The Sandspur

Issue date: 10/23/09 Section: Life & Times

Media Credit: Rollins.edu MR. PRESIDENT: Dr. Alejandro Toledo, the former President of Peru, visitied the Rollins College campus on Oct. 15.

When it comes to listing his accomplishments, Dr. Alejandro Toledo would prefer if you just Google him. It is just one of the reasons the 63-year old former President of Peru is no ordinary politician, even telling an audience during his October 15 visit to Rollins College that "The world needs more leaders and less politicians." Dr. Toledo is most certainly the former, a self-described "rebel" who ran for President because he "didn't want to have a boss." The down-to-earth Stanford Alum had an important message to convey to Rollins students, and the world.

"In order to build a multicultural world there's only one crucial element…education." Dr. Toledo wants you to know that once you achieve that education, "Latin America will be waiting for you."

Earlier that day, Rollins held a luncheon for Dr. Toledo in the Cornell Campus Center. There, five working class men and women formerly from Peru joined him, chatting and laughing with him over the course of the meal. It was a touching moment to witness the former president with the people whose working class plight he knew all too well, having been raised in an impoverished family in Peru as one of 17 children. Growing up, Dr. Toledo did everything from sell newspapers to shine shoes, and in reflection views his path out of poverty as "the result of a statistical error." Nevertheless, Dr. Toledo has spent his life "taking advantage of that error," gaining two masters degrees and a doctorate from Stanford University before returning to his home country. In 2001 he became "the first President of Andean descent to be elected democratically in over 500 years." It's something, he says, that weighs as "a heavy load on your shoulders."

Economics major Andrea Perez (Class of 2010) attended the luncheon in honor of Dr. Toledo with her twin sister Norah and was delighted to share with me her thoughts on his visit.

"It was an incredible opportunity to hear from someone who has been in the works of everything, has negotiated free trade agreements and who has had so much first-hand experience with poverty and economic development. He is just a real wealth of knowledge and I'm very excited that we had the opportunity here at Rollins to hear from him, many opportunities in fact."

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