University of Virginia Library

Housecleaning

When asked to explain his secret, Mr.
Beltran replied, I put the house in
order, like any housewife." This meant
cutting expenses the country couldn't
bear—"everything that contributes to a
balanced budget," he added.

When Mr. Beltran took over, his
appointment helped reverse the
downward trend. The rate of exchange
stopped falling and soon began to climb
again, his wife points out, and this while
he was serving in his position for less than
three years.

"Of course," Mr. Beltran says, "in a
small country, it is easier to put through
measures like that — because it is like a
laboratory. You can do something and
feel the effect of what you are doing
without having to wait too long."

Mr. Beltran had an affect on Peru's
economy long before that. In the decades
before World War Two, he helped
establish the first agricultural
experimental station in the country. He
also introduced mechanization and crop
dusting to the country's agriculture. Mr.
Beltran was in the United States when the
war broke out. "I practically lived in
Washington until 1946, "carrying out
various tasks for the embassy.

"When the old ambassador died, the
president told me, "You're the only one
who knows everything." That is how I
became ambassador."

"As we had liberal ideas, we didn't
believe in dictatorship" Mr. Beltran said.

Mr. Beltran's semester at the
University is his first as a Scholar in
Residence and rather than teach a course
within the curriculum he will lecture "as
an outsider who knows about so many
world problems."