 Peru, under Velasco, Peru in 1975 was the first country of the Americas to declare an indigenous language, Quechua, as an official language.Quechua was introduced in schools as a foreign or second language in Lima, but prejudices meant that few ethnic European or mestizo students studied it.Little changed for the Quechua and Aymara speakers in the Andes, as Velasco was overthrown in 1975.