Belaúnde Terry, Fernando
Belaúnde Terry, Fernando
(fārnän`dō bāläo͞on`dā tā`rē), 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. In the 1962 elections, he ran a close second behind Victor Raúl Haya de la TorreHaya de la Torre, Víctor Raúl, 1895–1979, Peruvian political leader, founder of the APRA party. Although he never held power and spent much of his political life in exile or in prison, he had great influence on contemporary hemispheric politics.
..... Click the link for more information. ; the elections were annulled and rescheduled for 1963, at which time Belaúnde won. Despite an opposition congress, he effected social, educational, and land reforms; opened up the rich interior to settlement by constructing a vast highway system across the Andes; established a self-help program for the country's indigenous inhabitants; and encouraged industrial development. However, an inflationary spiral set in, and Belaúnde antagonized nationalistic army leaders by failing to expropriate U.S.-controlled oil fields and operations. Deposed by an army coup in 1968, he fled to the United States, where he subsequently taught architecture at Harvard and Columbia. Restored to the presidency in 1980, he attempted to combat inflation by denationalizing industries and encouraging foreign investment in the petroleum industry.
Bibliography
See his autobiography, Peru's Own Conquest (1959, tr. 1965).
Belaunde Terry, Fernando
Born Oct. 7, 1912, in Lima. Peruvian statesman. He was graduated from the department of architecture of the University of Texas (USA, 1935) and taught in the department of architecture of the National Engineering University in Lima, where he was dean of that department. In 1956 he established the Popular Action Party, which united representatives of the middle and petite nationalist-oriented bourgeoisie. In June 1963 he was elected president of Peru by a coalition of the Popular Action and Christian Democratic parties. His government did not fulfill its election promises of democratic reforms. In foreign policy he supported the USA in the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and other international organizations. He was overthrown on Oct. 3, 1968, as a result of a military uprising.