When we read the Christian Science Monitor's report on the Peruvian elections, "Ollanta Humala leads the polls ahead of Sunday's vote. He reflects views of leaders in Venezuela and Bolivia", we read disinformation and fear. At the same time, we have to smile at another lame attempt by the corporate media to marginalize yet another successful, indigenous, revolutionary leader in Latin America, Ollanta Humala of Peru. Their fear is born from their knowledge that Humala's allegiance is to the people, rejecting the homage paid to Washington by his predecessor, President Alejandro Toledos, a World Bank consultant and before him, Alberto Fujimori.

Fujimori left a trail of human rights abuses and slaughter and was forced to resign as president. He is now held in prison by Chilean authorities, facing extradition to Peru where he faces 12 charges [JURIST report] which include authorizing an illegal death squad, abuse of power, and corruption.

In juxtaposition to their portrayal of Ollanta Humala, the Christian Science Monitor describes Fujimori: "Alberto Fujimori, a son of Japanese immigrants and a little-known dean of an agricultural university in Lima" - but CSM carefully avoids any references to the atrocities he committed, his arrest and imprisonment. Have they lost all talent for subtlety?

This corporate media treatment of Ollanta Humala is reminiscent of their failed attempt to malign Presidents Hugo Ch�vez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia. Their description of Humala, quite possibly the next president of Peru, as

"A former llama herder who wears a woolly sweater to formal diplomatic functions and is dedicated to stopping the US eradication of coca, the leaf from which cocaine is made".

Tch Tch. The oligarchs and their media soldiers continue to fail to understand that this is not about the clothes a leader wears, his former occupation or his stand for the peasant farmers who grow coca. Their reference to the coca leaf, for example, completely ignores coca's multiple uses and the fact that it is an important source of income for thousands of Peruvians aside from the demand for cocaine by the decadent U.S./European cultures.

The CSM further refers to his father, Isaac as an "ultranationalist". It's another term, incidentally, for "patriot" in the United States. Their references to Humala as an "[alleged] human rights abuser" and as a "Populist" are also interesting. When did a "populist" become a negative term? We have only to turn to the disdain the empire holds for the "popular vote" v. "the Electoral College" in the U.S. to know the answer. On the one hand to praise "democracy" and "free elections" and on the other, to use this term derisively and one to be feared unmasks the naked hypocrisy. Why not focus on Ollanta Humala's election platform for building a strong society for all the people of Peru? Instead, the Christian Science Monitor attempts to spread fear of another indigenous leader who is "is just as wacky as Ch�vez and Morales" We shall see just how "wacky" this new leader of the Peruvian people is when he puts the neoliberals on notice with their "Free Trade Agreements" and their ambassadors to Peru will be addressing him as "Mr. President."

- Les Blough, Editor

 � Copyright 2006 by AxisofLogic.com

Additional reading: Are Peruvians Joining the Movement Against Neo-Liberalism in Latin America? 

Bio and Additional essays and poetry by Les Blough