Alan Perez

Alan Garcia got married to Pilar Nores, an economist of Argentinian descent, in 1978. They met each other at a seminar held in Madrid, two years before they decided to tie the knot. The couple have four children, three daughters and a son named Josefina, Gabriela del Pilar, Luciana Victoria, and Alan Raúl Simón respectively. The couple divorced in 2010.

Alan Garcia later married well-known actress Carla Buscaglia.

Perez was born on May 23, 1949 at Lima city in Peru to middle class parents. He was originally named Alan Gabriel Ludwig Garcia Perez. Both his parents were members of the rebel group ‘American and popular revolutionary alliance’, also known as ‘APRA’. His father was the secretary of this outfit.

As a student, Garcia was completely devoted to academics. He joined the Pontifical Catholic University, located at Lima to pursue his studies in law. Alan graduated from the ‘Main National University of San Marcos of Lima’, in 1971.

The young Perez moved to cities like Paris and Madrid to study further. He returned to Peru, his motherland soon later. Perez followed the footsteps of his father, and in 1971, he joined the revolutionary party ‘APRA’.

Within a span of four years, Perez created waves in the party circles with his leadership skills. He was soon elected as the member of the Peruvian Congress.

In 1985, Perez contested for the presidential elections. Though he failed to attain the majority, he was still crowned the President, since leader Alfonso Barrantes of the ‘United Left Party’, who was also in the race, expressed his disinterest in the post. It was a historic event for his party. Not only did the revolutionary group come to power for the first time, but its presidential candidate became the youngest man to be crowned the leader.

However, Perez’s administration faced sharp criticism from the Peruvian public. Perez’s decision to nationalize the banks and prohibition of foreign debt payments led to the destabilization of the nation’s economy.

Another drawback of Perez’s administration was the increase in poverty. According to surveys conducted by organizations such as ‘United Nations’ and ‘National Institute of Statistics and Informatics’, the percentage of population which lived in poverty rose from 41 to approximately 55%.

The ugly state of affairs in Peru paved way for social tensions in the nation. The ‘Communist Party of Peru’ created a ruckus in various places of Peru, especially Lima. They vandalized electrical towers in different parts of Lima which led to many blackouts.

Though Perez’s first term as president was widely criticized, he introduced some positive changes in the country’s governance during his second term. The most important one was the attempt to maintain cordial relations between Peru and Chile. The friction between the two nations had worsened during Perez’s predecessor Fujimori’s tenure. The relationship became quite stable after Perez took over.

Perez was quite persistent that rapists should receive capital punishment, and proposed a law in support of this. He was praised for this thought which he had expressed even while campaigning for the post of the president.

Perez has also penned a dozen books based on the experiences of his political life. Notable among these were ‘El Futuro Diferente’, ‘El Nuevo Totalitarismo’, and ‘La Falsa Modernidad’.