You have
to feel sorry for Peru,
having to choose between Alan Garcia or Ollanta Humala. In fact, Chavez seems
to be a hybrid between the two: Humala is a former military populist who uses a confrontational style; Alan
Garcia is a populist social democrat. Garcia allowed corruption to be rampant
during his term in office while he innovated in economic matters to levels that
almost drove Peru
to bankruptcy, disregarding all economic knowledge. He thought he knew better.
Sound familiar? Maybe that is why Chavez dislikes him so much, they are so
similar. Chavez now criticizes
Toledo for
siding with Garcia, but all Toledo
was doing was asking Chavez to stay out of Peru’s
Presidential race. Curiously while Peru recalled its Ambassador, Venezuela
announced it will not do the same. This is obvious; Chavez and Humala need a
conduit for Venezuela's
help in the Peruvian Presidential race. Jorge Rodriguez has been advising
Humala, now that he is an "expert" on electoral shenanigans.
Chavez seems to be extending abroad the style in which he has treated his
fellow countrymen. It is the same confrontational style, disregarding civilized
concepts of coexistence and diplomacy. Alan Garcia seems to be snapping back at Chavez
at every turn, suggesting to me that his advisors think that he will gain form
this. I think he will, given the image that Humala has within Peru and the fact that over 70% of the voters are looking for whom to vote. Garcia said Chavez was hypocritical as he mantained very good relations with the US.
Petkoff also got into the argument,
challenging Chavez to break relations with the US and not to threaten smaller
countries, saying this is typical behavior of a bully.
All in
all, a very depressing scenario for our neighbor Peru, only Fujimori seems to be
missing from the picture to make matters even worse. (But some of his formers
advisors seems to be floating around Humala). Come election day, it will just be a matter of which of the two candidates can destroy Peru faster. If experience counts, Garcia has the upper hand. If not, Humala leads. What a depressing choice!
8:53:42 PM 
|
|
