July 28, 2011. Copyright 2011, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Peru prepares for a new era
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, July 28, Graphic News:  Peru's new president, Ollanta Humala, has said he is now "beyond ideology" as he prepares to implement his "programme of transformation" in the Andean nation, but many are still sceptical of the motives of the former army lieutenant and one-time left-wing firebrand. He will be inaugurated on July 28.

Humala narrowly won the second round of presidential elections after toning down his rhetoric and distancing himself from Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez, whose friendship cost him victory on his first attempt to win the presidency in 2006. This time Humala won mainly because the alternative was Keiko Fujimori, daughter of disgraced former president Alberto Fujimori, who has been jailed for corruption and ordering death squads.

Haunted by dictatorships and distrustful of politics, it seems many Peruvians again opted for what they see as the "menos mal", or "least bad" option, as they termed it when they first voted in outgoing president Alan Garcia. But their lukewarm attitude to their new leader could heat up if he fulfills a pledge to ensure a fairer distribution of wealth in a country where one in three people lives in extreme poverty.

Born in Lima in 1962, Humala is the son of a labour lawyer who climbed through the ranks of the army and fought in the campaign against the Shining Path Maoist guerrillas. In 2000 he led an unsuccessful rebellion against then president Fujimori, for which he was later pardoned. Humala then switched to politics, forming the Peruvian Nationalist Party in 2005 and fighting the presidential election a year later, losing to Garcia in the second round. He softened his image and swapped T-shirts for sharp suits to mount a second bid on the presidency in 2011.

Humala enjoys most support among dirt-poor indigenous communities, who have benefited little from Peru's recent economic boom. He has promised an anti-poverty programme, which would entail a fairer distribution of profits from natural resources, including a windfall tax on mining profits. Critics fear that this could drive away foreign investment and that Humala's true, radical beliefs could turn back the clock on progress in Peru. 

Humala's response is that he has shifted to the centre and that he plans to emulate Brazil's combination of sound economics and social programmes rather than the socialism of Chavez's Venezuela. He may have changed, as he proclaims, but he will need a period of social and political stability if he is to change Peru.
/ENDS