Political career
As President of Deltec, the bank operations mainly consisted in acted as a lender with high interest rates to local companies, governments and industries. Particularly, these loans increased the Peruvian debt and contributed to the financial crisis of the following years. Ulloa resigned from Deltec in 1967 and President Fernando Belaunde appointed him Minister of Finance the next year. In October 1968, a military coup led by General Velasco overthrew the Belaunde's Administration and Ulloa went into exile in Spain. His newspapers were expropriated by the regime in 1970.
In Spain, Ulloa founded an art gallery and took and active part in the tourism and property development boom on the Costa del Sol. He returned to Peru in 1977 and participated in the reorganization of Belaúnde's party Popular Action as head of the government planning committee. After the fall of the military government in 1980, his newspapers were returned to him and he was elected a member of the Senate in the general election of that year. As soon as he was elected President of the Republic, Belaunde appointed Ulloa Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. From 1980 to 1982 Ulloa worked to restore the country's credibility with the international financial community ensuring a healthy inflow of foreign loans and carrying out Peru's first ever thoroughgoing tax reform. In August 1982, the Prime Minister and his cabinet were interpellated for almost 50 hours and, despite Ulloa obtained a motion of confidence, he resigned four months later.
Ulloa returned to his seat and was elected President of the Senate for the 1984–1985 term. In 1985, he ran unsuccessfully for the Popular Action's presidential nomination, losing to Javier Alva Orlandini. Instead, he headed the list of Congress' candidates and was re-elected to the Senate for the 1985–1990 term. In the 1990 general election, he was re-elected to the Senate under the FREDEMO list.
Ulloa was well known for being a talented politician, a successful businessman and a reputed playboy and bon vivant. For many years, he was a member of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
He died in exile in Madrid, Spain in 1992 in aftermath of the 1992 constitutional crisis.