2006.07.28: July 28, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Peru: Politics: Bangkok Post: Alejandro Toledo's biggest achievement was survival as Peru's leader
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2006.07.28: July 28, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Peru: Politics: Bangkok Post: Alejandro Toledo's biggest achievement was survival as Peru's leader
Alejandro Toledo's biggest achievement was survival as Peru's leader
Mr Toledo never connected to his people. He was a distant figure, indulging his power and enjoying exclusive beach resorts with a glass of whisky. He remained silent in difficult times, delegated leadership and allowed members of his family, close friends and especially his controversial wife Eliane Karp to drag scandal over his name. Time went by and Mr Toledo, busy with political survival and the good life, did not undertake urgent political reforms. Not in education, not in health, not in the labour market, not in the justice system. The fight against corruption fell lame. But he excelled in one field _ macro-economics. Under his presidency, Peru's gross domestic product (GDP) grew steadily _ by 5.2% in 2002, 4% in 2003, 5.2% in 2004, 6.4% in 2005. President Alejandro Toledo of Peru was a language instructor for the Peace Corps in the 1960's. In 2002, Toledo invited the Peace Corps to return to Peru after a 27 year absence.
Alejandro Toledo's biggest achievement was survival as Peru's leader
Term's up for Peru's 'lucky' president
Alejandro Toledo's biggest achievement was survival as Peru's leader
By GONZALO RUIZ TOVAR
Lima _ Alejandro Toledo's five-year mandate as president of Peru ends today, when he hands over power to his democratically- elected successor Alan Garcia. In a different context this could seem like routine procedure, but for Mr Toledo, 60, the event acquires the status of a near-heroic feat.
Half-way through his term, only a very few believed he would make it to the end.
And now it turns out that the ''Cholo'', as Mr Toledo is called for his indigenous appearance, has not only finished his mandate, but with an approval rating of 33% _ twice the level of approval he got during five years in office.
To begin with, Mr Toledo took over a country in 2001 whose two previous presidents had been disastrous and turbulent. Mr Garcia himself, given a second chance at the helm as the lesser of two evils in recent elections, ran the country to the edge of financial ruin from 1985-1990, when inflation soared by 2 million percent.
Mr Garcia's successor in 1990, Alberto Fujimori, grabbed dictatorial powers as he banished the violent Shining Path guerrilla group, then moved to arrest Mr Garcia, who escaped through his rooftop to Colombia and France. Mr Fujimori himself fled Peru in 2001 under corruption charges, and faxed his resignation as president from exile in Japan.
When Mr Toledo took over after all of that, many counted his government dead in the water. Held back by scandals and by his own dissolute handling of power, the president quickly alienated the public and walked a high wire as heads of state in neighbouring countries were brought down by popular resistance.
Under Mr Toledo, there were no significant reforms. Poverty among the country's 28 million people persists, as do structural problems.
But his presidency also was not a disaster. There was no economic chaos, democracy was not trampled over, the situation did not get worse, and in fact, the economy grew at least 4% every year.
And that, in Peru, is enough.
Mr Toledo never connected to his people. He was a distant figure, indulging his power and enjoying exclusive beach resorts with a glass of whisky. He remained silent in difficult times, delegated leadership and allowed members of his family, close friends and especially his controversial wife Eliane Karp to drag scandal over his name.
Time went by and Mr Toledo, busy with political survival and the good life, did not undertake urgent political reforms. Not in education, not in health, not in the labour market, not in the justice system. The fight against corruption fell lame.
But he excelled in one field _ macro-economics. Under his presidency, Peru's gross domestic product (GDP) grew steadily _ by 5.2% in 2002, 4% in 2003, 5.2% in 2004, 6.4% in 2005. Foreign reserves almost doubled, the fiscal deficit decreased from 2.5% to 0.3% of GDP, inflation was kept at bay and exports broke all records.
Mr Garcia takes over a nation ''in a much better economic situation and with better prospects'' than any other Peruvian leader taking power in the last 25 years, analyst Augusto Alvarez Rodrich said.
Unfortunately, the achievements did not translate into concrete benefits for the majority, fuelling enough discontent that the volatile populist nationalist Ollanta Humala came within a hair's breadth of becoming president.
Nonetheless, official figures show that poverty fell from 54% to 48% of the population between 2001 and 2006. Critics say that the reduction was a mere two percentage points and that poverty remains over 50%.
Experts also point out that Mr Toledo was president during a period of excellent prices for the metals produced by the Andean nation.
''He will be remembered as a very lucky president,'' academic Felipe Ortiz de Zevallos said.
Mr Toledo's grand bid for a free trade agreement with the United States could finally decide history's judgment. Although the deal is not yet in place, the ''Cholo'' was its great proponent. If it succeeds, and produces dividends, Mr Toledo's reputation will profit. If it falls flat, he will have to take the blame.
Mr Toledo rose to power by the bootstraps, from life as a bootblack and fishmonger, and provides a flamboyant model for those still in the lower depths of poverty. His private life had chapters unsuitable for reading by minors. He only reluctantly recognised a daughter, has exaggerated his public persona and made unlimited promises.
He also has the most Peruvian face of any of the presidents the country remembers.
''I leave with the satisfaction of having seen many of the dreams come true, although there are still many more,'' Mr Toledo said this week on his last visit to the town of his birth, Cabana, as president. ''Probably with mistakes, but we have moved forward enormously. May history judge us.''
That incredibly poor village saw Mr Toledo, one of 16 children of bricklayer Anatolio and laundrywoman Margarita, become the leader who promised a great transformation _ and did not get to deliver it. DPA
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Story Source: Bangkok Post
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