Background
José Luis Bustamante y Rivero was born in Arequipa, on January 15, 1894. His parents were Manuel Bustamante y Barreda, a lawyer and district attorney in Arequipa, and Victoria de Rivero y Romero.
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José Luis Bustamante y Rivero was born in Arequipa, on January 15, 1894. His parents were Manuel Bustamante y Barreda, a lawyer and district attorney in Arequipa, and Victoria de Rivero y Romero.
He graduated from the University of Arequipa and began the practice of law with considerable success.
He participated in the revolution against Leguia in 1930, and has been a consistent liberal. Bustamante entered diplomacy when he was appointed minister to Bolivia, serving from 1934 to 1939, after which he served in the same capacity in Uruguay, 1939-1942. He was elected president of Peru in June 1945 for a term of six years in one of the warmest political battles in the history of Peru. His support came from a combination of the liberal Aprista party, under the direction of Victor Raul Haya de la Torre, and other leftist organizations. After a stormy three years in office, he was forced to resign on October 29, 1948, by a rightist military coup, and General Manuel Odría became provisional president. Bustamante retired to private life for a time, but in 1961 he was elected a judge of the International Court of Justice, and he was president of the court from 1967 to 1970. In the late 1970's he served as a mediator in the war between El Salvador and Honduras. He died January 11, 1989, in Lima.