Pubdate: Fri, 07 Apr 2006 Source: USA Today (US) Page: 8A Copyright: 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc Contact: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466 Author: Danna Harman, USA Today Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ollanta+Humala Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Peru Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Evo+Morales Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Bolivia Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/coca POPULIST CANDIDATE SEEN AS PERUVIAN CHVEZ LIMA, Peru -- If Ollanta Humala, a retired army officer with no governing experience, wins Sunday's presidential election, he may become the South American leader who most worries Washington. "He falls in the same league" as Latin America's two left-leaning leaders: Venezuela's Hugo Chvez and Bolivia's Evo Morales, says Dennis Jett, U.S. ambassador to Peru from 1996 to 1999. "He is just as wacky as Chvez and Morales, and perhaps more unpredictable, because, basically, his only experience is an attempted coup d'etat and as a human rights abuser." Until a few months ago, Humala, 43, was known mainly for leading a failed military uprising against former president Alberto Fujimori in 2000 and allegations that as commander of a jungle counterinsurgency base, he ordered the torture and killing of suspected leftist guerrilla sympathizers in 1992. Humala denies the abuse charges. While many Peruvians once considered him too controversial to be elected, Humala is in a tight race against Lourdes Flores, 46, a conservative, pro-business former congresswoman. A poll released Thursday by the CPI polling company showed Lourdes with 28% support compared with 26% for Humala. Former president Alan Garcia, 56, trailed with 25%. The survey had a margin of error of +/-2.1 percentage points. If none of the 20 candidates gets more than 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held. "Humala looks more unstoppable by the minute, whether in the first or second round," says Alvaro Vargas Llosa, a Latin America expert at the Independent Institute, a think tank in Oakland. "In fact, the polls are probably underestimating his overall support because of the technical difficulties of measuring the rural vote." Humala is reaching out to Peru's impoverished majority with proposals that include renegotiating contracts and increasing taxes for foreign-owned oil and mining companies -- similar to what Chvez and Morales are doing in their countries. Peru is the world's third-largest copper producer and last year overtook Russia to become the fifth-largest gold miner. The economy grew by more than 4% a year from 2002 to 2005, but more than 50% of the population lives below the poverty line. Humala wants to alter the free-trade agreement Peru signed with the United States in December. He also vows to end U.S.-sponsored coca-eradication programs, much as Morales has begun to do in Bolivia. Peru is the world's second-biggest coca-leaf provider. What is Humala's appeal? Peru has a tradition of electing leaders who are not government or political insiders. Renowned novelist Mario Vargas Llosa lost presidential elections in 1990 to Fujimori, a son of Japanese immigrants and a little-known dean of an agricultural university in Lima. In 2001, Alejandro Toledo, a former shoeshine boy who became a World Bank consultant, was elected with no government experience. Humala's friendship with Chvez, who has endorsed his candidacy, has helped his image as an anti-establishment figure. Chvez has called Humala -- who grew up in a middle-class Lima area -- the "voice of Peru's downtrodden." At a rally Wednesday night in Lima, photocopy shop worker Edgardo Oliveres admitted he was "not really sure about who Humala is, or what he will do." Even so, Oliveres said he is sure Humala is the best option. "At least with Humala, as we don't know him, there is a chance he will surprise us." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake