A Conversation With Alan Garcia

That is the last thing I want, to be South America's sheriff. I want to accomplish things in Peru.

Do you think that Peruvians are disenchanted with democracy?

No. Peru is divided into three clearly defined electoral blocs. We have a conservative bloc in the north, another in the major cities like Lima and a third in the southern Andes. I am convinced that two-thirds of the country, in the north and Lima, share a concern for democracy. The south is always looking for a messiah, a savior, to return it to some golden age. . . . Much of its social and economic conditions are exactly the same as they were 200 years ago. We are going to have a serious problem, and Humala has been positive in this way. He has brought together poor masses in the south with a proposal that, while messianic and demagogic and not viable in today's world, highlights the enormous amount of poverty that exists in Peru.

Many say that one reason Humala won the first round is because, as a former military official, he would do a better job resolving the country's serious crime problem.

When a country has a lot of crime, a part of the population looks to a savior to solve the problem. This is what happened with Hitler and look how it ended. The fight against crime has to be carried out democratically. The instruments are clear -- tough legislation, efficient judges and energetic and active police. Our police force is inadequate. At the end of my government [in 1990] we had 130,000 police officers. Today we have 91,000.

What about the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [which documented two decades of political violence in Peru]?

In the report it appears that the state is responsible for everything, that government officials and the military were responsible for killing the Peruvian people. This vision is mistaken. What interest would an army captain have in going to the mountains for two years to murder people? . . . Of course there were human rights violations, as there were in My Lai. But no one accuses the U.S. president of being responsible for My Lai. The communism that exists in our country, still embraced by many, tries to show that the state is genocidal and Shining Path is innocent.

Relations between your first government and Washington were not very good. Will they be different if you are elected?

That time has passed. It is important to do things well in Peru and not fight with anyone.

There is a lot of talk about populism and a turn to the left in Latin America today. Where do you see yourself fitting in the regional context?

I see myself between Chile and Brazil -- both have been successful. [Brazilian President Luiz Inacio] Lula is a realist. And the Chilean governments have had good technical teams and have devised intelligent policies like credit for small businesses.

Is your historical legacy very important to you?

We Latins have a more romantic and more historical sense than Saxons. Perhaps because we are less practical and more religious. . . . We think of glory; we think of how countries recall us later on. That weighs heavily.

There are many examples of failed second terms in Latin America. Is there some curse for presidents who return to power for another try?

Those who were successful in their first government sometimes fail in their second. But those who had a lot of problems in their first government sometimes do very well in the second.

Such as?

We had a president here in the 19th century named Nicolas de Pierola, who had a disastrous first government, in the midst of a terrible war with Chile, and had to flee the country. But 20 years later, he came back and had what is recognized as one of the best governments in our history. It was an administration that understood the world and inserted Peru in a way that led to sustained economic growth. I hope Alan Garcia will be remembered as Pierola's second government.