[1] Silva Ruete studied Economy and Law at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
[3] Silva Ruete served as Minister of Agriculture in the First Presidency of Fernando Belaúnde Terry (1965 and 1967).
[1] He later served as Minister of Economy and Finance in the cabinets of Francisco Morales-Bermúdez (1978-1980), Valentín Paniagua (2000) and Alejandro Toledo (2002).
[4][2] During his years as minister in the Morales-Bermúdez government he implemented neoliberal policies in accord with the International Monetary Fund.
[2] In 1984, he founded the political party Solidarity and Democracy (SODE) together with Manuel Moreyra and Aurelio Loret de Mola.