18 May 2011

Peru: between AIDS and cancer

Peru is not a headline-making country for the last decade. Which is rather good news for a country that used to be torn apart by internal strife. Today, however, Peru is facing two unpalatable alternatives:

On June 5, a runoff election for president in the country of 29 million will offer two possibilities: Keiko Fujimori, the 35-year-old daughter of a former right-wing, authoritarian president who is imprisoned for corruption and human rights crimes; and Ollanta Humala, 48, a former coup-plotting army officer backed by the far left and allegedly financed by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. Either one presages political disaster for a country that has enjoyed 10 years of moderate, competent government along with South America’s highest economic growth rate.
And who better tell it than this man:
Mario Vargas Llosa, the 2010 Nobel literature laureate who once ran for president against Keiko Fujimori’s father Alberto, says the choice between the two is like picking between AIDS and cancer.
Soon we'll know which one Peruvians have decided upon. But in any case Peru is up for some interesting times.

5 comments:

jams o donnell said...

Pah the choices on ffer are not dynamic enough. Go President Ebola I say

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Sounds about right, I would say.

Dick Stanley said...

I remember when Japan idolized the authoritarian for having risen so high in a foreign country. Peru is kind of a one-trick pony. Once you've seen Machu Picchu, there isn't much left. Unless you like llamas. At least, if the lefty wins, Lori Berenson will be pleased.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Hmm... I thought about Ms Berenson too while reading the story.

Dick Stanley said...

Llamas and women wearing bowler hats, I should have said.