Coup Atlas Research Database
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13502161956AttemptedMilitary coup

Peru, 1956 — military coup attempt

Peru (PER)South America, AmericasFebruary 16, 1956

Event Summary

The dataset records an attempted military coup in Peru on 16 February 1956, in the final months of the authoritarian ochenio of General Manuel A. Odria, as the regime moved toward the June 1956 elections that would end his rule. Odria had seized power in 1948 and governed through suppression of the outlawed APRA party, but by 1956 he faced pressure to open the system, and the transition was marked by maneuvering among military and political factions, including a challenge from the more liberal officer Marshal Manuel A.

Odria's rivals. Any coup attempt in February 1956 came within that pre-electoral turbulence and did not derail the handover. Odria allowed the June 1956 election, which returned the civilian Manuel Prado to the presidency, ending the ochenio and the personalist military government.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Manuel A. Odria survived and handed power to the elected civilian Manuel Prado in 1956
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Manuel A. Odria (president of Peru, target)
Dissident military and political factions (plotters in the pre-electoral period)

Sources

Manuel A. Odria governed Peru as the ochenio from his 1948 seizure of power until 1956, a period of authoritarian military rule resting on the suppression of APRA.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Manuel A. Odria open source ↗
Odria allowed elections in 1956 and handed power to the elected civilian government of Manuel Prado, ending the ochenio.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Manuel A. Odria open source ↗
Odria won an unopposed presidential election in 1950 and consolidated a personalist military government, driving APRA leader Haya de la Torre into embassy asylum.
SOURCE REVIEWED University of Central Arkansas DADM Project, Peru 1912 to present open source ↗
The 1956 election that ended Odria's rule returned Manuel Prado to the presidency for his second term.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Manuel Prado Ugarteche open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete documentation of a 16 February 1956 Peruvian coup attempt was found in accessible English sources this session; the entry records the dataset's coding and the verified context of the final months of the Odria ochenio, with plotter identity for this specific date unconfirmed, flagged. Pairs with the Peru 1954-08-10 record in batch 59.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
13502161956
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-135-1956-02-16

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Manuel A. Odria survived and handed power to the elected civilian Manuel Prado in 1956.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Powell and Thyne

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

New York Times

“East Peru Troops Rise Against Odria; Siege Law Imposed,” February 17, 1956
“Opposition Chiefs Seized in Peru; Center of Army Revolt Is Isolated,” February 18, 1956

Globe and Mail

“City Seized: Troops in Peru Revolt; Five Killed in Paraguay,” February 17, 1956

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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