Fernando BelaÃºnde Terry

Fernando Belaúnde Terry ( born October 12, 1912 in Lima, Peru, † 4 June 2002 in Lima), architect and politician who served twice, from 1963 to 1968 and from 1980 to 1985, Peruvian president. He was deposed in a coup in 1968 and was re-elected military rule in 1980 after twelve years. Both terms in office were marked by economic turmoil and an increase in guerrilla activity. This led to human rights violations by both insurgents and by the Peruvian Army. Nevertheless Belaúnde was highly regarded for his personal integrity and his commitment to a democratic Peru.

Biography

Belaúnde was born in 1912 as the second of four children of a wealthy, politically active family in Lima. His grandfather Mariano A. Belaúnde was a Peruvian finance minister, his uncle Víctor Andrés Belaúnde was 1959/60 President of the UN General Assembly. The family moved to France, where Fernando visited the school. Between 1924-1935 studied Belaúnde architecture in the United States and France. He obtained at the University of Austin, Texas He received his degree. After a short time in Mexico in 1936, he returned back to Peru, where he started his career at the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería. After several years, he was appointed dean of the area architecture.

The political career began in 1956 Belaúndes when he founded the party Acción Popular. For the movement " National Front of Democratic Youth " he stepped on to the Presidential elections. He won a great deal of support among the people, but it was not enough to win against Manuel Prado. Between 1956 and 1962 Belaúnde was much in the country on the road to gain experience and ideas and to shape the ideological principles of his party.

Even the presidential elections in 1962 came Belaúnde as leading candidate of the Acción Popular. He was narrowly defeated by the candidate of the APRA, but which missed the minimum required for the election of one-third of the votes. Amidst allegations of electoral fraud, the military intervened, deposed incumbent Prado and installed a junta. In the following year held recent elections Belaúnde finally prevailed.

First term of office

During his first term Belaúnde initiated numerous development projects. Among them was the Carretera Marginal de la Selva, a national road, which at the Pacific formerly isolated northern provinces of Amazonas and San Martín tapped from Chiclayo. He promoted ambitious irrigation projects in Santiago Antunez de Mayolo and Chira Piura and the construction of hydroelectric power plants by Tina Jones, Jequetepeque, Majes, Chavimochic, Olmos and Chinecas. Belaúnde been a leader in the founding of the Peruvian National Bank ( Banco de la Nación ). To alleviate poverty in the country, he carried out a program for the construction of social housing in Lima and other cities, which hundreds of thousands of families zugutekam. However, his government were held economic mistakes. By the year 1967, the Peruvian sol had significantly dropped in value. The attempt to nationalize the American Standard Oil, the government brought in opposition to the United States. Following attempts at land reform, the United States abandoned development aid. In addition, Washington was not selling weapons to Peru more. The Lima was initially compensated by purchases in France by Charles de Gaulle.

In 1968, the government announced the solution of the long-running conflict with a subsidiary of the U.S. Standard Oil to the major oil fields of La Brea and Pariñas. The decision to pay compensation to Standard Oil for the transfer of technology promotion, led to turmoil in the population and forced Belaúndes Cabinet on October 1, to resign. To the annoyance of the Peruvians had contributed that Belaúnde the press had initially only the first ten pages of the document are available. The publication of the eleventh page in Peruvian television, on which was called to be paid compensation sum, led to the dismissal Belaúndes by the military a few days later. He was succeeded by General Velasco.

Second term of office

In the next free elections in 1980 Belaúnde was re-elected president. He sat at the beginning of the term of office of a new constitution (the previous had been set by his predecessor in 1975 repealed ). Step by step he made conducted by General Velasco land reform reversed and approached Peru again in the United States. During his five years in office decreased income, Peru's foreign debt rose and the violence left guerrilla organizations, in particular the Sendero Luminoso ( " Shining Path " ), increased. Belaúndes government was accused of numerous human rights violations; Organizations such as APRODEH estimate that during his second term in 1230 people disappeared. In the elections in 1985 Belaúnde was defeated by the APRA candidate Alan García.

Fernando Belaúnde died in 2002 at the age of 89 years in Lima.