It is getting interesting in Peru (Humala and a U.S. citizen tied for second)

[rabs]

This is from a Datum poll released today. It is an update to a couple of other polls earlier this week that reflected the drop by Toledo, the gain by Humala, and the slippage by Keiko. But what is new in the Datum poll is the performance by PPK.




Latest poll:

Toledo slipping
Humala surging
PPK (Pedro Pablo Kuczynski) a U.S. citizen surprising
Keiko fading
Castaneda dead in the water




This is the one to watch. He has been rising steadily (as has Humala) in polls in recent days (cq, days, not weeks).

PPK, in his 60s, is an economist who has worked in the big, international financial institutions. He is of dual nationality, Peruvian and U.S., and has said he will turn in his U.S. passport.

PPK claimes to have backing from younger voters who are sick of the Garcia and Toledo corruption. PPK at this late stage is to be taken seriously as a kingmaker for the two candidates who advance to the runoff, if he does not himself earn a berth in the second round.

PPK was asked about his wealth, and he replied "That means I will not steal." He also was quoted "I don't give a damn about the president's salary." Stuff like that is what has won him many younger (and jaded older) voters.

Spanish

http://elcomercio.pe/politica/732748/noticia-humala-ppk-se-cuelan-al-segundo-lugar-segun-encuesta-datum

Less than three weeks to go before the primaries.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Uh, oh. They've rolled out the big gun. Really scared of Humala?

Here's his Wiki:

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard is an economist and politician who has dual nationality, U.S. citizen and peruvian<2>. Formerly Minister of Energy and Mines of Peru, Minister of Economy and Prime Minister<3> of the same country, in addition to positions in the private sector. He was born in Lima, Peru on October 3, 1938.

His father, Dr. Max Hans Kuczynski, a native of Berlin, Germany, was a renowned tropical disease specialist who emigrated to Peru in 1936 to work as a government public health officer. Dr. Kuczynski earned both his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Rostock. Prior to relocating to Peru, Dr. Kuczynski served as an officer in World War I on the Turkish front and did medical research in Russia, Sierra Leone, China, and Brazil. He was director of the San Pablo Leprosy Hospital near Iquitos, Peru for several years and later was a professor of tropical medicine at San Marcos University in Lima.

As well, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is the cousin of Jean-Luc Godard, a renowned French-Swiss film director.

Academic and professional historyPedro-Pablo Kuczynski received his early education at Markham College, in Lima, Peru, and Rossall School in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. He won a full scholarship to study at Oxford University in England and graduated with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics in 1956. Later, he received the John Parker Compton fellowship to study public affairs at Princeton University in the United States, where he received a Master's degree in 1961. He began his career at the World Bank in 1961 as a regional economist for the six countries in Central America, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In 1967 he returned to Peru to become the Deputy Director of the Peruvian central bank, but left the country in 1969 due to threats from General Juan Velasco's administration. He then joined the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.as an economist, and in 1971, became Chief Economist for the northern part of Latin America at the World Bank, moving on to become Chief of Policy Planning at the bank. From 1973 - 1975, he was a partner of Kuhn Loeb International, the international investment bank headquartered in New York City. In 1975, he returned to Washington, D.C to become Chief Economist for the International Finance Corporation (the private finance arm of the World Bank). Subsequently, he was appointed President of Halco Mining in Pittsburgh, PA,, an international consortium mining company with operations in West Africa. In 1980, after the election of Fernando Belaunde Terry as President of Peru, the first democratic election in Peru since 1963, he was invited to return to the country, and became Minister of Energy and Mines. From 1983-92, he was the Co-Chairman of First Boston International in New York City, an international investment bank. In 1992, he founded, with six other partners, the Latin American Enterprise Fund in Miami, Florida , a private equity firm that focused on investments in Mexico, Central and South America. The institutional investors in LAEF included more than 15 of the world's largest university endowments, foundations, and pension funds.

In 2000, Alejandro Toledo, then a professor at the ESAN university in Lima asked Mr. Kuczynski to advise him on his campaign for President. Mr. Kuczynski returned to work in Peru, and after Toledo's election, was named Minister of Economy. He served as economy and finance minister twice under President Toledo, from July 2001 to July 2002,<4> and from February 2004 to August 2005. In August 2005 he was appointed Prime Minister, and acted in that capacity until the end of President Toledo's term in 2006.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Pablo_Kuczynski

http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_k4YvZxWavLQ/TPPTuod4qQI/AAAAAAAABKA/vLKPOQcHot8/s1600/Pedro%2BPablo%2BKuczynski.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/5126/5304278668_9e06d62e27.jpg

[Judi Lynn]

2. Peru Candidate Offers to Give Up U.S. Citizenship

MARCH 25, 2011, 5:01 P.M. ET.
Peru Candidate Offers to Give Up U.S. Citizenship
Reuters

By ROBERT KOZAK

LIMA—Presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, rising in opinion polls before the April 10 elections, reiterated that he is a Peruvian by birth and will give up his U.S. citizenship if elected.

Political opponents are criticizing Mr. Kuczynski for having double nationality, saying it makes him unfit to hold Peru's highest political office.

The former investment banker and prime minister was born in Peru in 1938.

."If I am president I have always said that the only passport I will have is the one where I was born," Mr. Kuczynski told reporters Friday.

More:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704517404576223051931697840.html

http://1.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_aDodqUfKtKA/S_6GM2GhClI/AAAAAAAAAJg/AiGH0wZikfI/s320/sobbing.jpg

Oh, what a sacrifice...

[Judi Lynn]

3. Humala extends lead in Peru presidential race

Humala extends lead in Peru presidential race
Reuters
10:06 a.m. EDT, April 1, 2011

LIMA (Reuters) - Left-wing nationalist Ollanta Humala has extended his lead in Peru's presidential race and former Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski may now be in second place, polls showed on Friday before the April 10 vote.

Humala gained nearly 10 points to 24.3 percent in a poll by Lima's Catholic University and he is now more than 5 points ahead of his nearest rival.

Humala's rise has unnerved financial markets, though analysts say he has moderated many of his views and would likely lose a June 5 runoff that would be held if no candidate wins more than half the votes in this month's election.

Trailing Humala were former president Alejandro Toledo, at 18.8 percent, and lawmaker Keiko Fujimori, at 18.4 percent. They were ahead of former Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, at 16.8 percent, and former Lima Mayor Luis Castaneda, at 12 percent.

More:
http://www.courant.com/news/nation-world/sns-rt-international-us-petre7303a2-20110401,0,3314529.story

[Downwinder]

4. PPk looks pretty good for a septuagenarian.

Born in 1938 makes him 73.

[rabs]

5. I had thought he was in his late 60s ...

PPK seems to have slipped a couple of points this week. He is now in fourth after having been among the leaders.

Latest poll released March 27 indicates a virtual triple tie for first:

Humala 22.8 percent
Keiko 22.3
Toledo 21.6
PPK 15.8
Castaneda 15

El Comercio of Lima will be publishing the final poll on Sunday. After that, no more polls allowed by law.

Speaking of Humala and Keiko, Nobel literature prize laureate Vargas Llosa refused to apologize this week for calling Humala "a terminal cancer" for Peru and Keiko a case of "AIDS" should she win.

Vargas Llosa made those comments in 2009 and he was asked about it this week. Lots of Peruvians pissed off at him, with good reason. A real jerk.

(edit to clarify Vargas Llosa comment)