Manuel Arturo Odría Amoretti (26 November 1896 – 18 February 1974) was a military officer who served as the 45th
President of Peru
The president of Peru ( es, link=no, presidente del Perú), officially called the president of the Republic of Peru ( es, link=no, presidente de la República del Perú), is the head of state and head of government of Peru. The president is th ...
, essentially ruling as a military dictator.
Biography
Early life and military career
Manuel Odría was born in 1896 in
Tarma
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, a city in the central
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
just east of
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...
. He graduated first in his class from the Chorillos Military Academy in 1915. He joined the army and as a Lieutenant Colonel was a war hero in the 1941
Ecuadorian–Peruvian War
The Ecuadorian–Peruvian War, known locally as the War of '41 ( es, link=no, Guerra del 41), was a South American border war fought between 5–31 July 1941. It was the first of three military conflicts between Ecuador and Peru during the 20th ...
. He soon achieved the rank of Major General.
1948 Peruvian coup d’etat and Presidency
In 1945,
José Bustamante had attained the presidency with the help of the
American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA). Soon, major disagreements arose between
Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre
Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (February 22, 1895 – August 2, 1979) was a Peruvian politician, philosopher, and author who founded the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) political movement, the oldest currently existing political ...
, the founder of APRA, and President Bustamante. The President disbanded his Aprista cabinet and replaced it with a mostly military one. Odría, a fierce opponent of APRA, was appointed Minister of Government and Police. In 1948, Odría and other
right-wing elements urged Bustamante to ban APRA. When the President refused, Odría resigned his post. On October 27, 1948, he led a successful military
coup against the government and took over as president. After two years, he resigned and had one of his colleagues,
Zenón Noriega, take office as a puppet president so he could run for president as a civilian. He was duly elected a month later as the only candidate.
Odría came down hard on APRA, momentarily pleasing the oligarchy and all others on the right. Like
Juan Perón, he followed a
populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
course that won him great favor with the poor and lower classes. A thriving economy allowed him to indulge in expensive but crowd-pleasing social policies. At the same time, however,
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
in the nation were severely restricted and
corruption was rampant throughout his régime. People feared that his dictatorship would run indefinitely; they were surprised when Odría legalized opposition parties in 1956 and called fresh elections. He did not run for office. He was succeeded by a former president,
Manuel Prado.
1962 and 1963 general elections
When national elections were held again in 1962, Odría ran as a right-wing candidate for the ''
Unión Nacional Odriista'' party. None of the three major candidates - Odría, Haya de la Torre and
Fernando Belaúnde - received the required one third of the vote to win with a plurality. It appeared that Odría would win the Presidency in Congress, after having made a deal with
Haya de la Torre, but a military coup removed President Prado from office a few days before his term ended. Elections were held again in 1963, with the same three major candidates. This time Belaúnde won with 39% of the vote.
During the Belaúnde administration, Odría made an alliance with Haya de la Torre to create a single opposition block in Parliament, which became known as the ''APRA-UNO Coalition''. As a political force, they managed to create strong parliamentary opposition to President Belaúnde, who was forced to make important concessions to the Coalition in order to get most of his party-sponsored legislation enacted. The Coalition suffered a setback after losing the elections for mayor in the capital, Lima.
Later life and death
After the military coup that overthrew Belaúnde in 1968, Odría kept a low profile in Peruvian politics until his death in 1974.
Personal life
Odría has descendants currently active in Peruvian politics. They are Enrique Odría Sotomayor
and Brenda Odria Loayza,
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odria, Manuel A.
1896 births
1974 deaths
Leaders who took power by coup
Peruvian generals
Presidents of Peru
Odriist National Union politicians
Peruvian people of Basque descent
Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany