Alan García
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| “ | It'd be enough to repeal everything that this government has signed to put Peru back on track! We're going to give the people back the happiness they deserve. | „ |
| ~ Alan García |
Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez (May 23, 1949 - April 17, 2019) was a Peruvian politician who served as president of Peru between 1985 until 1990, and later between 2006 until 2011. He was also a constituent deputy between 1978 and 1980, deputy between 1980 and 1985, senator between 1990 and 1992, secretary general of the Peruvian Aprista Party between February and December 1992, and president of the same party between 2017 and 2019.
Biography edit
Born in the Maison de Santé Clinic of the Barranco District into a middle-class family, García met his father for the first time when he was five due to his father's imprisonment for being a member of the Peruvian Aprista Party. His mother founded the party's base in the Camaná Province of the Arequipa Region.
From a very young age, he accompanied his father to party meetings and became acquainted with future leaders of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA), such as Luis Alva Castro and Mercedes Cabanillas. At 14, he was already an immensely talented orator when he first gave a speech in honor of party founder Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, whom he admired and followed until his death.
García studied law, first at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru -although the official records of his tenure in this university were never found- and later earning a law degree from the National University of San Marcos in 1971. A year later, he left Peru for Spain, where he studied for a PhD in law.
For years García claimed to have earned a PhD; in 2014, however, documents from the university proved he never finished the work for it. In 1974, he travelled to France with other members of the APRA to study at the prestigious University of Paris I. After earning a degree in sociology, he was called by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre to come back to Peru in order to run for the Constituent Assembly election in 1978. García was elected a Member of the Assembly, where he impressed his colleagues with his oratory and skillful rhetoric.
As APRA's Secretary of Organization, he was assigned to conduct the party's public affairs in the wake of Haya de la Torre's death in 1979.
From his first marriage, García had one daughter, Carla, who is also active in Peruvian politics. With his second wife Pilar Nores, from whom he separated in 2010, García had four children. He also had another child from an extramarital affair with economist Roxanne Cheesman.
Already recognized as a young leader with a bright future in the country, he was elected to Congress in 1980. Two years later, he was elected General Secretary of the Peruvian Aprista Party. He was elected to serve as president of the Republic in the 1985 general elections.
His first government was characterized by being one of the worst in the recent history of Peru, mainly due to its extremely poor economic management that led to hyperinflation and various cases of corruption. His government was also one of the most violent in the Internal Conflict in Peru, due to the growing power of terrorist organizations such as the Shining Path or the MRTA. Due to the latter, in the prisons of Peru they began to torture and murder prisoners accused of terrorism, apart from a strong repression and the creation of the death squad Rodrigo Franco Command.
After his first presidency, some trials were started against him for corruption (which did not continue), and he was exiled for a time in Colombia and France, being an opponent of the government of Alberto Fujimori. He returned to Peru in 2001, where he tried to run for president, but was defeated by Alejandro Toledo.
In 2006 he won the presidential elections, and began his second term as president. His second government was not as disastrous as his first government, but it also had some cases of corruption, apart from having a conflict with the indigenous people of the Amazon and pardoning people linked to drug trafficking.
In 2019, a preliminary arrest warrant was initiated against him due to a scandal where it was discovered that Alan García had received a bribe from the Odebrecht company. However, before he could be arrested, Alan García committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.