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04/02/2006:

"Nationalism and Populism Propel Front-Runner in Peru"

MOQUEGUA, Peru, March 28 — In a presidential campaign filled with symbolism, the front-runner here found a perfect image for his hard-charging crusade: on Tuesday, he jumped on a chestnut mare and, with his followers sprinting behind him, galloped to the central plaza to promise to revolutionize this Andean country.

The candidate is Ollanta Humala, 43, who was seeking to evoke the image of the authoritarian man on horseback known as the caudillo. He says that if elected on April 9, he will waste no time before cracking down on the multinationals he says cheat citizens and arresting the crooked politicians he says have plundered Peru. As the leader of the newly formed Nationalist Party, he also says he will ally himself with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who wants to form a bulwark against the Bush administration.

Mr. Humala, whose first name means "warrior who sees all," is as populist as they come on a continent that has been swept by leftist leaders mining popular discontent with free-market policies and suspicions of the United States. His antiglobalization stance and talk of transforming the economy provoke fear in the entrepreneurial class; the stock market suffered its biggest tumble in five years when he rose in the polls.
nytimes.com