Mar 23

　　

　　The candidate of a newly formed Peruvian Nationalist Party, Ollanta Humala bounds onto the rickety stage. Some 3,000 people have gathered in the square in Santa Anita, a lower-middle class Lima suburb poised uneasily between an aspiration to prosperity and the fear of poverty. Dressed in a red T-shirt emblazoned “Love for Peru”, Mr Humala barks out his rabble-rousing message.

　　He blames big business and “traditional” politicians for the poverty and lack of opportunity that still afflict many Peruvians. He wants a new constitution to allow the state “a role in generating wealth”, to ban foreign companies from “strategic” businesses and “review” past tax breaks given to foreign mining companies to attract investment. “Nationalism is a republic of our sovereignty over our resources that God placed beneath our soil for the benefit of our children,” he roars.