Alejandro Toledo

Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique (born 28 March 1946) is a Peruvian former politician who served as President of Peru, from 2001 to 2006.

Starting in 1970 he attended Stanford University, where he received a MA in education and a M.A. in Economics of Human Resources and, in 1993, a PhD in human resources from the graduate school of education.

From 1981 to 1983, Toledo directed the Institute for Economic and Labor Studies in Lima, a subdivision of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development.

During the same period, he also served as chairman of the Economic Advisory Committee to the president of the Central Reserve Bank and the labor minister.

Throughout his academic and governmental career, Toledo worked as a consultant for various international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Toledo has also been a full time professor at ESAN Graduate School of Business, one of Peru's leading business schools, serving as its Director since 1986 to 1991 and remains in ESAN University as licensed professor.

He led the 1989 UNDP/ILO mission for the evaluation of: "Impact of Macroeconomic Policies on Growth, Employment and Salaries", in six Central American countries.

He gained international prominence after leading the opposition against president Alberto Fujimori, who held the presidency from 1990 to 2000.

He pursued his undergraduate and graduate education at the University of San Francisco and Stanford University.

He originally joined the technical and academic field, from where he participated as an analyst on politics and economics on some occasions.

From 1991 to 1994, he was an affiliated researcher in the field of international development at the Harvard Institute for International Development.

He has also been a guest professor at the University of Waseda in Tokyo and at the Japan Foundation.

He entered politics when he founded the Possible Peru party, participating for the first time in the 1995 Peruvian general election.

Toledo entered politics as an independent candidate for the presidency (winning 3% of the vote) in the 1995 election in which Alberto Fujimori was ultimately re-elected.

In 2000, he managed to become in the largest opposition leader to the government of Alberto Fujimori, before whom in the midst of a controversial and bumpy process, lost the election for a second time.

After a transition stage, he participated for the third time in the 2001 Peruvian general election against Lourdes Flores of National Unity and Alan García of the Peruvian Aprista Party; he competed with the latter in the second round, winning with 53.1% of the popular vote.

His administration was characterized by macroeconomic boom, promoting foreign investment, the signing of free trade agreements, and the implementation of various investment projects in infrastructure and human development.

At the same time, Toledo suffered a governance crisis, scandals in his personal life, and allegations of corruption against his inner circle, signs that hit his popularity until he fell to 8% of popular approval.

In 2006, he founded the Global Center for Development and Democracy, an organization advocating sustainable democracies, and between 2009 and 2010 he was a visiting professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and as professor of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Subsequently, he would try to regain the presidency in the 2011 Peruvian general election, placing fourth.

He ultimately placed eighth in the 2016 Peruvian general election.

Following his presidency, he served as a distinguished resident member of the Center for Advanced Study and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and as visiting professor at the Center for Democracy, Development and Law Enforcement at the Freeman Spogli Institute.

Toledo has been a speaker at conferences in different countries on economics, social inclusion, and democracy, as well as a leader of his political party, the defunct Possible Peru.

On 16 July 2019, Toledo was arrested in the United States for an extradition order to Peru, as reported by the Peruvian Public Ministry.

On 8 August, attorney Graham Archer, requested a request for release on bail before judge Thomas Hixson.

On 12 September, the judge ruled his request for reconsideration inadmissible.

On 19 March 2020, he was released on bail.

On 28 September 2021, a U.S. District Court approved the extradition of Toledo, ruling that evidence presented in the case against Toledo were "sufficient to sustain the charges of collusion and money laundering" under the U.S. Peru Extradition Treaty.

On 23 April 2023, Toledo was extradited from the US to Peru.

Toledo was born into an impoverished peasant Quechuan family.

He was the eighth oldest of sixteen brothers and sisters, seven of whom died in childhood.

He was born in the village of Ferrer, Bolognesi, but registered in the nearby town of Cabana, Pallasca Province, Ancash Department.

As a child he worked shining shoes and selling newspapers and lottery tickets.

At age 11, Toledo finished grade school, his father expected him to leave school and get a job to support the family.

With his teacher's encouragement, Toledo was able to continue his schooling by working nights and weekends, becoming the first person in his family to attend high school.

Toledo eventually found employment as a news correspondent for La Prensa in Chimbote, where he interviewed several high-ranking politicians.

Toledo's prospects improved when two Peace Corps volunteers, Joel Meister and Nancy Deeds, arrived in Chimbote looking for lodging and arrived at his family's door.

The two Americans were drawn to Toledo by his "industriousness and charm," and his long conversations with them during the year that followed introduced Toledo to a world outside his small fishing village and inspired him to apply for a local civic group's scholarship to study in the United States.

He was chosen to receive a one-year grant, and while in the United States, Deeds and Meister helped him get into the University of San Francisco's special program for non-English speakers.

Toledo received a BA degree in economics and business administration at University of San Francisco by obtaining a partial scholarship and working part-time pumping gas.