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Odds & Ends
Storm Warnings
By Jim Plunkett

As expatriates, we shouldn't be concerned about the upcoming elections. We have residence carnets as IDs, we don't have to wait in long lines at local schools to vote with the Peruvians over 18, and we usually sit around while our Peruvian mates or friends go through the obligatory routine every five years and return home to watch the tube to see the results pour in.

The big problem is that we innocent bystanders turn out to be housewives, executives, small business operators, professionals, retirees, etc., and subject to whatever political decisions the local politicians deem adequate. The only difference between us and the Peruvians is we don't vote. This coming April 9th, those that have TVs and radios will be glued to them, since this will be the most controversial election in Peru since its independence from the Spaniards in 1821.

Talk about a democratic system! The election board has registered 21 different presidential candidates with their respective political parties and their respective candidates for Congress which add up to 1,800. There are all colors and sizes and shapes in the offering that includes seasoned politicians, former terrorists, a gay movement group, sexual molesters, left, right, and centrists, a former Army commander who lead a recent rebellion, and another rebel, his brother, who is running from a brand new prison outside of Lima, where he is awaiting trial for attacking a police station in Andahuaylas where four policemen were murdered.

If you are not familiar with the candidates and want to know them better, just step outside your house and look on the nearest telephone pole or empty wall and you will see their pictures and party symbols plastered all over the city. The scenery outside of Lima on any major or minor highway reminds me of the old U.S. Barbasol ads that adorned the countryside as we headed to New Hampshire on vacation.

Despite the abundance of candidates and the variety of democratic flavors, the short campaign period has produced three outstanding candidates: Ollanta Humala, Lourdes Flores, and Alan Garcia. The remaining 18 candidates have been fighting to at least get their people seats in the 120-member, one-chamber Congress.

The leading candidates include two well-known political figures and a newcomer who few knew until he rebelled in late 2000 against his commander-in-chief, President Alberto Fujimori, and the Army he served.

Ollanta Humala is 42 years old. He was born and raised in a family that put names of great leaders on their kids like Incas (Ollanta, Antauro, Ulises). His father Isaac has educated all of them well and insisted in their participation in the Army as a means of obtaining political participation, since Peru's history is dominated by military leaders. It worked. Ollanta rose to the level of Commander, spent several years in the jungle fighting Shining Path terrorists, and has been accused of violating human rights by the natives who see his picture on television. He naturally denies any wrong-doing and moves ahead with his campaign.

His rebellion at the end of the Fujimori regime with his brother, Antauro, also an Army officer, made him a minor hero. According to another presidential candidate, Fernando Olivera, Ollanta and his brother revolted in the southern Andes the same day that Fujimori's black-handed henchman, Vladimiro Montesinos, was fleeing the country in an old yacht from Callao. Olivera contends that Montesinos called Ollanta and the rebellion began in order to create a smoke screen to detract attention from Montesinos' escape. Others say the revolt was motivated by the discontent of Army officers like Humala who were being passed over for promotions due to internal favoritism. Humala and his brother were able to elude capture for a considerable time. The cat-and-mouse search served to make them into heroes, not only amongst the young Army officers, but the Andean Indians as well.

When President Toledo took office in July 2001, he decided that Ollanta was a hot potato. He was assigned as Army attaché at the Peruvian Embassy in South Korea, and later to the Embassy in Paris. He received a modest $8,000 a month plus expenses, and used his experience to rub political elbows. Meanwhile, his brother Antauro and a group of uniformed rebels stormed a police station in Andahuaylas to celebrate New Years 2001. They were repelled by local forces and reinforcements sent in from the capital, and four policemen and two rebels were killed. Antauro was captured with most of his rebels and imprisoned in Lima. From there he awaits trial while also heading his campaign for Congress. Another brother, Ulises, also threw his hat into the ring, and the three brothers have all been seen on posters around the country. The three allege they share brotherly love, but each has his own political ideals.

Meanwhile, their rebellious father, Isaac, continues to display his radical position along with his wife. Isaac claims that Abimael Guzman and Victor Polay, ruthless leaders of Shining Path and the MRTA, be released from prison since they are political prisoners and present no threat to society, and his wife says that we should shoot a pair of homosexuals and all the child abusers to set an example. After Ollanta spent 45 minutes with his parents while his wife waited in the car, they told the press they were now sworn to silence. As it turns out, they were resentful because they were not included in Ollanta´s political campaign group, while the parents of Nadine, Ollanta´s wife were. Family feud.

Hot on the heels of Ollanta is Lourdes Celinda Rosa Flores Nano (Lourdes Flores), 46 yrs. old, accomplished lawyer and politician, educated by Canadian nuns in Lima, who got her feet wet politically during university days. She became a stalwart of the international Christian Democrat movement and the right hand of local leader Luis Bedoya Reyes, a former mayor of Lima. Congresswoman since 1995 and outstanding defender of women's issues, Lourdes has enjoyed a clean record in a place where that quality is not too common. Running against Alejandro Toledo in 2000, she was close to achieving her goal, but the popularity of former president Alan Garcia, Toledo, and Fujimori & company - which was doing everything possible to stay in power led to her defeat. Like Humala, she also has a father that likes to make public statements. During that campaign, he accused dark skinned Andean Toledo of being nothing more than “a llama from Harvard,” which produced accusations of racism among the voters and hurt her. Lourdes has never led a rebellious uprising that I am aware.

Third and by no means last in this year's race is former president Alan Garcia. Alan was groomed for bigger and better politics by his tutor, Victor Raul Haya de La Torre, founder of the APRA party, who was highly respected internationally in the 1920´s and 30´s, but found strong resistance in Peru where his followers fought against the military regimes and suffered imprisonment for many years. Alan became Haya's fair-haired boy, and saw him as a future leader. He assured him a good education in Lima, where he studied law, and then a long stint in Paris and Europe where he had a chance to mix with the politicians, philosophers and socialists.

After leading what has been called the worst presidency in Peruvian history, Alan Garcia still professes ideas for a better Peru. Lucky for him, the young voters that were only babies when he was president 20 years ago don't remember his 2.2 million percent inflation in five years, the early morning lines to buy sugar and rice, and the unemployment figures. He declares “I would have to be an imbecile to repeat the mistakes of my previous government.” One of the mothers who used to wait in line told me the other day that she would have to be an imbecile to vote for Alan Garcia!

Despite the published polls appearing weekly from reliable sources, the real voice in the streets amongst the maids, caddies, and taxi drivers and salespersons in the markets appears to be supporting Ollanta Humala. He is young, dark skinned, has a handsome military cut that the ladies like, and the fact he was a commander and warrior fighting the terrorists makes him a macho-man. His cry is “enough of the traditional lies and corruption of the typical politicians sitting in your palace and your congress for so many years. It's time for change to help the underdog.” An admirer of former president Juan Velasco Alvarado, he also promises to take a closer look at all the international contracts of the foreign investors here, and refuses to privatize the Lima waterworks company that has not expanded services to the needy for some time now as the government has no money for expansion.

April 9th is election day. If none of these three get more than 50% of the valid votes, there will be a run-off between the two top candidates. Today it appears it will be between Humala and Flores, although the voice in the street confides that Humala will take it with more than 50% on the first round. Will Humala surprise everyone like Fujimori did in 1990 when a nobody took over after the catastrophic government of Alan Garcia? Will Peru return to a dictatorship, frighten off foreign capital, silence the press, nationalize mining and energy sources and control the currency? Only time can tell.

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