Quechua endures in Peru despite centuries of discrimination

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO
Associated Press

CCARHUACC LICAPA, Peru (AP) — Halting efforts to promote the Quechua language hit the spotlight last month when Peru’s new prime minister surprised the nation by delivering a speech in the Indigenous tongue to Congress for the first time in Peru’s history. Translation into Spanish was unavailable, angering politicians who couldn’t understand the speech. That fact that illustrated Quechua’s status as a second-class language in the South American country. But the incident also raised hopes among Quechua speakers that a new government led by a rural schoolteacher will give their language more visibility and increase funding for bilingual education.