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LIMA, Peru — A former president of Peru died on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head when the authorities tried to arrest him in connection with one of the biggest corruption scandals in Latin American history. A personal secretary for the former president, Alan García, 69, confirmed his death. The secretary, Ricardo Pineda, also told a Peruvian radio station that as the authorities arrived at the former president’s home with an arrest warrant, he locked himself into his bedroom, shot himself and was rushed to a hospital. The charges relate to Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction giant, which last year...

President Shimon Peres on Monday hailed remarks by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on the issue of the “Palestinian refugees”, AFP reported. Peres, who said Abbas’s comments showed his "seriousness about reaching peace", was referring to what Abbas said during a meeting Sunday with more than 300 Israeli university students at his Ramallah headquarters. At the meeting, the PA chief told the students said he did not want to "flood Israel" with so-called “Palestinian refugees” and that there was no need to "re-divide" Jerusalem. "I was happy to hear him," Peres's office quoted him as saying at the start of...

Democracy: Peru's Alan Garcia should never have been re-elected to anything, given his disastrous term as president from 1985 to 1990. That voters forgave and re-elected him Sunday only shows how bad the alternative was. Two months ago, when the first round of Peru's presidential elections was held, there was reason to despair. Free-market candidate Lourdes Flores was knocked out of the running by just a few thousand votes. That left Alan Garcia squared off against a far-leftist of the Hugo Chavez stripe, Ollanta Humala, giving many Peruvians a difficult and loathesome choice. Garcia wasn't just a bad president; he...

Peruvians elect a president By TYLER BRIDGEStbridges@MiamiHerald.com June 4, 2006 LIMA - Some 16 million Peruvians began voting at 8 a.m. this morning (Central Standard Time) to select their next president. They have a stark choice: center-left Alan García, a former president, or ultra-nationalist leftist Ollanta Humala, a retired lieutenant colonel. It is an unappealing choice for nearly half the voters. García's presidency 20 years ago ended with food shortages, hyperinflation, accusations of corruption and a spreading insurgency by the Shining Path guerrilla. García, 57, said he has learned from his mistakes. Humala has provoked fears that he will turn...

Latin America: It looks like Peru's election will bring a new leftist strongman to the region. That's sad, given how much progress Peru has made in recent years. There's still tallying to do. But if trends continue, the winner will be far-left Ollanta Humala, followed by Peru's disastrous ex-president, Alan Garcia. The unpromising pair will face off for a final round in May. Hard to say which would be worse. Humala's a verified human-rights violator who tortured peasants as an army officer in the 1990s. He's also an admirer of dictators, like Peru's last one, Juan Velasco, remembered in the...

A FIERY populist who is deeply critical of the United States looks set to top the polls in today’s Peruvian presidential election, in the latest manifestation of Latin America’s embrace of left-wing anti-Washington politics. Ollanta Humala, 42, a former army officer, was predicted to secure 29.2% of the vote ahead of his nearest rival, Lourdes Flores, a conservative pro-business former congresswoman, on 25.6%, and Alan Garcia, the former centre-left president, on 21.9%, according to a poll by Lima University. The two highest placed candidates will go into a run-off, but analysts said that Humala would find it hard to defeat...

Peru's dynasty-in-waiting prepares to deliver another anti-US president By Jeremy McDermott in Lima (Filed: 09/03/2006) One of Latin America's most extraordinary political families is poised to produce another of the continent's Left-wing authoritarian leaders with no love for Washington. Ollanta Humala is one of two favourites to become Peru's next president, a role for which, to believe his mother, he has been groomed from birth. Ollanta Humala: ‘I am a nationalist and anti-imperialist’ "We have been preparing our children to take power since they were born," Elena Tasso has said of her eight progeny. "If the boys are not successful...

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- When Venezuela's populist leader welcomed Bolivia's socialist president-elect at a ceremony in Caracas, an unexpected guest had a front-row seat: Ollanta Humala, a left-leaning nationalist who is surging in popularity in Peru's presidential race. Ollanta, a former army lieutenant colonel like his Venezuelan host, President Hugo Chavez, glowed in the praise he got in Caracas. But the gathering reinforced fears of Peruvian elites that he may be part of the tide of elected leftist leaders rising across South America - or, worse, a military dictator in the making. Two days later at a news conference in...