Peru Wikileaks– The US Ambassador meets with Ollanta Humalla

 

While the buzz about WikiLeaks and Julian Assange has died down considerably, it’s still worthwhile to note that the site is still up and running and full of information.  I perused the US Embassy Lima section, and saw nothing of great interest until this one popped up:

Here’s the summary of the cable (written by the Ambassador himself) followed by notes from me.  You can read the full cable here:

Cable 09LIMA637 “AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH OLLANTA HUMALA

Summary: I met one-on-one with Nationalist Party 
leader Ollanta Humala April 16 at his request. Across two-and-a-half hours of discussion, Humala revealed perhaps more than he intended of his electoral strategy for regional and congressional elections in 2010 and for presidential elections in 2011. He is clearly working closely with some
of the most radical groups in Peru, even as he continues to project a moderate nationalist line on economic, international, and political issues. Ollanta has also successfully raised his media profile in recent weeks, in part by joining a growing national consensus on what should be done about the VRAE region, where Sendero and drug traffickers hold sway. I was struck by a growing self-confidence, a view echoed by at least one other veteran observer of the political scene. I was also left with the impression that Ollanta remains ambivalent about fully abandoning radical alternatives. He is open to suggestions
on international travel and, for at least the third time in as many discussions over the past ten months, indicated his interest in visiting the US. We should consider our options on supporting his travel should he formally make a request.




+ Refers to Humalla’s wife, Nadine Herrera, ‘repudtedly the radical political brains behind Humala’;





+ The Ambassador and Humalla spoke about military anti-narco actions inside of Peru.They acknowledged the high level of corruption in drug zones, including politicians and the police. Also discussed was the limited effect of policies to stem off the growing of coca leaves such as paying farmers to grow something other than coca leaves.  Ollanta proposed just buying the crop outright to prevent it’s entry to the market (at a cost of $200 million). The Ambassador suggested Humalla visit Vienna to learn about other anti drug trafficking efforts;



+ After his lose in the 2006 elections, Ollanta studied demographics and polling to figure out HOW he lost and where he could strengthen his candidacy. He sited one or two candidates planted in the Presidential elections to take votes away from himself;



+ “Humalla said that just because he saw himself in the leftist international bloc did not mean he agreed with everything his regional allies said or did”;



+His nationalist party in Congress was weak at the start because of it’s mix between professionals and campesinos, but poco a poco there’s more informal coordination.



+ Humalla meets with the leftist political leaders in Peru for consensus building but acknowledged that he was ‘in charge’ as the other leaders had no political and leadership legitimacy



+Claims he is moderate on nationalist economic and political  issues



+Ollanta requested information on how to get in touch with the US Democratic Party in order to develop transparent relations with the United States.




 


 

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