Ricardo Pérez Godoy Ricardo Pío Pérez Godoy ( 9 June 1905 – 1982 ) was a general of the Peruvian army who launched a coup d ' état in July 1962 and headed a military junta until March 1963 . Three main candidates participated in the Peruvian presidential elections of 10 June 1962 : Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre , founder and leader of the APRA , future president Fernando Belaúnde , and former dictator Manuel A . Odría . Haya de la Torre gained most of the votes according to the official results , one percentage point ahead of Belaúnde . However , none of the candidates reached the margin of one - third of the votes needed to become president . Therefore , the final decision lay with the Peruvian Congress . Haya de la Torre and Odría formed an alliance in order to install Odría as the new president . President of Peru ( July 1962 – March 1963 ) . At 3 : 20 in the morning at Presidential Palace , one of the thirty tanks stationed outside gunned its engine and rammed through the black wrought - iron gates . Manuel Prado , the constitutional President of Peru , was thrown out of office in a coup , just ten days short of completing his six - year term . Pérez Godoy , as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , headed the military junta formed by high - ranked members of the Peruvian Military Force : General Nicolás Lindley , commander of Peru ' s army ; Vice Admiral Juan Francisco Torres Matos , Admiral of the Navy ; and General Pedro Vargas Prada , chief of the air force . Once in the Palace , the four - man junta administered its own swearing - into office . The soldiers then suspended all constitutional guarantees , dissolved Parliament , arrested Electoral Tribunal officials " for trial " and promised " clean and pure elections " scheduled for June 9 , 1963 . Lindley was subsequently named Prime Minister . The military coup was condemned throughout the world : the initial reaction abroad was of disgust and dismay , something the military junta had not expected . Nine Latin American countries suspended or broke off diplomatic relations . The United States resumed diplomatic links with the new government after several months . Promising a " New Peru " , Pérez Godoy pushed through a 24 % increase in the budget and decreed new taxes to pay for it , including a one dollar - a - ton levy on anchovies that provoked a strike and threatened to close down the thriving fishmeal industry . And when he refused to approve the construction of a new hospital for Vargas Prada ' s Air Force and six new ships for Torres Matos ' national steamship line , the other junta members turned on him . Politically , Pérez Godoy was generally in favor of carrying out the promised June elections even if they should result in a victory for the leftist - turned - moderate APRA Party of Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre . However , in early 1963 , he showed more of an inclination to deviate from the original plan and to stay in power longer than initially planned . Overthrown . Warned that his comrades - in - arms were determined to remove him , Pérez Godoy tried to no avail to rally support among provincial military commanders and civilians working toward the new presidential elections in June . Air Force Major General Pedro Vargas Prada and Vice Admiral Francisco Torres Matos gave him an ultimatum : resign or be driven out . Pérez Godoy replied : " I refuse to leave . It is too late now to continue this conversation . I am going to retire . " He was deposed by the junta ' s next man in line , Army General Nicolás Lindley , who swiftly moved into the presidency on March 3 . Lindley restored the schedule for democratic elections and turned over the office of president to election winner Fernando Belaúnde .