Liberal Talk Radio

Via The Plank, I see that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is in the news again. He’s trying to make a comeback, despite the seemingly obvious problem that there’s an international arrest warrant out on him.

I learned some interesting things on Peruvian politics on my trip there this spring. They’re wacky, not unlike most Latin American countries. The current president, Alejandro Toledo, is not faring well, with approval ratings in the single digits (take solace, President Bush!). What’s particularly interesting about Toledo is that he’s the first Andean President (that is, Native American, not of Spanish descent) the country’s ever had. Yet in all my conversations with Andeans, they’re typically pretty resentful of the guy for not doing more for them.

It’s too bad… Toledo makes what could be seen as the ultimate liberal argument for nation-building. He was picked from his Andean mountain village by some Peace Corps volunteers in the 60s, who brought him to the US and educated him.

So Toledo languishes in single digits, the fugitive Fujimori is in the 20s, and another candidate, former president Alan Garcia, waits in the wings. Garcia was run out of office for a whole host of scandals a few years back. But that’s not really enough to keep a good Latin leader down.