Alejandro Toledo

Topics: Peruvian democracy activists, Peruvian economists, Peruvian people, Peruvian politicians, Peruvian Roman Catholics, Presidents of Peru

Alejandro Toledo (Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique) (born 28 March 1946) is a Peruvian politician. He was President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. He was elected in 2001 defeating former President Alan Garcia. Toledo came to international prominence after leading the opposition against President Alberto Fujimori, who held the presidency from 1990 to 2000. After his presidential term, Toledo left Peru and went to the USA where he was invited by Stanford University to be a fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies.

Toledo is one of sixteen children of a family of indigenous campesinos in the town of Cabana, Pallasca Province, Ancash Department. He grew up in Chimbote, a city on Peru's northern coast. His father was a bricklayer and his mother was a fishmonger. As a child, he worked shining shoes.

Before being elected president, 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). He has also been a regular professor at ESAN, Peru's leading Business School. From 1991 to 1994, he was an affiliated researcher in the field of international development at the Harvard Institute for International Development. Toledo was also guest professor at the University of Waseda in Tokyo and at the Japan Foundation.