A Hero Reborn

Anyone standing in the hot sun of the Plaza de Toros on the afternoon of October 26, 1980, listening to the 15 minutes of cheering that greeted the announcement that Fernando Belaúnde Terry was present and would receive the dedication of the first bull, had to have been moved. The President of Peru, standing there bareheaded with tears in his eyes, was the most moved of all.

Twelve years before, tanks had surrounded the presidential palace in the Plaza de Armas. A startled and outraged President Belaúnde had been roused from his sleep, whisked to Jorge Chavez Airport, and flown to a 12-year-long exile in the United States. No one lifted a finger to protest the military coup, even though Belaúnde was generally regarded as incorruptibly honest, and the most idealistic visionary ever elected to office in South America.

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Selden Rodman

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Anyone standing in the hot sun of the Plaza de Toros on the afternoon of October 26, 1980, listening to the 15 minutes of cheering that greeted the announcement that Fernando Belaúnde Terry was present and would receive the dedication of the first bull, had to have been moved. The President of Peru, standing there bareheaded with tears in his eyes, was the most moved of all.

Twelve years before, tanks had surrounded the presidential palace in the Plaza de Armas. A startled and outraged President Belaúnde had been roused from his sleep, whisked to Jorge Chavez Airport, and flown to a 12-year-long exile in the United States. No one lifted a finger to protest the military coup, even though Belaúnde was generally regarded as incorruptibly honest, and the most idealistic visionary ever elected to office in South America.