Peru's New Prez: Closet Chavez Fan?

Ollanta Humala says his commitment is to economic growth and social inclusion. Is it possible he changed his ideology and became the pragmatic leader Peru needs?

On Sunday, June 5, Peruvians had a difficult election to make. On the runoff for the presidential elections they had to choose between Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of the former President Alberto Fujimori now in jail for charges of corruption and human rights violations, and Ollanta Humala, a former military officer that led an unsuccessful coup d’état against Alberto Fujimori in 2000.

Keiko Fujimori and Humala both represented anti-system candidates in a country that thought had figured out the recipe to stability.

Humala had to tone down his rhetoric for this election.  This was Humala’s second try since he lost the last presidential election to Alan García.

In the last election he was associated with Hugo Chavez and with his family’s political movement based on extreme ethnic nationalism.  When the markets learned that Humala was leading the polls and started showing signs of distress, Humala suddenly described himself as an admirer of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his investor-friendly policies and distanced himself from both Chavez and his own family.

He promised that he would continue the economic reforms that had allowed Peru to grow at high rates during the last eight years but that he would tackle the poverty and insecurity issues.   Then again, when the markets learned that he had won the presidency last Sunday, the Lima Stock Market suffered its worst fall ever.

Humala said that his commitment was to economic growth with social inclusion. Is it possible that a candidate changed his ideology and became the pragmatic leader that Peru needs to join Chile, Brazil and Uruguay? Or was it just a discourse to win the Presidency and then join Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua?

Rafael Correa, the current Ecuadorian President also toned down his discourse when he saw he had a real chance to win. And then he followed the Chavez recipe: changing the constitution, packing up the constitutional court, the electoral authority, and most recently a naming a committee to reorganize the judiciary.

If Humala was honest in his promises, that could mean that the Chavez legacy is losing ground and more pragmatic leadership is on the way, something the region desperately needs to live up to its expectations of becoming an important world player. Let’s wait and see.