Chávez and Peruvian politics

First, there were reports that a reported connection to Hugo Chávez was hurting López Obrador’s in the Mexico presidential campaign. Now, Chávez (or more importantly, his penchant for making inflammatory comments) may be hurting Ollanta Humala, who is already trailing Alan García for the presidential run-off in Peru. In fact, Humala himself acknowledged that fact:

"Obviously (Chavez) is not helping. I'm not in direct contact with him, but we do say to him, please, leave us to do our job and run our campaign," Humala told current affairs television show Cuarto Poder on Sunday.

Chávez has often been compared to Fidel Castro, but I think Fidel is a far better diplomat. He knows when to hold ‘em, and when to fold ‘em, as it were. With his oil money and considerable popularity, Chávez had the potential to become a major hemispheric force, but especially recently he seems to be his own worst enemy.