In 1908 he succeeded José Pardo (a succession event that would occur again in 1919) after being elected president for the first time by an alliance of the Civil and Constitutional parties. Some of Leguía's first actions were to institute social and economic reforms in an attempt to industrialize Peru and turn it into a modern capitalist society.
On May 29, 1909, a group of citizens (supporters of Piérola's Democratic Party) managed to force their entry into the Palacio de Gobierno demanding the resignation of Leguía. Among ...
After 11 years in power and the world depression affecting Peru by ending the flow of foreign capital investments, his government was finally overthrown by a coup in August 22, 1930, by Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro in Arequipa. Leguía was arrested and charged with misappropriating government funds. He remained in confinement in the Panóptico of Lima, and passed away at a naval hospital on February 6, 1932.
Se ...
In 1919, he again sought the presidency of Peru by trying to succeed José Pardo. Fearing that the former president's government along with the Civilist Parliament would not recognise his victory, he launched a successful military coup, which led Leguía to succeed Pardo as an interim president. He then proceeded to dissolve Congress and the new parliament elected him constitutional president of Peru.
Leguía changed the Peruvian constitution (which had the longest continuance since 1860), and promulgated a new one in 1920, which was ...
Leguía y Salcedo was born in Lambayeque in 1863 to one of the most distinguished families of the Peruvian oligarchy. Educated in Valparaíso, Chile, he served in the Peruvian army during the War of the Pacific (1879-1881).
After the war he moved to the United States and became an insurance executive with the New York Life Insurance Company. By the 1900s, Leguía had become very wealthy and decided to return to Peru. He entered politics in 1903 at the urging of Manuel Candamo (the then leader of the Civilista Party) and also of José ...
