Important things are going on in Peru right now. The official version of the current presidential elections was that the fight was between neo-liberal Toledo and right-wing Flores. Yet here comes former pres. Alan Garcia out of nowhere (literally out of exile), past Flores and into the runoff.
Fujimori's fall was precipitated by his open concern regarding Plan Colombia. Within a few weeks of his fall and flight, Perez de Cuellar, the interim head of the gov., publically came out in support of PC. Smells, doesn't it?
Anyhoo, now Toledo is a sworn enemy of Venezuela's Chavez, meaning that he could be very handy for U.S. interests. It remains to be seen how much a battle-worn Garcia would and must play ball with the U.S. over 'regional security' (or whatever they're calling imperialism these days.) This could get interesting. Relevent article from Narco News appended below.
-d
David Jennings Colombia Support Network Athens (Ga) http://www.colombiasupport.net
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2001 23:27:30 -0000 From: narconews at hotmail.com Reply-To: narconews-owner at yahoogroups.com To: narconews at yahoogroups.com Subject: [narconews] Peru News Flash: Polls Close - It's Garcia v. Toledo
April 8, 2001 Breaking News
Polls have closed in the Peru presidential election, and exit polls show that the top two candidates will go to a run-off election in May: former World Bank employee Alejandro Toledo v. former President Alan Garcia.
Narco News reminds that for months, Clifford Krauss of the New York Times and other U.S. correspondents claimed the race was between two candidates expected to tow Washington's line and support Plan Colombia: Toledo and conservative candidate Lourdes Flores.
Days ago, Narco News (still on page one: see "Here Comes Garcia?) suggested strongly that Garcia, under the slogan "neither neoliberalism nor neo-fascism," could pull off an upset.
Thus, the Peruvian government's support for the $1.3 billion US- imposed Plan Colombia military intervention is now an open question. The May election will draw clear distinctions between the pro-U.S. position of Toledo and the historic anti-interventionist tendency of Garcia and his supporters.
According to exit polls, Toledo received 41.3% of the vote, followed by Garcia with 24.7 percent (prior polls had listed Garcia in third place at 18%).
The campaign was marked by savage personal attacks between Toledo and third-place finisher Lourdes Flores, making it very difficult for supporters of Flores (with 22.5% of the vote) to support Toledo in the final round next month. Garcia remained above the fray, praising all candidates and criticising the Fujimori-Montesinos regime that had deposed him in military coup a decade ago.
The final election will be held 30 days after the votes are officially counted.
You heard it here first...
>From somewhere in a country called América,
Al Giordano Publisher The Narco News Bulletin http://www.narconews.com/ narconews at hotmail.com
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