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Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006)

He was born in Cabana (a hamlet in the province of Pallasca, department of Ancash), on March 28, 1946, within a modest family of the area.

The family activity was agriculture. His father was born in Ica and his mother in Ancash. In the 50's, the family decided to emigrate to Chimbote with the hope of looking for a better future. This period coincided with the fishing expansion in this harbor of northern Peru. Since a very early age, he had several activities to help with the family income, for example, as a shoes polisher.

Since he was very little, he worried about his education. He won several scholar literary contests and was named press corespondent for the newspaper La Prensa de Chimbote; he had then the opportunity to interview many politicians of that time, such as General Manuel Odría and the political leaders Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre and Fernando Belaúnde. During his spare time, he was altar boy at the church of his neighborhood.

A short time before finishing his secondary studies, he got a grant to study economy at the University of San Francisco, in the United States. To cover his needs, he alternated student life with different little jobs and the practice of university soccer. When he obtained his bachelor's degree, he entered the University of Stanford where he got two masters and finally his Ph.D. in human resources economy.

He was consultant for the UN,the World Bank, the IDB, the I.L.O. in Geneva and the CODE in Paris. He is a permanent professor at the School for Mater's Degree ESAN and, from 1991 to 1994, he was an associate researcher in economy at the Harvard Institute for International Development. He has been counselor for three Latin American governments and, recently, invited professor at the University of Waseda and the Japan Foundation in Tokyo.

In 1995, Alejandro Toledo created the party Perú Posible and ran for President of the Republic the same year. Alberto Fujimori was reelected. In 2000, he run again for president, becoming the opposition leader facing Fujimori's second reelection. Fujimori declared himself winner, participating in a second round, without opponent. Because of a famous video which revealed corruption acts and facing large demonstrations, Fujimori went into exile to Japan, from where he resigned. A temporary government assumed the Presidency of the Republic, in the person of Mr. Valentín Paniagua. In new elections Dr. Alejandro Toledo came out victorious, beating in the second round former President Alan García Pérez, the leader of the party Partido Aprista Peruano. His mandate ended in 2006.