César Trelles Lara was born on May 3, 1936, in Morropón District, Morropón Province, Piura, Peru. He belonged to the ranks of the Peruvian Aprista Party from a very young age. Trelles studied dentistry at the National University of San Marcos, graduating in 1960 as a dental surgeon. Likewise, between 1978 and 1982, he taught dentistry at the Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal, and simultaneously served as National Secretary of Popular Urbanizations within his party.
Career
Trelles was elected to the lower house of the Peruvian Congress for Piura in 1980. He was reelected in 1985 and 1990. His last term in office was interrupted by the self-coup given by president Alberto Fujimori on April 5, 1992. In 2000, he was elected Secretary General of the Peruvian Aprista Party in Piura, a position he would resign to run as a candidate for the first governorship election in Piura. In November 2002 he was elected Governor of Piura, a position he officially took on January 1, 2003. His tenure was not without criticism, many of which arose from within his party. In November 2004, a former manager in the region denounced to the media that Trelles was filling up positions in the regional government with party members, and that this was leading to great inefficiency in the administration. In July 2006, party congressman José Carrasco Távara emphasized his criticism of Trelles and accepted an internal resolution by his party's electoral body, declaring a nullification of his candidacy for the 2006 regional elections for having pending with the Peruvian State. Despite this, his re-election prospered amid internal strife, attaining 24.71% of the popular votes, 18 thousand votes over his main opponent, Javier Atkins. Subsequently, he unsuccessfully sought his second reelection in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 regional elections. On April 19, 2019, Trelles and a group of party leaders from Piura were involved in a deadly car-accident while traveling to Lima to attend the wake of Alan García at the party headquarters. He was taken by helicopter to a Lima hospital in critical condition. The accident left him incapacitated due to his age.
Presidency of the PAP (2019–)
On October 27, 2019, Trelles was elected president of the Peruvian Aprista Party, defeating former congressman Carlos Roca Cáceres. The leadership election was controversial, amid with accusations of fraud and favoritism towards Trelles' list, which involved former congressman Mauricio Mulder as Chairman of the Political Commission, and current secretary-generals Elías Rodríguez and Benigno Chirinos. His accident was brought to light by the losing side as they suggested that Trelles was not even aware of him running for the position due to his medical condition. Pundits view his election as an intent by Mulder, Rodríguez and Chirinos to continue manipulating the party's leadership, as the presidency is a more honorific position for the late Alan García.
