The international press views the Garcia victory in Peru as a referendum on Hugo:
The Times (UK): Peru snubs Chávez to choose ex-leader tarnished by failure
Reuters (at the NYT)
The result is a blow for Venezuela’s President Hugh Chavez, who sparked a diplomatic spat with Peru after trying to take advantage of a populist anti-U.S. tide in Latin America by supporting Ollanta Humala, a former army commander.
Not that it’s all clear skies ahead for Garcia; first he has to make himself credible, in view of his disastrous prior administration. Then there are also those 45 seats that Humala’s party controls in Peru’s 120-seat Congress, compared with 36 for Garcia’s party. The question is, will Hugo continue to pour money for Humala?
Venezuela News and Views has an excellent post on Garcia vis a vis Chavez.
Pajamas Media has round-ups in English; Hispalibertas rounds-up newspapers in Spanish. VCrisis and Elephants in Academia have commentary. Publius Pundit says this election tested Peru’s resolve as a democracy.
What happened to the so-called Latin American leftward shif that the mainstream media was touting?
