Peru president gives poll warning

[Judi Lynn]

Last Updated: Friday, 10 March 2006, 00:57 GMT
Peru president gives poll warning



Mr Toledo (L) has better ties with the US than some neighbours
Peru's president has warned against damaging the country's stability, ahead of presidential elections in April.
"If you are not interested in building economic, political, legal stability then we will not have investment," Alejandro Toledo told the BBC.

His warning came amid polls showing rising support for nationalist former army officer Ollanta Humala.

In January Peru withdrew its ambassador to Venezuela after "interference" by President Hugo Chavez in its election.

Peruvian authorities were outraged when Mr Chavez praised Mr Humala and hit out at the conservative front-runner in the poll, Lourdes Flores, who he said was the candidate of the Peruvian oligarchy.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4791876.stm

[flordehinojos]

1. Judy Lynn, the Peruvians around here that I hear from once in a while

were a few months back hoping for the return of FUJIMORI to the presidency of PERU !!!!!!!!! (in my mind something that knocked the air out of me and left me wondering how on earth they could want FUJIMORE back)..whatever their reasoning, they all seemed not to like this "cholo" (peruvian word for peasant) sitting in their presidential palace now (although, I think I recall that they were all quite for him early on).

anyhow, my two cents' worth, which may be worth nothing at all.

[Judi Lynn]

2. It's something we've got to figure out ourselves, as we get so little info

on Latin American from our own corporate media sources, which generally only run the pro-Washington versions of everything, anyway.

Are your friends right-wing-leaning? That would make a difference.

There's a ton of searching needed to gain a decent view of what's been happening there. Some DU'ers are attempting to pool their found news articles in hopes we all can gain a better view A.S.A.P.

It's wonderful learning how many are really trying to acquire a deeper understanding, something which must be done personally, deliberately, as it simply isn't available without the personal level of study and investigation.

[arcos]

3. Actually "cholo" is a racist word...

Very common in Perú and other parts of Latin America, and it is used to refer to dark skinned, usually lower class people. Even though Toledo is a right winger, he was not very popular among the Peruvian high class because of his skin color, because he's a "cholo", not part of the traditional white oligarchy.

[1932]

10. Sounds a little like Batista.

Batista wasn't fully European (as Castro is, incidentally), but he was a right winger despite his (IIRC) black heritage in a very racist society.

[flordehinojos]

15. i think Batista's heritage was more that of the native CUBAN TAHINO INDIAN

which was nearly exterminated by the conquistadores...

[Squeech]

6. Fujimori started out a good guy

When he was first elected, Fujimori was seriously interested in real economic development, as opposed to the neoliberal version (where developing countries "open their markets" by allowing multinationals to buy up all their productive assets). Fujimori used to hold up maps of Peru and show how all the highways, railroads, etc. ran from the interior to the coast, and stated that all those roads had been built by the major powers specifically to deliver Peruvian commodities out to port, where they'd be shipped out. He countered that what Peru needed was a network connecting the various parts of the country to each other, so local producers could use their own commodities and deliver their own goods to local markets.

Then, when he got into office, he discovered that the previous administration had looted the treasury, and there wasn't any money left to do what he proposed. Maybe it was all a scam from the beginning, or maybe the process of trying to assemble a capital budget compromised him too severely-- but the ideas he propounded are still worth supporting, and if I were a Peruvian voter I'd think about it.

[NuttyFluffers]

16. fujimori is more complex than he's usually painted, that's for sure

the real ass in gov't was montecinos. what a monster! now, how deep the collusion between fujimori and montecinos, i haven't really found a 100% clear answer. but the fujimori scooby doo "mystery machine" search for fugitive montecinos was thoroughly amusing to say the least.

the corruption of peru, along with the general shocking madness at times, is breathtaking. having relatives there and getting the dirt on how things work and bits and pieces of info where one can find it elsewhere paints a strange and fascinating picture indeed. peru is a land of extremes, physically, and somehow it seems to filter into the social, political, and all other aspects of the country. it's true what they say about it, "tierra del milagros," it truly is the land of miracles. expect the unexpected there.

[David__77]

14. The Peruvian whites are racists, "left" or right.

The "left" in Peru is divided between white social democrats who want to maintain the current order, and others--primarily mixed and Indian--who see the need to realign society. Those with privilege usually listen to their class instinct, and in Peru race and class are bound together. As for the genocidal Fujimori, the cholera president, I hope he gets the justice he deserves.

[bemildred]

4. Is that Hastert next to him?

Given that Toledo's poll numbers are in the low one figures (Lower than Bush! Even lower than Cheney!) it's hard to think that this incoherent whingeing from him will have much effect on Peruvian politics. Most of what I see in the news about this election is push-polling and foreshadowing and spin, but one can infer that it's not a done deal from the uncomplacent tone about it in the press.

[bemildred]

5. The outcome of this could BTW be relevant to relations with

Bolivia and Chile. Chile kicked both Bolivia and Peru's asses in the fertilizer war 130 yrs ago or so, and took big chunks of their land in the process, which just happened to have lots of fertilizer on it. It's been a bone of contention among them and an excuse for militarism ever since. The confluence of Bachelet in Chile and Morales in Bolivia offers the best chance likely to occur ever to resolve that, assuming that someone in Peru is elected with a similar conciliatory attitude.

[NuttyFluffers]

17. to throw something in the mix, Arica should be changing hands soon.

unless the standing agreement has been renegged or altered recently, Arica was agreed by chile and peru to be a shared province waaaay back. it was to change hands every 100 years or so, and if i remmeber correctly that time should be coming soon for peru's management of arica.

the big cause for militarism in the recent past, from my readings and conversations, was peru's issue with ecuador and illegal drilling by ecuador deep in peru's iquitos teritory. oil and mining, all over again; it's almost like poison from the earth, isn't it?

[bemildred]

18. That is interesting.

There is the rail line also. Although I have not looked into it, I have read that in the past Chile has been lax in its obligations there. And I would suppose that one way to work towards a more cooperative situation would be to start with the old agreement and work from there. I'm not sure what there is left to fight about anyway, I expect the fertilizer is long gone, and the money made from it.

Extractive industries all pretty much suck, and they attract extractive people, who also tend to suck.

[Judi Lynn]

7. I was a little startled, too, to see him with Hastert.

However, it looks as if he has a lot in common with U.S. Republicans. He doesn't seem to have an overwhelming interest in improving conditions in his country!

We've had two different Republican registration fraud stories this week, which seems to easily compare to the first thing I saw looking for a google grab for Toledo:

Last Updated: Friday, 24 December, 2004, 13:15 GMT

Peruvian leader's sister charged

Toledo has lost several ministers to corruption allegations
Prosecutors in Peru have charged a sister of President Alejandro Toledo over allegations of electoral fraud.
Margarita Toledo, and 25 others, are alleged to have been involved in forging signatures to allow Mr Toledo's party to stand for election in 2000.

Mr Toledo has repeatedly denied that his sister did anything wrong during the registration period.

The charges come as two prosecutors quit a special anti-corruption unit in protest at perceived lack of progress.

Mr Toledo has been dogged by accusations of fraud over the collection of signatures supporting his Peru Possible party.

A witness who testified to prosecutors was also reported to have implicated the president, but he remains immune from prosecution while in office.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4123377.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He has also had a constant problem with personal scandals, and with corruption among his ministers. It'd be hard to know without taking a lot of time to study to discover if these problems are real, or were created for him by his opposition, like White Water, etc. for Clinton.

[bemildred]

8. "dogged by accusations of fraud"

Indeed. :rofl::rofl:

[1932]

9. Isn't Venezuela the fastest growing economy in Latin America?

Wasn't Argentina going down the drain before the rejected the Washington Consensus economic program, and is now doing great? Isn't Brazil doing great?

Doesn't anyone read Amarty Sen's arguments about development economics.

[bemildred]

11. That is unsanctioned growth and cannot be relied on.

It is all really just a fluke and has nothing to do with kicking the shills from the IMF and World Bank out.
:-)

[1932]

12. Brings me back to Globalization and its Discontents, by Joe Stieglitz

in which he points out that NO country following Washington Consensus economics has done well, while the countries which expressly reject it have had the steadiest and most broad-based growth along with reduced poverty. I think Argentina was the last country held out by the IMF as a model of success.

[bemildred]

13. Neo-mercantilism is what it is.

A small stooge aristocracy gets rich, foreign companies make out like bandits, the local economy is kept anemic and dependent, and the poor suffer and starve.