Francisco Morales-Bermúdez

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In this Spanish name, the family name is Morales Bermúdez.
Francisco Morales-Bermúdez
File:F. Morales Bermúdez.jpg
115th President of Peru
In office
29 August 1975 – 28 July 1980
Prime Minister Oscar Vargas Prieto
Jorge Fernández Maldonado Solari
Guillermo Arbulú Galliani
Óscar Molina Pallochia
Pedro Richter Prada
Preceded by Juan Velasco Alvarado
Succeeded by Fernando Belaúnde
(as Constitutional President, military government collapse)
Prime Minister of Peru
In office
1 February 1975 – 29 August 1975
President Juan Velasco Alvarado
Preceded by Luis Edgardo Mercado Jarrín
Succeeded by Oscar Vargas Prieto
Minister of War
In office
1 February 1975 – 29 August 1975
President Juan Velasco Alvarado
Preceded by Luis Edgardo Mercado Jarrín
Succeeded by Oscar Vargas Prieto
General Commander of the Peruvian Army
In office
1 February 1975 – 29 August 1975
President Juan Velasco Alvarado
Preceded by Luis Edgardo Mercado Jarrín
Succeeded by Oscar Vargas Prieto
Minister of Economy and Finance
In office
13 June 1969 – 2 January 1974
President Juan Velasco Alvarado
Preceded by Ángel Valdivia Morriberon (Minister of Finance and Commerce)
Succeeded by Guillermo Marcó del Pont
Minister of Finance and Commerce
In office
20 March 1968 – 21 May 1968
President Fernando Belaúnde
Preceded by Raúl Ferrero Rebagliati
Succeeded by Manuel Ulloa Elías
Personal details
Born Francisco Regimio Morales-Bermúdez Cerruti
(1921-10-04) 4 October 1921 (age 102)
Lima, Peru
Nationality Peruvian
Spouse(s)
  • Rosa Pedraglio (m. 1942; d. 1998)
  • Alicia Saffer Michaelsen (m. 1999)
Children 5
Profession Army General
Military service
Allegiance  Peru
Service/branch  Peru Army
Years of service 1941–1980
Rank General

Francisco Remigio Morales-Bermúdez Cerruti (born 4 October 1921)[1] is a Peruvian politician and general who was the de facto[2] President of Peru (2nd President of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces) between 1975 and 1980, after deposing his predecessor, General Juan Velasco.[3][4] His grandfather and all his original family were from the old Peruvian department of Tarapacá, which is now part of Chile. Unable to control the political and economic troubles that the nation faced, he was forced to return power to civilian rule, marking the end of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces installed by a coup d'etat on 3 October 1968.

Early years

Born in Lima in 1921, he is the son of Army Colonel Remigio Morales Bermúdez and grandson of ex-President Remigio Morales Bermúdez. He received most of his education at Lima's Colegio Inmaculada. In 1939, he was accepted to the Escuela Militar de Chorrillos (Chorrillos Military School). After his graduation, he was an important member of the Centro de Altos Estudios Militares (CAEM).

Political career

Morales Bermúdez achieved the rank of Brigadier General and was appointed to his first political post in 1968 as Minister of Economy and Finance in the administration of Fernando Belaúnde.[5] Internal problems in government forced him to resign after two months.

In 1968, after Belaúnde had been deposed by a coup, the military government led by Velasco asked him to return to the post of Minister of Economy and Finance. In 1974, he resigned again, this time because he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Peruvian Army. In 1975, he was appointed to be both Prime Minister and Minister of War.

Presidency

With Velasco's health deteriorating, Morales Bermúdez led a military coup against General Velasco and took over as President of Peru on 29 August 1975, leading the country through one of its most severe economic crises. He diverged from the socialist-leaning tendencies of first phase (1968–1975) of the Peruvian Revolution.

His regime participated in Operation Condor, the Peruvian services collaborating with the Intelligence Battalion 601 in the kidnapping of Argentines in Lima in 1980.[6] Around the end of Morales Bermúdez's tenure, a housing crisis emerged which started the Lost Decade.[7]

Legacy

The failure of his political and economic reforms was a blow to his administration, hampered by constant political pressure from all sides. A Constitutional Assembly was created in 1978, which replaced the 1933 Constitution enacted during Óscar R. Benavides's presidency; he also called for national elections the next year.

After the 1980 National Elections, he turned power over to a legally established government, headed by President Fernando Belaúnde.

After his presidency, he kept a relatively low profile in Peruvian politics, making sporadic speeches regarding the situation of the army.

In 1985, he made an unsuccessful run for the presidency, obtaining a fraction of one percent of the vote.

File:Francisco Morales Bermúdez (cropped).jpg
Morales Bermúdez in October 2016

Morales Bermúdez was prosecuted by Italian judge Luisianna Figliolia for the forced disappearance of 25 Italian citizens in the context of Operation Condor, a campaign run by the United States government of political oppression against the non-reactionary elements of the Catholic Church and independent nationalists orchestrated by the right-wing dictatorships of South America in the 1970s.[8] On 17 January 2017, the Corte d'Assise in Rome found Morales Bermúdez guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment.[9][10][11]

On 6 June 2021, Morales Bermúdez was among 63 former Peruvian military officials calling on the armed forces to "Otherwise, according to what is established in Article 46 of the Peruvian Constitution, the Armed Forces would have the right to non-obedience and therefore to ignore a person as President and Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces and National Police what has been appointed violating the Constitution and Laws of our country, being able to appeal to the Congress of the Republic to provide a democratic solution in accordance with the Law".[12][13] The Ministry of Defense of Peru issued a release where it clarifies that these expressions “do not represent the Armed Forces.”[14]

Morales Bermúdes turned 100 on 4 October 2021.[15]

References

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Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Peru
1 February 1975 – 30 August 1975		 Succeeded by
Óscar Vargas Prieto
Preceded by President of Peru (2nd President of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces)
29 August 1975 – 28 July 1980		 Succeeded by
Fernando Belaúnde
Military offices
Preceded by
Gral. Edgardo Mercado Jarrín
 Commander-in-Chief of the Army
1 February 1975 – 30 August 1975		 Succeeded by
Gral. Óscar Vargas Prieto
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