Leading Again, President of Peru Remains Unpopular

During his first term as president about 20 years ago, when Peru was suffering from terrorist attacks by a Maoist insurgency, he was widely blamed for the hyperinflation that crippled the nation's economy.

Now in what might be considered his comeback term, a chance to rehabilitate his place in history, the insurgency is a shadow of its former self, the economy is booming -- and he is still battling low approval ratings and heated criticism from his constituents.

So perhaps it is not surprising that Mr. García has learned to respond to Bronx cheers with panache.

"We're sort of still the kind of country that expects the son of the sun, the Inca, to do acts of magic," he said in a interview this month. "I have tried it, but it is difficult, almost impossible."

Few leaders in Latin America embody the rise and fall of political fortunes like Mr. García, educated in Paris at the Sorbonne, where he studied sociology, and elected president in 1985 for the first time at age 35.

Describing Mr. García in 1989, The New York Times Magazine said he was "lonely, depressed and brooding on the perfidy of a nation that once worshiped him," rarely emerging from his ornate palace in the heart of Lima. "Twice last year, he tried to resign. Earlier this year, a military coup looked imminent. Several times he told friends that he hoped to be ousted."

Then it got worse.

Mr. García, now 61, hobbled toward the end of his term. Officials accused him of taking kickbacks for purchases of jet fighters, among other corruption charges. Security forces raided his home. He went into exile in France and Colombia for nearly nine years, writing books with titles like "The World of Machiavelli" and "False Modernity."

Then in 2001, things brightened up a bit for the man Peruvians called "Crazy Horse" during his first term. The Supreme Court here annulled corruption charges against him, opening the way for a return to Peru. He promptly did return, thrusting himself back into politics as a proponent of market-oriented policies, a far cry from his previous term when tried to nationalize the banking system. He ran for president in 2001 and lost.

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Source: Simon Romero, New York Times