Peruvians go to the polls today

like i posted last sunday, let's see if they decide to veer left like a big chunk of latin america has already done... ollanta humala is still the front-runner...

Ollanta Humala, a nationalistic ex-military commander, says wealth must be distributed more broadly -- even if that means defying some of the multinational corporations and foreign governments that have tried to draw Peru further into the international economy. Humala's supporters are unruffled by critics who compare him to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, another self-described revolutionary and his friend.

Polls show Humala, 43, with a slight lead over Lourdes Flores Nano, a former congresswoman who supports free markets, and former president Alan Garcia, who left office in 1990 at a time of runaway inflation and regular terrorist attacks by Maoist guerrilla groups. If none of the candidates gets a majority of the vote, the top two finishers will face off in a second round in May.

but the wapo, ever the capitalist organ, finds the silver lining...

Even if Peru, like Venezuela and Bolivia, elects a socialist firebrand promising deep social and economic restructuring, it won't necessarily reflect a clear shift to the ideological left in the neighborhoods and villages.

[...]

Discourse on right-vs.-left, free trade and the importance of democratic institutions mean little to most Humala supporters . . .

well, duh... of course they don't give a rip about democratic institutions and free trade... those are the codewords of the global power and money brokers who want unfettered access to every economy that can serve to increase their hold on both... the average schmoes in peru just want what every other average schmoe in this world wants - a roof over his or her head, food to eat, enough coming in to take care of the family, a few of the goodies it seems that everybody should have these days (tv, phone, decent clothes, some toys for the kids), and a little bit of day-to-day safety and security... they're not asking a lot, honest...

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