Shunning Chavez Fuels Humala’s Peru Presidential Poll Rise
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Ollanta Humala campaigned for Peru’s presidency in 2006 wearing red T-shirts and expressing admiration for Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez. This year, he’s donning business suits and vowing to expand ties with investor-favorite Brazil.
The former army officer’s change in raiment and rhetoric has helped boost him into first place in polls ahead of the first round of voting April 10. Investors including Barclays Capital, who in December dismissed him as a “radical” also-ran after Peru grew 8.8 percent last year, now say the outcome of a likely runoff on June 5 is too close to call.