Alejandro Toledo was president of Peru from 2001-2006. The first indigenous Peruvian to be elected president, Toledo rose from a childhood of poverty to earn a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. He has worked for the World Bank and the United Nations. Toledo is the founder of the Global Center for Development and Democracy, and was instrumental in prosecuting his autocratic predecessor, Alberto Fujimori, for human rights violations and anti-democratic actions. Toledo spearheaded the ratification of the Organization of American States’ historic Inter-American Democratic Charter.

About

Alejandro Toledo was raised in the port city of Chimbote as one of sixteen children. He worked as a shoeshine boy until age 16, when he received a one-year scholarship to the University of San Francisco with the help of the Peace Corps. He later earned two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.

Elected in 2001, Toledo was instrumental in the prosecution of his predecessor, Alberto Fujimori, for human rights violations and anti-democratic actions. In the final months of Alberto Fujimori’s rule, Toledo pressured him to resign immediately due to the political instability that threatened democracy in Peru. Toledo instituted centrist reforms and promised ‘capitalism with a human face.’ He remained committed to the creation of new jobs and decentralization, a popular stance in rural and provincial Peru. Unlike most former Peruvian presidents, millions of Peruvians identified with Toledo, who expressed pride in his indigenous Andean roots.

Toledo’s administration spearheaded the ratification of the Organization of American States’ historic Inter-American Demo­cratic Charter. Toledo previously served as chief economic adviser to the president of the Central Bank and minister of labor under President Fernando Belaúnde.