Manuel Prado y Ugarteche (1889 – 1967), was President of the Republic of Peru between 1939-1945 and 1956-1962 . He is the son of former president Mariano Ignacio Prado and Magdalena Ugarteche. He was born in Lima on April 21, 1889 and died in Paris on August 14, 1967. He completed his school studies at the La Inmaculada school and continued his professional training at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of San Frames; there he received his doctorate in 1910 with the thesis Essay on the pluviometric regime of Lima . He also studied at the National School of Engineers, where he received the title of civil engineer (1911). As a university student, he also followed military training until he achieved the rank of cavalry sergeant, and then that of cavalry lieutenant in a course organized by the French Military Mission in Chorrillos. With this degree he joined the army and was mobilized during the conflict with Ecuador (1910). On the other hand, he attended the First International Congress of Students in Montevideo (1907). Incorporated into university teaching, he was in charge, at the San Marcos Faculty of Sciences, of the Infinitesimal Analysis course (1912). A member of the Civil Party from a very young age, he accompanied General Óscar R. Benavides in his coup against Guillermo Billinghurst (1914); this participation earned him a promotion to lieutenant.
First Government of Manuel Prado and Ugarteche
He assumed the presidency of the Associated Electric Companies until he was elected deputy for Huamachuco (1919); from Congress he initiated a fierce opposition to the government of Augusto B. Leguía, an attitude that earned him exile (1921). He remained in Europe until 1932. Upon his return he was appointed president of the Compañía Peruana de Vapores and the Central Reserve Bank, and was elected, with the support of President Benavides, to the presidency of the Republic for the period 1939- 1945. During his first government, the country enjoyed an export boom favored by the Second World War. Prado also displayed that combination of tactical cunning, strategic flexibility, and personal charm that made him one of the most effective politicians in modern Peru. He had to face a conflict with Ecuador, achieving the signing of the Rio de Janeiro Protocol (1942), guaranteed by the United States, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.
Other works of his government were the creation of the departments of Tumbes and Pasco, the realization of the general census (1940), the adoption of the Organic Law of Public Education accompanied by an aggressive plan for literacy at the national level (1941), the establishment of the Peruvian Corporation of the Amazon to favor the rubber industry, the inauguration of the Obrero hospital, the construction of the fourth Obrero neighborhood in Rímac. Political measures were the granting of marshalship to Óscar R. Benavides and the immediate sending of him to Madrid as ambassador, the reduction of the persecution against the Apristas, although their illegal status was not lifted . At the end of his government, he emigrated to France and returned in 1956, when his candidacy for the presidency of the Republic was again postulated. His followers founded the Pradista Democratic Movement, which soon changed its name to Peruvian Democratic, because the adjective "pradista" could mean a cut in time as it was specifically linked to the figure of its founder and, furthermore, because that "legend" still existed. black" with respect to General Mariano Ignacio Prado, father of the founder, and of dubious political action on the occasion of the war with Chile.
Second government of Manuel Prado and Ugarteche
Incredibly, Prado was elected with the votes of Apra, a party that during his first government had been declared outlawed. That is why this management was called the “period of coexistence” . He immediately repealed the internal security law, including in the subsequent amnesty all political prisoners and those in exile. In economic matters, during his mandate, exports went through difficult times, with the exception of the “boom” of fishmeal, which lasted several years. In the political field, groups with a mesocratic and reformist tendency were founded and consolidated, such as Popular Action, the Christian Democracy and the Progressive Social Movement . As the end of his rule approached, popular discontent was undeniable. The low value of the currency, the rise in gasoline and his own personality, pompous and frivolous in difficult times, were criticized. In those years, the migrations from the sierra developed a lot and the neighborhoods around Lima increased, to the point of speaking with fear of the "belt of misery" that was beginning to surround the capital. One of these neighborhoods was Ciudad de Dios, a place where Prado had housing complexes built to eliminate the mat huts erected by migrants. In 1962 he was finally overthrown by a military coup that repudiated an alleged “fraud” in the general election.
Death of Manuel Prado and Ugarteche
Prado left the country and returned to settle in Paris. He made a brief visit to Peru to commemorate the centenary of the battle of Callao (May 2, 1866), on which occasion he was paid tribute for being the son of former president Mariano Ignacio Prado, who ruled Peru during the conflict with Spain. . He died in the French capital in 1967. He married, for the first time, Enriqueta Garland, and his children were Rosa and Manuel Prado Garland; and secondly, with Clorinda Málaga, without issue.