Belaunde Terry, Fernando

▪ 2003

      Peruvian politician (b. Oct. 7, 1912, Lima, Peru—d. June 4, 2002, Lima), served two terms as president, from 1963 to 1968 and from 1980 to 1985. A reformer, he was often called the “father of democracy” in Peru, but his attempts to modernize the economy were not considered successful. When Belaúnde was 12, his family was forced into exile, and he was subsequently educated in Paris and in the U.S., where he earned (1935) a degree in architecture from the University of Texas. He then returned to Peru and practiced and taught architecture; from 1955 to 1960 he was dean of architecture at the National Engineering University in Lima. First elected to Congress in 1945, he ran unsuccessfully for president in 1956. That same year he founded Acción Popular (AP). Although he led in the voting in the 1962 election, the army nullified the results, but the following year, when he again took a plurality, the army allowed him to assume office. Although he began road-building and other projects to open up the interior of Peru, his plans for agrarian reform were blocked. The country also suffered from economic problems, including deficits and a currency devaluation, and Belaúnde was overthrown by the army in October 1968. He went into exile in Argentina and then the U.S., where he taught at several universities, including Harvard and Columbia. He returned to Peru in the late 1970s, and in 1980 AP, in a coalition with the Partido Popular Cristiano, won both houses of Congress. His second term as president was also marked by economic problems, including high unemployment and crippling inflation, in addition to threats from terrorists such as the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). Nonetheless, Belaúnde served his full term and transferred power in 1985 to an elected successor. From 1985 to 1992 he sat in Congress as senator for life.

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▪ president of Peru

born October 7, 1912, Lima, Peru

died June 4, 2002, Lima

      statesman, architect, and president of Peru (1963–68, 1980–85), known for his efforts at democratic reform and his pro-American stance.

      Belaúnde, a member of a distinguished aristocratic Peruvian family, studied architecture in the United States and France in 1924–35 and practiced briefly in Mexico before returning in 1936 to Peru, where he became a noted architect and founded the architectural magazine Arquitecto Peruano (“Peruvian Architect”). He served in the Chamber of Deputies (1945–48) while his father, Rafael Belaúnde Diez Canseco, was prime minister. After a military coup in 1948 overthrew the government, the younger Belaúnde returned to his post as dean of the School of Architecture in the National University of Engineering.

      Belaúnde helped establish the National Democratic Front and was its representative to parliament in Lima in 1945–48. With the restoration of free elections in 1956, he ran for president on behalf of the newly formed Democratic Youth Front; he was defeated but made a surprisingly strong showing. Shortly thereafter this party was renamed Popular Action (Acción Popular). In the new election of June 1963, Belaúnde received 39 percent of the vote and set about forming a reformist coalition. His program of land reform and road building to open the Amazon River valley to settlement progressed, but he was frustrated in much of the rest of his domestic policy by a Congress under opposition control. His administration sought to maintain close relations with the United States, supporting its Alliance for Progress program for development of Latin America.

      Public outcry over an agreement with an American corporation, the International Petroleum Company, on the development of oil fields in northern Peru led to Belaúnde's deposal by a military junta in October 1968. He fled to the United States, returned to Peru in December 1970, and was again exiled from January 1971 until his return in January 1976. In May 1980, in the first presidential elections since his deposal, he defeated 14 other candidates. Although he returned freedom of the press to Peru, Belaúnde was baffled by a high inflation rate, a huge foreign debt, and violent attacks by the Shining Path terrorist group. Resentment over his austerity measures and his inability to control the military in its fight against terrorists led to his crushing electoral defeat in May 1985. Belaúnde, a prolific writer, was the author of La conquista del Perú por los Peruanos (1959; Peru's Own Conquest).

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