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New On The Freedom Collection: Alejandro Toledo

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Lindsay Lloyd

Watch the new interview with Alejandro Toledo, President of Peru from 2001 to 2006.  Following his presidency, he has become an outspoken...

Watch the new interview with Alejandro Toledo, President of Peru from 2001 to 2006.  Following his presidency, he has become an outspoken voice on human rights and freedom.  As President Toledo said in his interview, “Democracy does not have a nationality.  It’s a universal value.” Alejandro Toledo grew up in extreme poverty.  He was one of 16 children, seven of which died in childhood.  He worked as a shoeshine boy to earn extra income for his family.  At the age of 11, he won a contest sponsored by a Peruvian newspaper.  He became a correspondent, which afforded him an opportunity to meet some of the most prominent politicians in the country and sparked his interest in politics.  Friendship with some Peace Corps volunteers led President Toledo to study in the United States, where he eventually earned two master’s degrees. He pursued a career in finance, both in Peru and abroad.  When President Alberto Fujimori suspended the legislature and began to rule as an autocrat in 1992, Alejandro Toledo began to move toward electoral politics.  He formed a political party and unsuccessfully challenged Fujimori in the 1995 presidential elections.  In 2000, he ran again.  While early returns showed Toledo winning the elections, the Fujimori-allied election authorities gave the incumbent a narrow edge.  Facing massive fraud and an unfair electoral environment, Toledo urged his supporters to boycott or cast spoiled ballots in the runoff elections.  Fujimori claimed victory, but public protests and a massive corruption scandal led to his resignation in early 2001.  In new elections that year, Alejandro Toledo won the presidency with 52 percent of the vote. Alejandro Toledo was the first democratically elected indigenous president in South America.  In office, he focused on rebuilding Peru’s democratic institutions and on economic development.  He made empowerment of Peru’s poor and indigenous populations a hallmark of his presidency, implementing new programs in education, health care, and housing. In his interview for the Freedom Collection, President Toledo said, “Democracy without strong democratic institutions is very fragile.  If democracy does not deliver concrete and measurable results to the poor, people will not believe in democracy.” After leaving office, President Toledo established a foundation, the Global Center for Development and Democracy, to continue his work on democratization, development and economic empowerment.  He is a leader on democracy and human rights and an outspoken critic of authoritarian governments, particularly those in Cuba and Venezuela. Watch the interview with Alejandro Toledo here. This post was written by Lindsay Lloyd, Program Director of the Freedom Collection.