in july 1962, lindley launched a military coup together with ricardo pérez godoy against the democratically elected president of peru manuel prado. they installed a military government, initially headed by pérez with lindley as the minister of defense. the junta's main goal was to organize new elections and transfer power to a newly elected government. when pérez showed an inclination to stay in power for longer than originally foreseen, he was overthrown by lindley on march 3, 1963. lindley stayed in power until july 28 that year when the election winner fernando belaúnde took over the presidency.