José Luis Bustamante y Rivero (15 January, 1894 - 11 January, 1989) was President of Peru from 1945 to 1948.

Bustamante y Rivero was born in Arequipa and received his early education there. He received his Law Degree from the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa and his Ph.D. from the Universidad de San Antonio Abad del Cuzco in Cuzco. After a distinguished career as a teacher and legal scholar, Bustamante y Rivero became interested in politics. He began this new career by serving as a diplomat, representing Peru in various countries in the Americas.

He ran for President in 1945 as a candidate for the Frente Democrático Nacional, a moderate, left-of-center party that aligned itself with Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre's APRA party. Opposing him was the Unión Nacional Demócrata candidate, Gen. Eloy G. Ureta. Bustamante y Rivero comfortably won the relatively honest election.

As president, Bustamante y Rivero hoped to create a more democratic government by limiting the power of the military and the oligarchy. Conflict soon arose, however, between the president and Haya de la Torre. Without the support of the APRA party Bustamante y Rivero found his presidency severely limited. Postwar economic problems and strife caused by strong labor unions led to a military coup on October 29, 1948, following which Gen. Manuel A. Odria became the new President.

Bustamante y Rivero was exiled to Argentina. He finally returned to Peru in 1955. In 1960 he was elected a member of the International Court of Justice in The Hague and served as its President from 1967 to 1969.

See also

• Politics of Peru
• List of Presidents of Peru