peru rebellion

Hugo Chavez should kiss his role as the Latin American king maker goodbye because the voters are repudiating his habit of making threats against foreign leaders and against foreign investment. Worse still for Chavez, the candidates he endorses are losing elections presumably because Latin America doesn't want to return to the isolationism and authoritarianism of the 1970s and early '80s.

In May, right-of-center Colombian President Alvaro Uribe won a landslide re-election against a pro-Chávez candidate.

Yesterday, Peru elected the 57 year old former President Alan Garcia, whose previous tenure in office (1985-1990) was marked by rebel attacks and 3000% inflation. Now he's back in power, largely thanks to Chavez. During the campaign it was noted that virtually everytime Chavez opened his mouth in support of Ollanta Humala, Garcia went up two points in the polls.

The repercussions are even being felt in Mexico, where the Chavez-backed candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has seen his once insurmountable lead vanish amid charges that Chavez is bank-rolling his campaign.

What's been evident in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay for some time is that Left of center leaders don't want to follow Hugo as he seeks to isolate the region.