Peru

The Peruvian presidential elections are coming right up (April 9) and Marcela Sanchez at the Washington Post offers a very sobering look. For example:

18% of Peruvians say they live in a democracy
60% say they do not care about democracy or know how to define it

Such disgust leads to presidents like Fujimori, and could potentially lead to Ollanta Humala, who has a Chávez-style background in terms of having led a military rebellion (albeit much smaller) having no political experience, and offering populist-leftist rhetoric. How he would actually govern is anyone’s guess—presidents like Gutierrez in Ecuador and Lula in Brazil were viewed a potentially problematic leftists, then shifted once in office (though the former was forced out) while Chávez, of course, did not shift. The jury remains out on Evo.