July 18, 1962 - The Peruvian armed forces overthrew and imprisoned President Manuel Prado y Ugarteche today in a coup d’état. A military junta formed by the four members of the Joint Command of the armed forces seized power after a month-long political crisis. Congress was barred from convening. A military Cabinet assumed office, and constitutional guarantees were suspended. Maj. Gen. Ricardo Perez Godoy (pictured), President of the Joint Command, was sworn in as head of the junta before a cheering crowd at the Presidential Palace. The seizure of power by the military followed a political crisis that began June 28 when the armed forces charged that the June 10 national elections were fraudulent. The elections were to determine a successor to President Prado and a new Congress. The armed forces demanded annulment of the vote, but the National Electoral Board refused to yield.
