Alan García, Two-Time President of Peru, Committed Suicide as Police Attempted to Arrest Him on Corruption Charges

!!!

On April 17, 2019, Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez, who served in Peru’s congress and was twice president, from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011, shot himself in the head when police attempted to arrest him at his home in Lima for alleged links to the Odebrecht corruption case. He was sixty-nine years old. Known as “Crazy Horse,” García began his career as a leftwing populist whose chaotic first presidency in the 1980s was defined by hyperinflation, rampant corruption, and the rise of the Sendero Luminoso guerrilla movement. In his second term, García shifted right to become a conventional neoliberal, and enjoyed a booming economy driven by exports of Peru’s traditional primary commodities. Placed in the context of massive, interconnected corruption scandals around the region, commentators assessed García’s probable legacy.

To read the full content subscribe today!