Fernando Belaunde Terry

Fernando Sergio Marcelo Marcos Belaúnde Terry (Lima, October 7, 1912-Lima, June 4, 2002) was a Peruvian architect, statesman, politician and orator. He served as president of Peru in two non-consecutive terms: from 1963 to 1968 and from 1980 to 1985.

Belonging to a family traditionally linked to politics, he completed his secondary education in Paris and his higher education at the Universities of Miami and Texas in Austin, United States, where he graduated in architecture in 1935. Upon returning to Lima, He founded the magazine El arquitecto peruano and dedicated himself to teaching at the Catholic University and later at the School of Engineers of Lima, which, in 1955, became the National University of Engineering, and of whose faculty of Architecture was first dean. He entered politics in 1944, when he helped form the National Democratic Front (FDN), which led to the candidacy and subsequent presidential election of José Luis Bustamante y Rivero, on whose list he was elected deputy for Lima (1945-1948)..

When the 1956 elections were called, he was launched as a presidential candidate by the National Front of Democratic Youth (FNJD), a group that gave rise to the Popular Action party. He imposed his registration before the electoral jury through a famous protest in the streets of Lima known as "El Manguerazo". He did not win then but began a campaign touring the entire country, town by town, under the ideological foundation "Peru as a doctrine" and "The conquest of Peru by the Peruvians." He ran for the second time in the 1962 elections, which were annulled on suspicion of fraud. He ran again in the 1963 elections, in alliance with the Christian Democracy, and was elected constitutional president for the period 1963-1969. His management was oriented towards large public works: highway construction (mainly the Marginal de la Selva), airports, housing complexes, reservoirs, etc. Likewise, he restored the democratic origin of the municipal authorities; however, he faced a political crisis as he did not have a parliamentary majority and, in terms of economic policy, he was unable to control inflation.

When trying to resolve the oil issue with the International Petroleum Company (IPC), he signed the Talara Act that was described by the opposition as sellout, which led to the outbreak of the institutional revolution of the armed forces, led by General Juan Velasco Alvarado, on October 3, 1968. Overthrown and exiled to Buenos Aires, he later went to the United States, where he dedicated himself to university teaching. He returned to Peru in 1978, and although his party did not participate in the 1978 Constituent Assembly, he ran for the 1980 general elections, where he was elected Constitutional President for the second time non-consecutively, for the first half of the decade. He immediately called municipal elections and returned the media expropriated by the military dictatorship to their owners. He had to face the disastrous effects of the El Niño Phenomenon, the rise of the terrorist groups Sendero Luminoso and the MRTA, and the worsening of the economic crisis that caused a wave of strikes and work stoppages. However, he carried out a policy of public works, especially in relation to education, housing and roads. At the end of his second government, he continued to act in politics as the leader of Acción Popular. He was one of the promoters of the Democratic Front (Fredemo), an alliance of right-wing political forces of which his own party was a part and which launched the candidacy of the writer Mario Vargas Llosa in the 1990 elections, which was defeated by that of Alberto Fujimori. During the Fujimori regime he acted in the opposition. At the beginning of 2001 he transferred the presidency of the party from him to Valentín Paniagua, who was president of the transitional government after the resounding fall of Fujimori. Already retired from politics, he died the following year from a stroke.

Family

Rafael Belaúnde Diez Canseco, father of Fernando Belaúnde Terry.

He was born in Lima on October 7, 1912 into a family closely linked to politics. He was the son of Rafael Belaúnde Diez Canseco and Lucila Terry García. His father was a Minister of Government and President of the Council of Ministers in the government of José Luis Bustamante y Rivero (1945-46). His brothers were Rafael, Lucila, Mercedes and Francisco Belaúnde, who was president of the Chamber of Deputies in 1980, during the second constitutional government of his brother Fernando.

On his mother's side, he descends from the Terry family, an ancient Italian-Spanish noble family descended from King Theodoric IV of France, who settled in Caraz, Áncash at the end of the Viceroyalty. His great-great-grandfather, Jacobo del Real, was mayor of Huaraz in 1789 and 1812.

In 1970 he married Violeta Correa Miller, daughter of former Foreign Minister Javier Correa Elías, the great love of his life. Already in 1963 he had divorced Carola Aubry Bravo, with whom he had three children: Carolina Belaúnde Aubry, Rafael Belaúnde Aubry and Fernando Belaúnde Aubry.

His grandfather Mariano A. Belaunde de la Torre was Minister of Finance in the government of Eduardo López de Romaña (1899-1900); His great-grandfather, General Pedro Diez Canseco Corbacho, was interim president three times (1863, 1865 and 1868); and his uncle Víctor Andrés Belaúnde was a prominent intellectual and diplomat, who became president of the UN General Assembly in 1959, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru in 1957.

Within the Belaúnde family branch, Fernando is the uncle of Miguel Cruchaga Belaúnde, son of his sister Lucila, a renowned architect, professor and politician, who in 1985 was in charge of organizing the visit of His Holiness Juan Pablo II, and was also a prominent Senator of the Republic from 1990 to 1992; Raúl Diez Canseco Terry, who was First Vice President in the government of Alejandro Toledo; of the constitutionalist Domingo García Belaúnde, the diplomat José Antonio García Belaúnde and the politician Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde.

He completed his primary studies at the German School and at the Sagrados Corazones Recoleta School and his secondary studies at the Marianist Sainte-Marie de Monceau in Paris (now Sainte-Marie d'Antony), between 1924 and 1930, where his father had been deported by the government of Augusto B. Leguía, for his opposition to the re-election plans of this president.

Professional life

He began his engineering studies at the École d’Electricite et Mecanique Industrielles in Paris, until his family moved to the United States. There he continued his higher studies at the University of Miami, where his father taught, and then at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating as an architect in 1935. Later he moved to Mexico City (where his father had moved when he was appointed ambassador), working as an architect for a short time, in the company "Whiting y Torres".

In 1937 he returned to Peru with the purpose of disseminating the new urban trends and promoting the professionalization of architecture in Peru; To this end he founded the magazine El Arquitecto Peruano He was incorporated into the Faculty of Engineering of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, briefly working as a professor of Urbanism, in 1943.

Although it is true that he dedicated himself fully to architecture, he first came into contact with politics when he joined the National Democratic Front that supported the presidential candidacy of José Luis Bustamante y Rivero, in the 1945 elections. That year He was elected deputy for Lima, a management in which he achieved the legal approval of important technical initiatives. The first model of popular housing that became a reality, the Neighborhood Unit No. 3, belonged to him. This stage as a parliamentarian culminated in October 1948 when the coup d'état of General Manuel A. Odría took place, which overthrew Bustamante and dissolved Congress.

He then restarted his professional activities, teaching Urbanism at the National School of Engineers, and in 1950 he took over as head of the Department of Architecture of the same (current Faculty of Architecture of the National University of Engineering), being the main manager of the initiatives for the construction of his own pavilion. From 1955 to 1960 he served as the first dean of the Faculty of Architecture of the already created National University of Engineering (UNI). Within it, he promoted the establishment of the Planning Institute of Lima (I.P.L.), an institute with a view to local, national and international development.

In 1955 he resumed political activity that would lead him twice to the presidency: from 1963 to 1968 and from 1980 to 1985.

When he became a political exile after Juan Velasco Alvarado's coup d'état in 1968, Belaúnde once again resumed his professional career. Due to his skill and good relationships in his professional life, he was invited by the renowned architect Walter Gropius, creator of the Bauhaus School in Germany and also a political exile from his country due to Nazi ideology, to teach as a professional and strategist in politics in universities in the United States, such as Harvard, and learn new alternatives for the conception of planning and development of territories.

Popular Action Foundation

Like many of his contemporaries, Belaúnde tenaciously opposed the dictatorship of Manuel A. Odría (1948-1956), and with the support of young university students he formed the National Front of Democratic Youth in 1955, with the aim of launching his candidacy for the following year's elections. But since the electoral body was manipulated by the dictator Odría, the registration was frustrated, with the pretext that they had not obtained the required 20,000 signatures; The real reason was that Belaúnde was emerging as a sizeable rival against the favorite candidates of the dictatorship: Hernando de Lavalle and Manuel Prado y Ugarteche.

On June 1, 1956, the day the candidate registration deadline expired, Belaúnde led a rally in the Plaza San Martín in downtown Lima, to demand that the Electoral Jury register his candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic. He was acclaimed by members of the Frente de Juventudes Democráticas, including his disciples from UNI and students from the University of San Marcos. They included, among others, Edgardo Seoane, Javier Alva Orlandini, Javier Velarde Aspíllaga, Carlos Cabieses López, Gustavo Mohme Llona, all of them future prominent figures in Peruvian politics.

The demonstrators headed for the Jirón de la Unión towards the Government Palace; When they arrived at the Plaza de la Merced, the mounted police came out to meet them. This did not intimidate the indignant followers of Belaúnde who with bare fists, between cheers and whistles, confronted the police. The brand new protest-breaking car (the famous “rochabús”) came into action, shooting jets of water, and the protesters backed down. It was then that Belaunde, armed only with a Peruvian flag, issued an ultimatum: he gave the current government 24 hours to make the Front's registration official. Since there was no response, the demonstrators tried again to reach the Palace. Belaunde, who was riding on the shoulders of his supporters, was knocked down by a jet of water that caused a wound on his forehead. Minutes later the news arrived: the registration had been accepted.

In this way, the hitherto little-known architect won front pages in newspapers and radio stations. The incident was dubbed the "La Merced Ultimatum" or "El Manguerazo." The newspaper La Prensa baptized Belaúnde as the Man of the Flag. That was the true birth certificate of his political party Acción Popular, formally founded shortly after, on the basis of the Youth Front, on July 7 of that same year, in Chincheros, Apurímac.

In the elections of June 17, 1956, Belaúnde came in second place, surpassed by Manuel Prado and Ugarteche; In total, he obtained 457,638 votes, which was equivalent to 36.7% of the voting electorate, which was a good start for a still new candidate. APRA, then outlawed, supported Prado, since he had the political ability to offer him his return to legality, thus originating the so-called "coexistence" between Pradismo and Aprismo. Belaúnde then emerged as the opposition leader and his parliamentary bench made constructive opposition to the Prado government.

“Peru as a doctrine”

Preparing for the next elections, Belaúnde toured most of the country with few mobile means in an aggressive publicity campaign that radically changed the way of doing politics in Peru. In this way, he inaugurated a new style of running presidential electoral campaigns: traveling throughout the Peruvian territory, making proposals and promises known; Since then, every politician running for the presidency has followed the example of the architect Belaúnde. From these trips, Belaúnde was able to collect a large amount of data and detailed examples on the life of isolated peoples throughout the Peruvian territory, which would help him put his ideas of government into practice when the opportunity arose.

Under the motto: Peru as a Doctrine, Acción Popular thus became a party of the masses and an innovative and democratic alternative for the non-Aprista urban middle classes, against the center-left APRA, the radical left with a Soviet and internationalist tendency and the ultraconservative landowner right embodied in the Odriista party. It also captured many neutral and apolitical members of the time, since popular sectors and high society felt identified with Belaúnde's thinking.

Two anecdotal events are remembered from this period. One of them was the saber duel that he had with the Pradista parliamentarian Eduardo Watson Cisneros, on January 17, 1957, following an exchange of comments that were considered mutually offensive; After the confrontation, both participants were excommunicated by the Catholic Church.The duel did not go further but it contributed to fueling his fame as a brave man and willing to do anything in defense of his ideals. The other incident was his imprisonment in the El Frontón island prison, in May 1959, due to his opposition to the measures taken by the Prado government to safeguard internal order; on that occasion he jumped into the sea trying to swim away but was recaptured minutes later by a patrol boat, to be released days later.

Elections of 1962 and 1963

At the end of the second government of Manuel Prado, general elections were called for June 10, 1962. The most favored candidates were Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, leader of the Aprista Party, Fernando Belaúnde Terry, of Acción Popular (AP), and Manuel A. Odría, for the Odriista National Union (UNO). But according to the first scrutinies it seemed evident that neither would obtain the third required by the Constitution. The presidential election should then be transferred to the elected Congress, where the normal thing would have been for the popular will to be respected and the one who led the final result, in this case Haya de la Torre, to be elected, as was foreseeable. But the anti-Aprismo of radical sectors of the right and of the armed forces once again interfered in the Peruvian political process.

Belaúnde and his associates demanded the annulment of the elections in several departments, alleging fraud attempts. The Joint Command of the Armed Forces echoed these complaints and pressured the National Elections Jury to take the pertinent corrective measures. The electoral jury considered this as an unacceptable interference in its work and continued the scrutiny, announcing the final results, in which Haya de la Torre led with a slight advantage over Belaúnde:

• Haya de la Torre with 557,047 votes (33.0%).
• Belaunde with 544.180 votes (32.2%).
• He would have 480,378 votes (28.4%).

However, Haya de la Torre declared his willingness to resign in order to safeguard democracy. The final decision had to be transferred to Congress, in which an alliance of parliamentarians from UNO and APRA was produced to elevate General Odría to the presidency, which was seen as something contrary to the will of the citizens, and at the same time as an alliance unusual, since Odría had persecuted the Apristas during his dictatorship. The Joint Command then gave an ultimatum to the electoral Jury to annul the elections and call others, which it failed to do; then the coup d'état that overthrew President Manuel Prado took place, on July 18, 1962, a few days after his term ended, immediately establishing a Military Government Junta, which proceeded to annul the elections and call others. That same day, Belaúnde went to the Government Palace to personally congratulate General Ricardo Pérez Godoy, the same person who had led the coup.

The new elections were held on June 9, 1963, with the participation of the three important candidates of the previous elections, that is, Haya de la Torre, Belaúnde and Odría. But this time the theory of the "lost vote" worked against Haya de la Torre: for many it was very probable that if APRA won again, the military would insist on not recognizing the result, so they opted for Belaúnde, who was thus victorious.. The official results were as follows:

• Belaunde, 708.662 votes (39.1%).
• Haya de la Torre, 623.501 votes (34.4%).
• Odría, 463,085 votes (25.5%).

First government (1963-1968)

Belaúnde Terry and Ana Coll de Zepeda in 1963.

On July 28, 1963, Belaúnde was sworn in as constitutional president of Peru. Politically, he had the support of the Christian Democratic Party led by Héctor Cornejo Chávez (who would later join the military coup in 1968).

A man of the Alliance for Progress, conservative in character, Belaúnde followed a moderate policy during his first government and undertook some economic and social reforms, which, however, did not satisfy either the popular classes or the upper class, who they had placed great expectations on the architect's electoral promises.

His work was hampered in Parliament by the opposition of supporters of General Manuel A. Odría (grouped in the far-right UNO) and APRA; These two parties, which years before had been bitter enemies, formed the so-called COALITION, putting the representatives of the government parties: Acción Popular and Democracia Cristiana, who formed the so-called ALLIANCE, in a parliamentary minority. These factors, together with the indecision and lack of authority of a statesman, prevented the implementation of reforms such as the agrarian one, openly demanded by APRA and the Left Parties.

During his tenure there were some peasant uprisings in poverty-stricken Andean areas. The first communist-inspired guerrillas also arose. One of them was that of Luis de la Puente Uceda, who, after handing over his Julcán farm to his laborers, rose up in Mesa Pelada, but was quickly defeated by the army.

Likewise, during the first years of his administration, there was a period of notable economic prosperity, which was reflected in the execution of a series of large infrastructure works aimed at improving the existing one left by his predecessors Manuel Odría and Manuel Prado, but financed mainly based on external credits.

From his trips before assuming the presidency, Belaúnde was also able to collect data on a whole range of ancestral knowledge and forms of social interaction, practiced in the towns he visited, in this way he was able to organize the government work they sought to achieve the community work of the towns benefiting from state aid, hence the consolidation of a national office called "Popular Cooperation" whose work, carried out for the most part by residents guided by government officials, ended by coining the phrase: "The People lo did”, in order to instill in the social imaginary how successful community work could be properly organized.

During this government, internal migrations increased, from the countryside to the city, especially in Lima, where numerous marginal neighborhoods arose, which were later called "young towns", which exacerbated the housing problem and increased the unemployment rate.

Economic aspect

The government's weak side was economic, financial, and monetary issues. Not so much the economic ones themselves. The country, without straying from the policy of free trade and encouragement of private investment, continued to improve. From 1963 to 1967, exports increased from $540 million to almost $800 million. The fishery, especially fishmeal, as well as the increase in mining production, made it possible to reach these encouraging figures. However, public spending increased considerably and an inflationary process took place that led to a sharp devaluation of the national currency, by 40%, on September 1, 1967. The dollar went from S/. 26.80 to S/. 38.70. Likewise, the foreign debt rose, which for the purposes of the regime reached 800 million soles. Faced with this critical situation that directly affected the pockets of citizens, the opposition lashed out and the government showed signs of wear. The discontent increased even more when the commission of some smuggling cases from which members of the government had allegedly benefited was uncovered; but the one that would give the regime the final blow would be the “page eleven” scandal.

Works of his first government

Arms as a gentleman of Carlos III.

• The municipal elections were re-established, in order for citizens to elect mayors and governors with their vote at the level of district and provincial councils. In the first of these elections, held on 16 December 1963, Luis Bedoya Reyes won in Lima, representing the ALIANZA (Popular Action More Christian Democracy).
• The agrarian reform began, which would mainly affect the uncultivated latifundios of the mountains and the coast, but without touching those who had an efficient performance, such as the agro-industrials of the coast. The idea was to compensate the affected owners, without violent confiscations.
• By Act No. 15,260 of 14 December 1964, cooperation in Peru was nullified and encouraged.
• The Departmental Development Corporations were established in order to decentralize the administration.
• A National Road Plan was developed for the construction of a communication track system that integrates the areas of production, mainly agricultural, with the various urban markets. Many of these roads were built with the Popular Cooperation programme and with international credits.
• The famous Carretera Marginal de la Selva (today road Fernando Belaúnde Terry) began to unite that region, until that time almost isolated, with the mountains and the coast, as well as to interconnect it with neighbouring countries. The road starts from Chinchipe, on the border with Ecuador in the north, until it reaches the Heath River, in the department of Mother of God, in the south.
• The hydroelectric power plant of the Duck Canyon was expanded in Áncash and the Mantaro began in Huancavelica.
• The first stage of the Tinajones Reservoir was built in Lambayeque to improve the agricultural and livestock activity in the north.
• The dams of Pañe and Aguada Blanca were built in Arequipa.
• The refinery of La Pampilla, in Ventanilla, was built, thus breaking the crude refinery monopoly that until then exercised the transnational company IPC.
• The final impulse was given to the Cachimayo fertilizer factory.
• Chimbote's steel installations were expanded, the most important aceria in the country.
• It supported the Marine Industrial Services (SIMA), which made it possible to float large tonnage units built in Peruvian shipyards.
• The Lurín Earth station was built, with which Peru entered the space age and communications via microwave.
• The Bank of the Nation was established, which replaced the Deposits and Consignments Fund, with the aim of facilitating tax collection by taxpayers
• They acquired Mirage aircraft from France for the Peruvian Air Force. The Navy and the Army were also able to renew their military material.
• In honor of his profession as an architect, his work was very vast in the construction and promotion of housing for less-favoured sectors and professional middle classes. In many cities of the country large housing complexes were erected for popular sectors, education professionals and police and a large part of the main cities of the coast and Peruvian mountains were urbanized. In Lima it highlighted the residential San Felipe.
• The Callao completed the construction of Jorge Chávez International Airport and refurbished and built other airports in the nation's most important cities.
• The country enjoyed a major investment in health and education, to which the highest proportion of state capitals were allocated with respect to public expenditures in the country ' s history, until then.
• In the field of education, free education was established at all levels, from Initial to Higher, and new universities and normal schools were created, both state and private.
• At the international level, Belaúnde participated in the conference of American presidents held in Punta del Este, Uruguay in 1966.
• From the first day of his government, Belaunde proposed the project of the marginal road of the jungle that, once concluded, would unite the region of Arauca, on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, with the railway terminal of Santa Cruz in Bolivia, following a wide extension of the Peruvian Amazon.

Catastrophes that occurred in this period were the earthquake in Lima and Callao in 1966 and the tragedy at the National Stadium on May 24, 1964, where some 312 people perished.

The Act of Talara and the scandal on page 11

Upon assuming the presidency, Belaúnde offered to solve the problem of La Brea and Pariñas in 90 days. This was a shameful lawsuit for the nation and one that had gone unresolved for several decades; It consisted in the fact that the North American company International Petroleum Company (IPC) had been illegally exploiting the oil fields of La Brea and Pariñas, located in the north of Peru, without contributing to the treasury the amount owed, which had been accumulating over the years.

Belaúnde sent Congress a project to declare null and void the so-called Paris Agreement, Convention and Award (signed in the time of Augusto B. Leguía and which favored the IPC) and requested that the fields of La Brea and Pariñas pass into power of the Fiscal Oil Company (state entity). Congress passed Law No. 14,696, which declared the Award null and void, but did not rule on the second point. The Executive Power promulgated the law on November 4, 1963, being authorized to seek a solution to the old problem.

In July 1968, under pressure from economic power groups, negotiations were started with the IPC in the Government Palace. On August 13, the Talara Act was signed by which all the oil fields passed into the hands of the Fiscal Oil Company (EPF), while the IPC retained the Talara refinery, the national fuel distribution system and the so-called Concessions. Lime. The IPC was obliged to buy all the oil that the EPF wanted to sell it, to process it in its obsolete Talara refinery.

The Act was signed by President Belaúnde, by the President of the Senate Carlos Manuel Cox, by the President of the Chamber of Deputies Andrés Townsend Ezcurra and by the high officials of the IPC. All the press echoed this event and published on the front page the end of the "Trea and Pariñas Problem", thus satisfying public opinion.

However, public opinion changed when a sector of the press (the Oiga magazine) revealed the conditions that the IPC had imposed for the signing of the Act. The peak of the scandal came when the resigning president of the EPF, engineer Carlos Loret de Mola, denounced that a page was missing in the crude oil price contract between the EPF and the IPC (September 10, 1968). That was the famous "Page Eleven" that served as a pretext for a group of army officers to stage a coup less than a month later, accusing the government of "surrendering."

Much has been written about page eleven in Peru. Some attributed great importance to it as it appeared to contain valuable cost information; others argued that it was just a blank page and there were even some who denied its existence.

The 1968 Coup

After the swearing again Belaúnde's Cabinet, presided over by Miguel Mujica Gallo, Velasco fired and narrowed Belaúnde's hand, hours before giving his coup.

On Thursday, October 3, 1968, a few months after his government ended, Belaúnde was overthrown by a group of soldiers from the armed forces, led by General Juan Velasco Alvarado, at that time president of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces Armed Forces of Peru, who accused him of colluding with the interests of international capital and of not having had the will to carry out the social reforms that were considered necessary. Days later, on October 9, Velasco, now head of government, dramatically announced that the army stationed in Piura and under the command of General Fermín Málaga Prado was entering Talara at that time, assuming control of the refinery, until then. owned by the IPC. That day was designated as National Dignity Day, which was celebrated during the years that the military government lasted.

Page eleven was the pretext for the coup; The real reasons were evidently other, since it is known that long before the scandal broke out, the group of Army officers known as the "Nasserist colonels" had been planning the coup. The anti-Aprismo still remaining among the military has been theorized as an important motive, since the general elections of 1969 were approaching in which the victory of the Aprista leader Haya de la Torre was glimpsed. The nationalist military, led by Velasco, justified their uprising for reasons of social justice.

Belaúnde was deported to Argentina, and for the next few years he lived in the United States, working as a professor at Johns Hopkins, Harvard, American, Columbia, and George Washington Universities. By 1970, he was legally married for the second time to the young Accio-Populist leader Violeta Correa, who until then had worked as his secretary and personal assistant. He had previously been married to Mrs. Carola Aubry with whom he had three children and from whom he divorced in 1963. In 1970 he received the gold medal at the Rimini Biennale for the Jungle Marginal Road project.

The 1980 elections

General Francisco Morales Bermúdez gave the government to Fernando Belaúnde, winner of the May 1980 elections.

After a frustrated attempt to return in 1974, Belaúnde returned to Peru in 1978, when the military dictatorship was still in force (the so-called "second phase", headed by General Francisco Morales Bermúdez), which at that time called for a a Constituent Assembly whose mission would be to draft a new Constitution to replace that of 1933. This Constituent Assembly, which took place from 1978 to 1979 under the presidency of Haya de la Torre, did not have the participation of the Popular Action party, since Belaúnde He opposed it, since he was in favor of making only some reforms to the 1933 Constitution and not totally replacing it with another. However, when already under the mandate of the new Constitution, the military dictatorship called general elections for president and members of Congress, Belaúnde decided to participate in said electoral process.

The general elections were held on Sunday, May 18, 1980. Belaúnde emerged victorious with more than 45% of the votes, compared to 28% for APRA candidate Armando Villanueva, his closest contender, and 10% for Luis Bedoya Reyes candidate of the Popular Christian Party (PPC). The Marxist left, which launched several candidacies, overall obtained a small percentage of votes.

Second government (1980-1985)

Belaúnde Terry and former Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera in 1984.

Belaúnde was sworn in as president on July 28, 1980. Great expectations were placed on his second government that was just beginning. A full democratic restoration was predicted. In parliament, his party, Acción Popular, made a pact with the PPC, thus ensuring a large parliamentary majority, which he had not had during his first government.

Belaúnde fulfilled one of his electoral promises: to immediately return the media expropriated by the military to their real owners, likewise putting an end to censorship. But he did not want to reverse the expropriation of the land made under the agrarian reform (which had liquidated agrarian feudalism in the country), presumably so as not to cause a social outbreak in the countryside.

He surrounded himself with a liberal economic team, led by Manuel Ulloa, director of the newspaper Expreso and Minister of Economy of his government, who displaced several of the former leaders of Acción Popular. The proposed economic reforms, however, could not be applied for the most part. However, other large housing complexes were built in Lima and in various cities, and urban and rural infrastructure was refurbished in almost the entire country.

He also began to dismantle the shed built by the Velasco government, previously started by Morales Bermúdez, with the exception of the expropriations made to the landowners known in his time as «Los Barones del Azúcar».

Belaúnde aboard the ARM Cuauhtémoc (BE-01), a school ship of the Mexican Navy, with Ambassador Ismael Moreno Pino, a prominent Mexican jurist and diplomat.

Crisis at the Peruvian embassy in Cuba

As soon as he took office, Belaúnde faced this crisis, which originated in January 1981 when 24 Cubans seeking to escape the regime imposed by Fidel Castro in Cuba, violently entered the Peruvian Embassy in La Havana. The Peruvian ambassador Edgardo de Habich y Palacio allowed the entry of the Cuban special forces to evict the invaders, this action cost the ambassador his job for not having received authorization from the Peruvian government.

March 28 was the second entry of Cubans into the embassy and April 1 was the third entry made under fire by the Cuban militia; In this incident, a Cuban soldier was killed. Fidel Castro demanded that the Peruvian government hand over the Cuban refugees in the embassy. Faced with Peru's refusal to do so, Fidel Castro issued a press release on April 4, by which he withdrew security from the diplomatic headquarters so that "said headquarters remains open to anyone who wants to leave the country." By Sunday, April 6, 10,803 Cubans had entered the Embassy of Peru.

The crisis culminated in June 1981 when humanitarian visas were granted to the refugees, Spain gave 350 visas, Canada 600, Costa Rica 250 and Peru 750. 450 Cubans arrived in Peru, a figure that increased to 742 by August. Most of them were installed in a refugee camp in the Túpac Amaru Park in San Luis. Most of the asylum seekers in Peru emigrated again.

Conflict with Ecuador

In 1981, a conflict broke out with Ecuador over the occupation of a disputed border area in northern Peru called the Cordillera del Cóndor, where Ecuadorian troops had illegitimately set up a military post. President Belaúnde denounced that the Ecuadorian government had moved its border post called "Paquisha" several kilometers into Peruvian territory, in order to later maintain that said facility had always been there. For this reason, President Belaúnde called this position "False Paquisha", in order to make the Ecuadorian ruse known to the world.

Fortunately, the escalation was prevented by swift military and diplomatic action. In 1995, during the government of President Alberto Fujimori, there was a new confrontation in the same area, which was called the "Cenepa Conflict". The intervention of the guarantor countries (United States, Argentina, Brazil and Chile) helped Peru and Ecuador sign the Itamaraty Peace Declaration in 1998, which definitively closed the border on the based on the limits that had been established by the Rio de Janeiro Protocol of 1942, as Peru had always maintained.

Falklands War

Monument to Fernando Belaúnde Terry in Plaza Perú, Buenos Aires city.

During the Falklands War, Peru was Argentina's main ally against the United Kingdom, it sided decidedly in favor of Argentina and called for South American integrity.

With the phrase "Peru is ready to support Argentina with all the resources it needs," Belaúnde set out to specify said support, which included Air Force planes and pilots, Navy ships, and doctors of the National Police of Peru.

During the war, and as a result of the immediate rupture of diplomatic relations between both belligerent states, Peru represented the diplomatic interests of Argentina in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Thus, the Argentine diplomats stationed in London became Peruvian diplomats of Argentine nationality. During the course of the war, the British Intelligence Service harassed the Peruvian Embassy in London and its diplomatic officials was such that distracting messages originated in response.

Peru served as a bridge to send French MBDA Exocet anti-ship missiles to Argentina. He also organized a national aid campaign for this country. It has been proven that shortly before the end of the conflict, at the beginning of June 1982, 10 Peruvian Mirage M-VP (M-5P) aircraft sold at a symbolic price to make up for the losses suffered by the FAA (Text «Falklands: The Air War» includes a photograph).

Belaúnde mediated the conflict and proposed solutions to both countries. However, his diplomatic proposals failed when the British government of Margaret Thatcher ordered the sinking of an Argentine cruise ship that was carrying hundreds of soldiers from the Malvinas Islands back to Argentina and was sailing outside the exclusion area unilaterally decreed by the United Kingdom.

Days before the end of his term, the Argentine government then headed by Raúl Alfonsín, who personally traveled to Lima, awarded him the highest distinction of the Argentine State.

Shining Path and the crisis of the end of government

During the last three years of his government, the country faced various crises. Between 1982 and 1983 the El Niño Phenomenon broke out, which hit the north coast of Peru hard, which had a strong impact on various productive activities, as well as on infrastructure, which produced a setback in the economy. Starting in 1983, the fall in metal prices triggered a worrisome economic crisis, which was evidenced by difficulties in paying foreign debt, a sharp increase in inflation, and the devaluation of the sol.

Another serious incident that occurred in his government was the demolition of the riot at El Sexto prison, a prison located in the center of Lima. On the morning of Tuesday, March 27, 1984, a group of 60 inmates took hostage several people who were visiting the prison to deliver donations that would help alleviate the harsh prison conditions in the old compound, demanding an end to the abuses, better food and vehicles to leave the prison. Among the hostages was the wife of the Venezuelan Ambassador. Aware of these facts, the president who ordered the negotiations to put an end to the problem; however, the inmates remained inflexible and increased their violence, killing two of the hostages in front of the television cameras.

At night the riot was put down by a special group of the Republican Guard (today dissolved) that killed 22 inmates, injured 40 and dispersed the rest. This event was the most violent of that year, even the Minister of the Interior at that time did not hesitate to declare that the riot was directly inspired by Sendero Luminoso, because several of its members were confined in the old prison, the same one that it was evicted and closed the following year.

However, the most serious problem that the government of Fernando Belaúnde had to face was the actions of the Maoist terrorist organization Sendero Luminoso, led by Abimael Guzmán. This group declared war on the Peruvian State in the department of Ayacucho in May 1980. Starting in 1983, Sendero Luminoso intensified its campaign, imposing a terrifying regime of extreme violence in the southern Andes and indiscriminately murdering thousands of peasants, professionals, merchants and local authorities, thousands of its militants were savagely murdered by Sendero Luminoso.

The most serious events that occurred at this time was the Uchuraccay massacre (January 26, 1983) where eight journalists were assassinated by the residents of said Andean district, mistaking them for Sendero militants; and the Putis massacre, where nearly two hundred civilians were massacred by an army unit after they were also mistaken for Sendero militants and buried in a set of clandestine mass graves. The president's reaction to these serious events; however, it was secret, hesitant, and at times dubious.

In view of the terrorist escalation, a State of Emergency was declared and the Armed Forces and Police Forces were sent to combat the extremists. Freedom of expression became debauchery by the media of the time, which highlighted the actions of the "narco-terrorists" with big headlines, a term that revealed the existing pact between drug trafficking and the terrorist armies of Guzmán Reynoso; In Parliament, the opposition asked Belaúnde for more energy, who always preferred the constitutional path.

In August 1983, the organization Amnesty International sent a letter to President Fernando Belaunde in which it stated that the state security forces had summarily executed hundreds of residents in the Andean region, especially in the Ayacucho area, in operations against Sendero Luminoso. As indicated by officials close to the President at that time, Belaunde ignored the report, and stated: "The letters from Amnesty International go to the garbage can (...) I do not accept them."

In 1984, General Adrián Huamán Centeno, Political-Military chief of the Ayacucho emergency zone, wrote to Belaunde recommending that he change the anti-subversive strategy. He called for increased public investment, as well as undertaking political and social reform in the emergency zone. For Huamán, what was happening in Ayacucho was not accidental, Sendero fed on the poverty and exclusion of centuries, and it had to be fought by giving better living conditions to the people of Ayacucho, investing in infrastructure, and punishing corrupt public officials and political authorities. Huaman denounced in 1984, something that happens until now, judges who collect bribes from those who ask for justice. The response was the dismissal of Huamán on August 28, 1984.

Works of his second government

The people did.It was the phrase that Belaúnde used to repeat by contemplating the works performed by the inhabitants with the help of his government. Huari, Áncash.

Laguna Belaúnde in the Cordillera Blanca, Áncash. Renamed by the Chacasinos in honor of the support provided during the construction of the AN-107 route in Áncash and the creation of its province between 1981 and 1984.

• The newspapers and television and radio stations expropriated by the military dictatorship were returned to their owners.
• The democratic origin of the municipal authorities was restored, with an immediate call for elections (1980). In Lima he triumphed Eduardo Orrego Villacorta, of Popular Action, which in 1983 was succeeded by Alfonso Barrantes, representative of the unified Marxist left.
• A new Law on Educational Reform was enacted, rejecting what had been done during the military government (1972), turning to the educational structure of Primary-Secondary-Superior. The previous reform maintained the level of Initial Education, as a pre-primary.
• Popular cooperation was reconstituted, whose aim was to support basic infrastructure works and promote popular participation in the works, including agreements with different communities proposing their own development projects.
• The Departmental Development Corporations (CORDES), regional government bodies involving provincial mayors, representatives of local organizations and associations, as well as representatives of the central government, were established. These Cords discussed development projects in assemblies; the central government gave each Corde the necessary means, but each of them had to seek their own resources.
• The Constitution City, in the middle of the central jungle, was founded in the department of Pasco, on the right bank of the Palcazu River, about 12 km from the Pachitea River, with the idea of turning it into the geopolitical axis of Peru.
• Condoroma dams were built in Arequipa and Gallito Ciego in Cajamarca.
• One more phase of the Mantaro Hydroelectric Power Station was completed in Huancavelica, which is the main source of electricity generating in Peru, producing about 20% of all the electricity generated in the country.
• The construction of the Carhuaquero Hydroelectric Power Station in Lambayeque began.
• Hospitals, health posts and schools were built throughout the country.
• The National Housing Plan and the National Plan for Drinking Water and Sewage were designed, both of which were integral. In order to develop the first plan, the National Edifications Company (ENACE) was created, and for the second, the National Water and Sewage Service (SENAPA).
• They built housing units in several places in Peru, mainly in Lima, where they stand out: the Towers of San Borja, with 2405 houses; the Precursors, in Surco, for 921 families; Marbella, in Magdalena, for 300 families; Pachacámac, in the southern cone, for 4000; Limatambo, in the district of San Borja, for 2467; the town of Santa Rosa,
• The acquisition of popular housing built by the government was facilitated by a comfortable initial quota and an even twenty-year term financing. It mainly favored public employees and the middle class, which benefited from loans made by foster banks, private banks and savings cooperatives. This policy benefited 340,000 families, or 1,720,000 people.
• The National Population Council was established to investigate population growth, and at the same time to develop a national policy that would take into account the views of academics, the Church and the Armed Forces.
• The National Council for Science and Technology (CONCYTEC) was established to promote research with a view to achieving progress in science and putting us at the forefront in technological advancement.
• Ports and airports were built.
• The construction of several sections of the Marginal Road of the Forest continued.

Later trajectory

Former President Fernando Belaúnde Terry, photo in 1990.

Senator for Life

The 1979 Constitution provides that former presidents are senators for life. Belaunde attended the Senate with some regularity, both in the 1985-1990 and 1990-1992 terms.

Elections 1990

In the 1990 elections, he participated, as leader of Acción Popular, in the campaign of the Democratic Front (Frente Democrático), a conjunction of political parties with a moderate center-right orientation, led by the writer Mario Vargas Llosa, the great favorite of the elections of that year, whom he joined in his great political project of a liberal tendency, which implied ideas for an effective political and economic modernization of the country and which was surprisingly defeated by the then unknown candidate Alberto Fujimori, who became president with the support from leftist politicians and APRA.

During the 1990s, Belaúnde was active as a leader of Acción Popular, in opposition to Fujimori's dictatorial government.

In November 2000, with the resounding departure of Fujimori from power, Valentín Paniagua, a prominent member of Acción Popular, became the provisional presidency of Peru until July 2001. At the beginning of 2001, Belaúnde handed over the presidency of Acción Popular to Valentin Paniagua. In June of that year, his wife, Violeta Correa, died.

Writings

Fernando Belaúnde not only devoted time to his work as an architect, professor or politician, but throughout his career he managed to write and publish some recognized books in the country. The first of them bears the title, The Conquest of Peru by the Peruvians, alluding to the Acciopopulist motto (Peru as a doctrine). It was published in 1959 and translated into English in 1965.

In 1960 he published Pueblo por Pueblo, a kind of work diary, where he compiled the data obtained from his trips to the interior of the country during his electoral campaign in 1956.

In 1967 he published Carretera Marginal de la Selva, in which he detailed one of his most momentous works as president of Peru.

His autobiographical book was titled Autoconquista del Perú.

Death

Tomb of Fernando Belaúnde Terry, His remains were buried in Parque Cementerio Campo Fe de Huachipa (EsteLima).

Fernando Belaúnde died in Lima on June 4, 2002 from a stroke. His funeral was massive: the government of President Alejandro Toledo gave him State honors, a ceremony that was attended by prominent figures in Peruvian politics, including former President Valentín Paniagua, his successor as Party president People's Action. His remains were buried in the Campo Fe de Huachipa Cemetery Park, east of Lima.

Fernando Belaúnde Terry has gone down in history as an honest and respectful president of national institutions, as even his political adversaries recognized. The reasons that would confirm this assertion is that he died without having faced a single trial for corruption during his two non-consecutive governments; Likewise, his income and personal assets remained unchanged at the end of his two terms and during the time he retired from politics.

Centenary

In October 2012, the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Fernando Belaúnde was commemorated. For this reason, various events were held throughout the country. The Congress of the Republic of Peru formed the Special Multiparty Commission for the Commemorative Acts of the Centenary of the Birth of former President Fernando Belaúnde Terry. In the same way, the San Ignacio de Loyola University constituted the special commission for the Centenary of the birth of the Architect Fernando Belaúnde Terry.

Family tree