His mesmerizing oratory has led many Peruvians to forgive his past performance and catapult him from an overwhelming 80 percent negative rating to 70 percent approval in a few weeks. Many Peruvians say they believe he is unstoppable and will likely overtake Monday's biggest vote-getter, Alejandro Toledo. Memories of the hyperinflation, food lines, nationalized banks, worthless currency and a guerrilla war under Mr. Garcia, yesterday jolted financial markets fearful Mr. Garcia might restore his policies of refusing to pay the country's foreign debts.
More risk is likely to discourage much-needed foreign investment.
Asked directly in an interview yesterday who is responsible for the economic chaos his 1985-1990 government left behind, Mr. Garcia was evasive. There were many causes. All of Latin America had record inflation. The previous government left me with 250 percent inflation in 1985. Then terrorism stopped investment.