While social and economic reasons were probably the most important ones for the migration phenomenon into Lima, motives related with the family context in which the migrants lived in are also considered relevant. This is shown in Degregori, Blondet and Lynch’s (1986) study of a neighborhood called Cruz de Mayo in San Martín de Porres, a district considered a barriada in the city of Lima and founded mostly by Andean migrants in the decade of 1960. The authors explained that when the migrants of their study were asked for the reasons of their migration, several of them mentioned complications with their family context. This is the case of some of them who had lost one or both of their parents at a very young age. In other instances, migrants suffered from domestic violence by their family members, or, in the case of some women, they were trying to escape unwanted marriages.

Currently, the family context is still an important factor in the migration process. It is not uncommon that migrants who arrived at the city after 1990 explain that the reasons for them leaving their original cities are related with a change in their family situation, such as the loss of one of the parents and the establishment of a new family for the living parent, or domestic abuse at the hands of their partners in the case of women.

On May 17th, 1980, a terrorist group called Shining Path (acronym in Spanish: SL), formed in Ayacucho and led by Abimael Guzmán, declared war on the state by burning general elections’ ballot boxes in the Chuschi district, located in Cangallo, in the department of Ayacucho. This act was the beginning of a series of attacks committed by SL against the government and Peruvian people. Two years later, in 1982, another terrorist group called Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru (acronym in Spanish: MRTA) started a series of attacks in the country as well. This time of violence in the country is known as the internal armed conflict, in which the Peruvian government and terrorist groups carried out a series of attacks against Peruvian people.

According to the Final Report of Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación (Truth and Reconciliation Commission; acronym in Spanish: CVR), the Peruvian armed conflict killed around 69,280 people. While more than half of this number was the result of SL’s and MRTA’s violence, the Peruvian state’s agents were responsible for more than 37% of the conflict’s victims. The violence was concentrated in Andean departments of the country: Ayacucho, Junín, Huánuco, Huancavelica, and others. For example, just in Ayacucho, the number of murders and disappearances are calculated at 26,259 by the CVR. The violence suffered mostly by indigenous people who lived in rural areas of Andean departments was another important reason for them leaving their place of origin and migrating to other parts of the country, such as Lima.

Currently, 25 years after the end of the internal arm conflict, migrants who arrived at the capital city during the time of violence still reference terrorism as one of the reasons why they left their place of birth in the Andes.

While before 1940 agroeconomic activities were the predominant ones in Peru, after this decade the country went through a process of continuous changes and modernization. This modernization process led to a reduction of jobs in haciendas, while the job and land demand in indigenous communities were raised in the context of the economic crisis lived at the moment. The Second World War also had consequences for the Peruvian nation. Exportations to countries like France and Germany were reduced and, although an important percentage of these were redirected to USA, this fact still had negative impacts in agricultural exportations. With fewer job opportunities in the rural context and no land of their own to work on, people saw a solution to escape from poverty in migrating.

During the 1950s, the country underwent a process of industrialization and insertion into the modern global economy, which represent an important reduction of agricultural activity. Later, with the Agrarian Reform during the government of Velasco Alvarado (1969-75), Peruvian oligarchy and feudalism in Peru met their end. Even though this reform meant the redistribution of the land to indigenous communities and rural cooperatives, the lack of a better planning and organizational system led to small and familial partitions of the land. By the end of Velasco’s government, Peru had entered a severe economic crisis that would continue for several years later. In the context of this crisis, the capital of the country continued to receive different migration waves, mostly from Andean and rural areas. Currently, this is still the case for thousands of Peruvians who arrived at the city to look for better life opportunities.