Kuczynski Godard, Pedro Pablo

Kuczynski Godard, Pedro Pablo,

1938–, Peruvian economist and political leader, president of Peru (2016–18), grad. Oxford (B.A. 1960), Princeton (M.A., 1961). He was an economist with the World Bank and Peru's central bank before he went into exile after a military coup (1968); he then worked for the World Bank in the United States. In 1980 he was named energy and mining minister by President Fernando Belaúnde TerryBelaúnde Terry, Fernando
, 1912–2002, president of Peru (1963–68, 1980–85). A successful architect, he served in the chamber of deputies (1945–48), formed the Popular Action party in 1956, and ran unsuccessfully for president the same year.
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. After two decades (from 1982) with investment banking and private equity firms, he served under President Alejandro Toledo ManriqueToledo Manrique, Alejandro,
1946–, Peruvian political leader, president of Peru (2001–6). Toledo, who has indigenous Andean roots, was born into poverty in rural Peru and grew up in the port city of Chimbote.
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 as economy and finance minister (2001–2, 2004–5) and prime minister (2005–6). A member of the center-right Peruvians for Change party, Kuczynski mounted an unsuccessful bid for president in 2011 then won the office in 2016, defeating Keiko FujimoriFujimori, Keiko
(Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi), 1975–, Peruvian political leader, daughter of President Alberto Fujimori. She attended Boston Univ. and Columbia Business School, then served in the Peruvian congress (2006–2011), and became the leader of the
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 in a runoff. Revelations in 2017 that Odebrecht-related businesses (see Odebrecht corruption scandalOdebrecht corruption scandal,
series of graft scandals involving the Grupo Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction and petrochemicals conglomerate, as well as Petrobras, the Brazilian multinational petroleum corporation, and numerous executives and public officials across the
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) had made payments, previously denied by Kuczynski, to him or businesses he owned, led to an unsuccessful attempt by Fujimori's party to impeach him. Kuczynski then pardoned former president Alberto FujimoriFujimori, Alberto
, 1938–, president of Peru (1990–2000), b. Lima, Peru. The son of Japanese immigrants, he was educated in Peru and attended Univ. of Wisconsin. Fujimori was an unknown economist when he scored an upset in the 1990 presidential elections.
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, in a move widely criticized as a politcal deal. He resigned in 2018 after a second impeachment attempt appeared likely to succeed.