Alejandro Toledo

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46th President of Peru
Alejandro Toledo

In office July 28, 2001 – July 28, 2006
Vice President	Raúl Diez Canseco David Waisman
Preceded by	Valentín Paniagua
Succeeded by	Alan Garcia

Born	March 28, 1946 (1946-03-28) (age 62) Cabana, Peru
Nationality	Peruvian
Political party	Perú Posible
Spouse	Eliane Karp
Profession	Economist
Religion	Roman Catholic

Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique (born 28 March 1946) is a Peruvian politician. He was President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. He was elected in 2001 defeating former President Alan García. Toledo came to international prominence after leading the opposition against President Alberto Fujimori, who held the presidency from 1990 to 2000. After his presidential term, Toledo left Peru and went to the USA where he was invited by Stanford University to be a fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies.^{[citation needed]}

1 Early years
2 Professional career
3 Political career
4 Presidency
- 4.1 Foreign policy
5 Post Presidential Activities
6 Personal life
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Early years

Toledo is one of sixteen children of a family of indigenous campesinos in the town of Cabana, Pallasca Province, Ancash Department. He grew up in Chimbote, a city on Peru's northern coast. His father was a bricklayer and his mother was a fishmonger. As a child, he worked shining shoes.

Toledo studied at the local state school, G.U.E. San Pedro. At age 16, with the guidance of members of the Peace Corps, Toledo enrolled at the University of San Francisco on a one-year scholarship. He completed his Bachelor's degree in economics by obtaining a partial soccer scholarship and working part-time pumping gas. Later on, he attended Stanford University, where he received a Master's in Economics, a Master's in Education, and completed his PhD in Education (in 1993) at the Stanford University School of Education. After working abroad, he became a professor of Economics at the Universidad del Pacífico in Peru.

[edit] Professional career

Before being elected president, Toledo worked as a consultant for various international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He has also been a regular professor at ESAN, Peru's leading Business School. From 1991 to 1994, he was an affiliated researcher in the field of international development at the Harvard Institute for International Development. Toledo was also guest professor at the University of Waseda in Tokyo and at the Japan Foundation.

Among Toledo's publications are works on economic growth and on structural reforms. However, his latest book, Las Cartas sobre la Mesa (The Cards on the Table), describes his political career which led him to found the party Perú Posible ("Possible Peru").

[edit] Political career

Toledo entered politics as an independent candidate for the presidency (gaining 3% of the electorate) in the 1995 election in which Fujimori was ultimately re-elected. He founded the Perú Posible party in 1999 and declared his intent to run in the 2000 election. Despite a constitutional controversy about his eligiblity to serve a third term, Fujimori also announced his candidacy.

Despite being a relatively low-profile politician, Toledo suddenly found himself leader of the opposition against Fujimori and he received the support of most of the other presidential candidates [1]. Despite this, Fujimori managed to beat Toledo, amid allegations of electoral fraud. Toledo refused to participate on a second round against Fujimori (which was required because no candidate had received a majority of the vote) and he unsuccessfully petitioned to have the election annulled. [2]. He later announced his withdrawal [3], but the National Elections Tribunal (Jurado Nacional de Elecciones) didn't receive this petition and proceeded with the vote. At the same time, the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights of the OAS recommended that new elections should be held in Peru. [4].

On July 28, 2000, Peruvian Independence Day, Fujimori assumed the presidency for a third term. Toledo led a group of protesters towards Congress. It was a massive, peaceful demonstration, but violence broke out and a powerful explosion produced the death of six people. It was discovered later by the Peruvian Judiciary that the explosion had been produced by the National Intelligence Service run by Vladimiro Montesinos, who has been indicted on corruption and bribery charges.

On November 2000, amid growing allegations of fraud and corruption within his administration, Fujimori agreed to having new elections held in 2001 in which he would no longer be a candidate. While attending the APEC forum in Brunei, Fujimori's party lost control of the Congress. Fujimori then went to Japan where he submitted his resignation by fax and claimed Japanese citizenship.

After the fall of Fujimori, the newly-elected president of the Peruvian Congress, Valentín Paniagua, became interim president and oversaw the already planned new elections on May 29, 2001. Toledo won after a close run-off election with former President Alan García of the APRA party. His margin of victory was slim (52.5% vs 47.5%), despite García's earlier presidential term (1985 to 1990), which was marred by hyperinflation, loss of public and international confidence and capital flight. Toledo's inauguration took place on 28 July 2001.

[edit] Presidency

During the five years of his presidency, the Peruvian economy grew at an average of six percent, one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Inflation averaged 1.5 percent and fiscal deficit went as low as 0.2 percent.^{[citation needed]} During his presidency Toledo addressed the task of reducing poverty. One of the main efforts on doing so was the creation of "Juntos" (Together) Program,which is a conditional cash transfer program directed at women in rural areas who are heads of household. It was initiated in the year 2005 with 120 million new sols and 100 thousand families benefited from the program.^{[citation needed]} For the year 2006 the budget was increased to 300 hundred million new sols to benefit 200 thousand families, in 320 districts throughout the nine regions of the country.^{[citation needed]} This program has the support of the United Nations Development Program. The current government of Peru decided to continue with JUNTOS.^{[citation needed]}

Alejandro Toledo (left) with Chile's former President, Ricardo Lagos.

The Peruvian economy grew steadily during 60 months at an average rate above 6%, then 6.4% in 2005, driven by private investments and exports.^{[citation needed]} Private investment was increasing significantly at the same time.

A lot of investment took place in the mining, commerce and agribusiness sectors. During his administration the country risk was among the lowest in the Latin American region. On July 2006 it was at 168 points.^{[citation needed]}

The economic recovery and the measures taken in the administration of the tax policy contributed to an increase in tax collection. The national tax burden reached 13.6% of GDP in 2005 and 14.9% in 2006. The Peruvian economy has shown one of the lowest inflation rates in the world.^{[citation needed]}

Alejandro Toledo (center), next to Lima's mayor, Luis Castañeda Lossio (left).

Alejandro Toledo along with South American heads of state, during the investiture of Chile's President Michelle Bachelet

[edit] Foreign policy

One of Toledo's major legacies could be the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, a free trade agreement signed on April 12, 2006. The pact was ratified by the Peruvian and US Congress and is now awaiting implementation which is expected to take place in 2008. Toledo has also pushed for an FTA with Thailand, which was to be implemented during 2006. In South America, Toledo has encouraged the start of the development of a highway to open Brazil and Bolivia to Pacific ports, aimed at enhancing the economy of southern Peru, and opening Peru to the trade flows from Brazil towards Asia. He is also considered a promoter of the South American Community of Nations.^{[citation needed]}

Member of the Club of Madrid.

[edit] Post Presidential Activities

In October, 2006 the Carter Center announced that it had named Toledo to join former U.S. President Jimmy Carter as a co-leader in observing Nicaragua's national elections on November 5, 2006. The Carter Center delegation also included 50 international observers deployed throughout the country. [5]

In November, 2006, Toledo was appointed a Hoover Distinguished Visiting Fellow in residency at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at his alma mater Stanford University. [6]

Since leaving the Presidency, Toledo has delivered speeches on international affairs [7] and written an op-ed piece on democracy in Venezuela for the New York Times. [8] He has not denied reports that he may make another run for the Presidency of Peru in 2011. [9]

[edit] Personal life

Toledo has been married to Eliane Karp since 1979. They were separated in the 1990s, but did not divorce. ^[1] They have one child, a daughter named Chantal who was born in 1983. ^[2] After a 10 year-long paternity dispute with Lucrecia Orozco Zapata, Toledo admitted in October 2002 that he is also the father of Zarai Toledo Orozco, ^[3] who was born December 16, 1987 to Orozco Zapata. ^[4]