and since outside state aid has been nonexistent orminimal, it is only natural that such settlements will appear (especially inthe initial stages) as areas of the most abject poverty. However, as previ?ously emphasized, the likelihood of improvement, particularly from with?in the settlements themselves, must be taken into account. Moreover, sinceboth the public and private sectors of Peru have provided almost nothinginsofar as low-cost housing goes, the migrants have been forced to providetheir own solution. Indeed, the basic demands of the migrant subgroupare met through the structure of the barriadas?the desire for an owned(not rented) home and lot, and the chance to live outside the crowdeddowntown slums.

Aside from these "physical" functions of a barriada, important so?cial and cultural functions are likewise fulfilled. In the first place, suchsettlements contain viable and generally coherent democratic social com?munity structures. In fact, up until 1964, the local barriada associationswere the only democratically elected ruling groups in the country, sinceall local officials had been appointed previously by the central govern?ment in Lima. Further, the barriada provides a consolidation point forthe recently mobilized individual, and allows him to fix his position andto become a more permanent part of the urban environment. Still anotherfunction already mentioned briefly lies in the successful and rapid assim?ilation and acculturation of very large numbers of people at relatively lowcost to the city. The improving "suburban" barriadas (such as Pampa deArena) contain over half a million people, with (at a rough estimate) agood deal more than half of them housed in permanent, solidly-builtstructures. Any public or private efforts to supply housing of equal qualityfor such numbers of people would have been, and still is, totally out ofthe question.One other point merits attention here, and it is of particular rele?vance from a policy point of view. An existing social structure cannot bereplaced or destroyed unless the functions of the eliminated structureeither lose relevance or are adequately replaced. For instance, Law#13517, passed by the Peruvian legislature in 1961, stated that anybarriada formed through invasion and without permission after Septem?ber of 1960 would not be eligible for government aid or recognition.24

24 For a detailed description and analysis of this law, see Kenneth Manaster,"The Problem of Urban Squatters in Developing Countries: Peru" in Wisconsin LawReview, vol. 23 (1968), no. 1, 23-61.

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This decree naively hoped that such a threat would prevent further inva?sions. However, no efforts were forthcoming to provide a suitable alter?native for the barriadas, and quite naturally invasions have continuedup to the present time. Such attempts as were made to provide housingwere noticeably unsuccessful; a satellite city projected for 100,000 peoplestopped at a tenth of that total, and a very large highrise project originallyplanned for lower-middle to middle income families went completely outof control and reached luxury price levels.

Thus, it becomes apparent that a policymaker or planner involved inthe problems of rapid urbanization must view areas such as barriadas witha realistic perspective. He must try to evaluate them in terms of the func?tions they perform, and he must become appreciative of the society asa whole, with its manifest problems, limitations, and possibilities. Inshort, the latent functions performed by these squatter settlements are ofconsiderable magnitude and complexity, and any attempts to replace,control, or even supplement them must be carried out with considerablesophistication.With this understanding of the functions and purposes of the bar?riada settlements, some final remarks may help to identify some of theconsequences of the urbanization process and the changes implied withinit. Karl Deutsch's concept of social mobilization involves the abandon?ment of old social, economic, and psychological patterns of life, and theacceptance (through several sub-processes) of new ways of living.25 Thequantifiably measurable characteristics of this process 26 of mobilizationcan be used to compare nations, as Deutsch originally intended. However,the concept can be equally useful for viewing barriada inhabitants as boththe reason and the result of this mobilization, since through their movesfrom the provinces to Lima, they comprise the population which hasundergone and is responsible for changes in the indicators mentioned(see note 26).

Moreover, the barriadas are primarily manifestations of the secondstate of the mobilization process. That is, their existence is evidence thatthe migrants have indeed become inducted into "relatively stable (and)new patterns of group membership, organization, and commitment," 27

25 Karl Deutsch, "Social Mobilization and Political Development" in AmericanPolitical Science Review, LV, no. 3 (September, 1961), 493 ff.26 Ibid., pp. 494-97. More specifically, the indicators which Deutsch employsinclude: percentage of population exposed to modern life; percentage of populationexposed to mass media; percentage of population living in an urban environment;percentage of population in nonagricultural occupations vs. percentage gainfullyemployed; percentage of population literate; and growth of per capita income peryear. 2? Ibid., p. 494.

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and that both stages of the process are, for the great majority of the in?habitants, complete. In this sense, the barriadas can be viewed as thetermination of the mobilization process, and as areas of social consolida?tion for the first generation of migrants. This phrase is chosen for a num?ber of reasons. First, it connotes the idea that a barriada is almost alwaysa finishing point for a migrant as well as the place where he intends to livepermanently. Secondly, since permanence is implicit in residence in abarriada, it provides an opportunity for an individual to consolidate hisoften marginal position vis-a-vis the urban environment. The word "mar?ginal" is used here purposely, since the barriada inhabitant occupies asituation classifiable as marginal in almost all respects?physically, po?litically, culturally, economically, and socially.28 Deutsch employs theword "marginal" in an appropriate manner when he notes that socialmobilization is very apt to be a causal factor in political change, especiallyin leadership and elite composition. Specifically, he notes:

. . . political leadership may tend to shift to the new politicalelite of party or quasi-party organization, formal or informal,legal or illegal, but always led by the new "marginal men" whohave been exposed more or less thoroughly to the impact ofmodern education and urban life." 29These remarks apply particularly well to the already-mentionedbarriada associations that exist in every settlement. The leaders of theseassociations have a dual responsibility. First, they serve as the governmentof a newly-formed barriada and adjudicate such issues as lot disputes and

assignments. However, their more important task lies in soliciting andobtaining aid for the settlement from the JNV, especially in the form ofwater, sewerage, schools and teachers, police protection, etc. Officialrecognition therefore becomes absolutely necessary, and the local asso?ciation leaders must be acquainted with the frustrating and often deviousworkings of the Peruvian bureaucracy in order to obtain this recognition.It should be noted that the effectiveness of and the need for the associa?tion varies inversely with the settlement's age. That is, as the barriadabecomes older, more stable, and as recognition is granted, the associa?tion loses its raison d'etre and tends to atrophy. Such decay may be es?pecially apparent if, as mentioned, the barriada becomes a part of a muni?cipal district of Lima thereby acquiring legal status.30

28 Anibal Quijano Obregon, "Notes sobre el concepto de marginalidad social,"CEPAL (Santiago, 1966), mimeo.29 Deutsch, op. cit., p. 499.so See Daniel Goldrich, R. B. Pratt, and C. R. Schuller, "The Political Integra?tion of Lower-Class Urban Settlements in Chile and Peru," delivered at the AmericanPolitical Science Association Meeting, New York, 1966.

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Regardless of the viability of the association in its later stages, ithas served its purpose. As Deutsch notes, even where political electionsare held, "a network of . . . marginally political organizations (may)serve an important political function by providing a dependable socialsetting for the individuals who have been partly or wholly uprooted oralienated from their traditional communities." 31 Both the local associa?tion and the barriada itself may be conceived of as fulfilling these func?tions: the local association provides the more obvious political framework,and the barriada as a whole becomes an integrating and integrated socialenvironment.In conclusion, I wish to set forth five propositions which I feelsummarize the principal arguments I have presented. As I noted pre?viously, these propositions do not rest alone on Segundo as an individual,yet they are based on his experiences, which are paralleled by those ofgreat numbers of people like him.

1. The barriadas of Peru are manifestations of social mobilization,and are areas of consolidation, thereby corresponding to the secondstage of the mobilization process.2. Their inhabitants manifest particular personality character?istics which are in part responsible for successful acculturation in anurban environment.3. The squatter settlements serve important functions both for theinhabitants and for the city itself.4. Given the social and structural context of Peru, the barriadaspresent the most viable and practical solution available for verylow-cost urban housing.5. The potential gap between aspirations and achievement in thenew generation may demand a wide increase in the adaptive functionof the Peruvian political and social systems.The central idea behind this case study, however, is to offer a non-

ethnocentric view of a social phenomenon that is most often seen as aninsoluble problem. It cannot be denied that problems do exist within thebarriadas: lack of basic facilities and medical care, disease, severe socialdeprivation, and so on. Yet it is a basic thesis of this analysis that one ofthe greatest difficulties facing the barriada inhabitants is misunderstand?ing and ignorance. A realistic viewpoint is absolutely essential for thebarriadas, for the cities, and for the social and political development ofPeru.

31 Deutsch, op. cit., pp. 499-500.