Morales Bermúdez Cerruti, Francisco (1921–)

Francisco Morales Bermúdez Cerruti (b. 4 October 1921), military president of Peru (1975–1980) who took power from ailing nationalist General Juan Velasco Alvarado and led the military government, in power since 1968, through a gradual transition—the so-called second phase—to a revived democracy, inaugurated in 1980. Son of Remigio Morales Bermúdez, commander of Trujillo who was killed in 1939, Francisco graduated with the highest honors from the Chorrillos Military Academy and specialized as an engineer. Promoted to general in 1968, he was minister of finance during the first term of Fernando Belaúnde (1963–1968). After the 1968 coup against Belaúnde, Morales Bermúdez was again minister of finance in charge of refinancing Peru's foreign debt and, in 1975, prime minister. In 1975, he led the coup that ousted Velasco Alvarado. In 1978, after intense labor and social protests, Morales Bermúdez devised a schedule for the return of democracy through elections to a constituent assembly (1978–1979) and general elections in 1980. He was an unsuccessful candidate for president in 1985. After that, he avoided public appearances.

See alsoMorales Bermúdez, Remigio .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Daniel Masterson, Militarism and Politics in Latin America: Peru from Sánchez Cerro to "Sendero Luminoso" (1991).

Additional Bibliography

Gonzales, Osmar. Señales sin respuesta: Los Zorros y el pensamiento socialista en el Perú, 1968–1989. Lima: Ediciones PREAL, 1999.

Gorriti Ellenbogen, Gustavo. The Shining Path: A History of the Millenarian War in Peru. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.

Martín Sánchez, Juan. La revolución Peruana: Ideología y práctica política de un gobierno militar, 1968–1975. Sevilla: CSIC, 2002.

                                   Alfonso W. Quiroz