Francisco Sagasti

Francisco Rafael Sagasti Hochhausler OSP (born 10 October 1944) is a Peruvian engineer, academic, politician, and author who served as the President of Peru from November 2020 to July 2021.

Sagasti has worked as an advisor for economic development at the International Development Research Centre, World Bank, UNCSTD and the World Economic Forum.

He was appointed as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Technological, Industrial Research and Technical Standards of Peru (ITINTEC) from 1972 to 1977.

He was also an advisor to the Minister of Industry, Rear Admiral AP Alberto Jiménez de Lucio, during the revolutionary government of the Armed Forces, during which time as an advisor, he contributed to industrialization and technology matters.

From the ministry, Sagasti also advised the National Research Council.

From 1978 to 1980, he was Advisor to the Vice President of the International Development Research Centre in Bogotá.

Sagasti and two colleagues, Claudio Herzka and Hélan Jaworski, founded Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE) in 1980.

The World Bank promoted structural adjustment to Third World countries in order to establish austerity policies in the 1980s, with such policies being reported by UNICEF as being responsible for "reduced health, nutritional and educational levels for tens of millions of children in Asia, Latin America, and Africa".

In 1982 he participated as a Fulbright Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, and Columbia universities.

In 1984, he became a member of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development and served as president of the commission from 1989 to 1990.

He was Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Allan Wagner Tizón from 1985 to 1987 while also being a member of the Advisory Council of the National Planning Institute.

Sagasti was named Chief of the newly-created Strategic Planning Division of the World Bank from 1987 to 1990.

He became Senior Advisor to the Policy Evaluation and External Relations Departments at the World Bank in 1990.

After the 1992 Peruvian constitutional crisis, Sagasti left his position at the World Bank to return to Peru.

In 1992, Sagasti resigned from his position at the World Bank and returned to Peru following the 1992 Peruvian constitutional crisis.

He formed the Agenda Peru think tank to formulate plans on how to strengthen democratic norms and deter further political violence in Peru.

During this period, he also spread awareness and criticism of the authoritarian government of Alberto Fujimori.

He was kidnapped by the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) during the Japanese embassy hostage crisis in 1996.

Sagasti was released a few days later and returned to Costa Rica, where he lived with his family.

Sagasti, upon being released, brought with him a diary of the events with the signatures of MRTA members.

From 2007 to 2009, he was President of the Board of Directors of the Science and Technology Program (FINCyT) in the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in the administrations of Jorge del Castillo and Yehude Simon Munaro.

From 2009 to 2014, he was principal investigator of FORO Nacional/Internacional, an entity dedicated to promoting debate and consensus on critical issues for national and international development.

In the 2010s, Sagasti was a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Strategic Foresight Community.

He was reappointed in the position between December 2011 and March 2013 under the management of Óscar Valdés Dancuart and Juan Jiménez Mayor.

In 2016, he helped found the centrist Purple Party with Julio Guzmán.

Following the dissolution of congress in 2019, he was elected into congress in January 2020, serving from March to November 2020 as a Member of Congress, representing the Lima constituency.

On 10 November 2020, following a controversial express impeachment and removal of President Martín Vizcarra by Congress due to allegations of "moral incapacity" (a 19th century concept for mental incapacity), President of Congress Manuel Merino became President of Peru.

The impeachment was considered a covert parliamentary coup by many people, and after a less than a week of violent repression of the resulting mass protests, Merino resigned as the country's leader on 15 November.

On 16 November, Sagasti was elected by his fellow Congressmen to succeed Merino as president of Congress so that Sagasti could become President of Peru according to the presidential line of succession.

On 17 November, Sagasti became acting President of Peru.

Sagasti's presidency called itself a “transitional and emergency government”.

Originally slated to run for the Second Vice Presidency with the Purple Party ticket for 2021 Peruvian general election, Sagasti quit the ticket in order to commit to his duties as President.

His government coincided with the development of social conflicts such as the agrarian strike in Ica, Piura, La Libertad and Apurímac, which were resolved after the repeal of the so-called "Chlimper Law" that promoted investment in agriculture through meager labor benefits for workers from the field.

Sagasti concluded the convoluted 2016–2021 presidential term on 28 July 2021, which had been started by Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on 28 July 2016 and had seen four different presidents.

Francisco Sagasti was born in Lima, Peru, son of Francisco Sagasti Miller and Elsa Hochhausler Reinisch.

He is the grandson of the national hero Francisco Sagasti Saldaña, victor of the Battle of Tarapacá.

His mother's family emigrated from Austria and settled in Santiago de Chile.

He enrolled in the National University of Engineering, where he graduated with a degree in industrial engineering.

He attained a Master's degree (MSc) in industrial engineering at Pennsylvania State University, and completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in operational research and social systems science at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Sagasti has served numerous advisory roles over the decades.