Word: humala
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...ballot. They might even wonder which South American country they are in. Former President Alan Garcìa, the pre-election favorite, is easily identifiable, but he has made his opponent a little harder to pin down. While Garcìa, 57, is pitted against retired Army colonel Ollanta Humala, 43, his comments in the waning days of the race make it seem as if he is running against Venezuela's leftist president Hugo Chávez. In his final campaign swing and last-minute TV ads, Garcìa tells voters that they have a clear choice, voting...
...This is the decision," he booms, totally avoiding Humala's name in nearly an hour on the stump. Garcìa and Chávez have been trading insults for months, since the Venezuelan leader began openly supporting Humala and attacking Garcìa, other candidates and Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo. "Hugo Chávez is helping us every time he speaks. And Humala does not understand this," says Enrique Cornejo, Garcìa's chief economic advisor...
...With only five days to go in the race, for instance, Montesinos managed to write and smuggle out of prison a 41-page booklet alleging that Chávez and Cuban President Fidel Castro have manipulated Humala, using him as a pawn to spread social unrest. Along the way, both candidates have been pelted with rocks and rotting vegetables, and six people were hurt when shots were fired during a Garcìa rally. Outgoing President Toledo has warned that "paid disturbances" could be in the works for election...
...Since advancing to a run-off with Humala, Garcìa has moved to the right, deciding to support Peru's recently signed free-trade agreement with the United States and toning down his earlier calls for a revision of tax breaks for foreign mining companies. The transformation has paid off; he has led in every poll since April. "Garcìa has run the better campaign, appealing to voters who want change but are weary of Humala's radical position and his ties to Chávez. Garcìa has exploited these fears," says former Foreign Minister Diego...
...Those fears of Humala, who came in first in the initial voting on April 9 after having only polled in the single digits last year, stem from his complicated, controversial background. His father is the founder of an ultranationalist, neo-Marxist movement that preaches the superiority of indigenous Peruvians over the country's descendants of the Spanish and promotes violence against those lighter-skinned elite. His mother has railed against homosexuality, while his young brother is in prison for leading an army reservists' attack on a police station last year that killed four officers...