Sánchez Cerro, Luis Manuel (1889–1933)

Luis Manuel Sánchez Cerro (b. 1889; d. 1933), military officer and president of Peru (1930–1931, 1931–1933). The politically ambitious Sánchez Cerro, who was born in Piura, participated in three military uprisings between 1914 and 1931. The first ousted President Guillermo Billinghurst. The second, in 1922, was an unsuccessful rebellion against President Augusto Leguía in Cuzco. Imprisoned for his participation, Sánchez Cerro later was allowed to serve in the Ministry of War and to advance his training in Spain. Finally, Lieutenant Colonel Sánchez Cerro led the military putsch that ousted Leguía in August 1930. Opposition within the armed forces, however, forced Sánchez Cerro to resign in March 1931. Back from exile and embracing the support of the fascist Revolutionary Union, he claimed victory after the general elections of October 1931. As constitutional president he unleashed a harsh political and military repression of the opposition Aprista Party led by Víctor Raúl Haya De La Torre. Aprista members conspired to assassinate Sánchez Cerro, failing in 1932 and succeeding in Lima in 1933.

See alsoPeru: Since Independence .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carlos Miró Quesada Laos, Sánchez Cerro y su tiempo (1947).

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

Additional Bibliography

Adrianzén, Alberto, editor. Pensamiento político peruano, 1930–1968. Lima: DESCO, 1990.

González Calleja, Eduardo. "La derecha latinoamericana en busca de un modelo fascista: La limitada influencia del falangismo en el Perú, 1936–1945." Revista Complutense de Historia de América 20 (1994): 229-255.

                                      Alfonso W. Quiroz