Manuel Prado Ugarteche
Manuel Prado Ugarteche is the current president of the Republic of Peru and the leader of the Peruvian Democratic Movement as of 1962.
In-Game Biography
Born in 1889 to a wealthy family and son of ex-President Manuel Ignacio Prado, Manuel Prado Ugarteche is a civil engineer who became one of the major players in Peruvian politics during the 1940s and 50s. Rising through the ranks, he was tapped by President Oscar R. Benavides to be his successor, and won the 1939 election. Prado continued Benavides' suppression of the outlawed APRA and PCP. As the Nazis invaded Poland, Prado's government changed the course of Peru with a new foreign policy. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Prado publicly supported the US and the Allies to keep Peru's good relations with Washington, but he kept the door open for the Japanese as an option. By 1944, the war seemed undecided, yet the US still stood strong. So Prado kept his 'neutral' foreign policy, up until the fateful day that Pearl Harbor was erased in a flash of blinding light, and the US signed a conditional surrender to the Axis Powers.
Stunned by how the mighty northern giant had fallen, Manuel Prado was yet convinced that he had made the right choice, expecting that everything would remain normal. After his term ended, he left Peru for the US and Canada. He watched from afar as his homeland descended into chaos, then returned to a semblance of normality. That normality convinced him to return in 1956 to run for the 1957 elections, but he couldn't run without popular support. His close allies convinced him to form an alliance with Beltrán called the Alianza Conservadora Democrática Nacional and work with Manuel Odría. The fateful 'Pact of Monterrico' was sealed, where Prado would win the elections as the ACDN candidate, in exchange for sweeping Odría's corruption under the rug. In his second term, Prado lifted the National Security Law but kept the ban on the APRA and UR while releasing some of their most moderate members. He also worked successfully with Pedro Beltrán to stabilize the economy.
It's been five years since Prado became President, and yet so much more needs to be done. With elections looming, factionalism in the ACDN, the investment war, and the threat of APRA, Prado prepares to make his final moves before he leaves office. He will continue in his traditional tactic - that of doing nothing until everything goes back to normal. It has worked before, it will work again. Right?
Involvement
Manuel Prado Ugarteche is succeeded by either Fernando Belaúnde Terry or Manuel Arturo Odría as President of Peru after the election on June 10, 1962.