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in 1946 but Odría, who up until then studiously avoided politics, was tapped by President José Luis Bustamante to serve as interior minister. At this time Peru was racked by political unrest instigated by the left-leaning American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) under Víctor Paúl de la Torre. Once President Bustamante failed to take strong action against the rioters in 1947, Odría resigned from his position in the cabinet. A radical faction within APRA then tried to rebel against the government in October 1948 and, when Bustamante again failed to take strong action and restore order, the generals began calling for his replacement. On October 27, 1948, Odría staged a bloodless coup and declared himself head of the government. He then dissolved congress and ruled by decree until June 1950, when new elections were held. However, because Odría’s name was the only one printed on the ballots, he failed to establish his political legitimacy. The ensuing eight years have gone down in Peruvian history as the “Ochenio.” Odría went to great lengths to restore law and order to the nation and readily suspended civil rights whenever necessary. He cracked down on APRA and its adherents, instituting new security laws to stifle dissent. Taking a leaf from his idol JUAN PERÓN of Argentina, he shored up political support from the nation’s poor majority by enacting social and economic reforms, including wage hikes and creation of squatter camps in and around the capital of Lima. To improve Peru’s foreign image, he also began payments on its foreign debt for the first time since 1931. Odría then embraced a free-wheeling approach to market economics that liberalized the economy to bring in foreign investment, especially for Peru’s critical oil and copper mining industries. Fortunately the onset of the Korean War in 1950 led to sharp increases in export prices for most commodities, and Peru experienced a period of economic prosperity. A far-ranging program of public works constructed no less than 1,500 schools. Conditions worsened by 1953, however, and Peru’s economic gains slowly unraveled. Over the next three years Odría did little else but respond to public unrest with increasingly harsh repression. He gained further public enmity by flaunting his luxurious lifestyle and tolerating unprecedented levels of official corruption. By 1956 Odría’s presidency had all but run its course and he was convinced by the military and oth-
ers to stand down and permit free elections. These were won by Manuel Prado, a leading opposition figure. The general entered a self-imposed exile in the United States, where he remained five years. In 1961 he returned to Peru to found his own party, the Unión Nacional Odriísta (UNO), National Odriist Union, from former supporters and the rural poor who recalled his reform programs. National elections held in 1963 quickly dampened his prospects for high office when he finished behind de la Torre and the winner, FERNANDO BELAÚNDE TERRY. Determined to make his presence felt, Odría then struck up an unholy alliance with his old nemesis APRA, and their coalition managed to thwart Belaúnde’s political agenda over the next five years. When the military under General JUAN VELASCO overthrew the civilian regime in 1968, they also distanced themselves from Odría, whom they regarded as a pariah. He subsequently died in Lima on February 18, 1974, a former and largely forgotten dictator. Further Reading Atwood, Roger. “Democratic Dictators: Authoritarian Politics in Peru from Leguia to Fujimori.” SAIS Review 21 (summer-fall 2001): 155–176. Masterson, Daniel M. “Caudillismo and Institutional Change: Manuel Odría and the Peruvian Armed Forces, 1940–1956.” Americas 40, no. 4 (1984): 479–484. ———. Militarism and Politics in Latin America: Peru from Sanchez Cerro to Sendero Luminoso. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991. Szulc, Tad. Twilight of the Tyrants. New York: Holt, 1959. Zook, David H. Zarumilla-Maranon: The Ecuador-Peru Dispute. New York: Bookman Associates, 1964.
Ojukwu, Chukwuemeka (1933– ) president of Biafra Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was born in Zungeru, Nigeria, on November 4, 1933, the son of a wealthy transportation magnate. He was also an Ibo, a largely Christian tribal grouping that dominates the eastern half of the country. Ojukwu received a splendid private education in the capital of Lagos, and in 1952 he entered Oxford University. He graduated with honors in 1956 and returned home to briefly join the Nigerian civil service, but that year he also