Peru's Garcia says will block leftist candidates

By Teresa Cespedes

LIMA, March 24 (Reuters) - President Alan Garcia promised foreign investors on Tuesday that Peru would enjoy long-term political stability and said he would try to block leftist candidates from winning the 2011 election.

Garcia's comments, made in an unusually candid speech to executives from Latin America, apparently aimed to alleviate fears in the business community about the candidacy of ultranationalist Ollanta Humala, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Humala nearly won the 2006 election and his plan then to unravel years of free market reforms sent financial markets reeling.

"The president can't pick his successor, but he can prevent the next president from being somebody he doesn't want," Garcia said.

Humala, who as an army general mounted a short-lived insurrection in 2000, has long said the government depicts him as a boogeyman to hurt his political chances.

While Garcia said he will oppose leftists, he has yet to say which pro-market candidate he will support. Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, and Luis Castaneda, the mayor of Lima, are tied as poll leaders, slightly ahead of Humala.

Garcia, a leftist in his youth who has moved to the right, said foreign investments would be safe in Peru, which suffered years of devastating political turmoil during the Shining Path insurgency of the 1980s and 1990s.

Peru has had an economic surge from a commodities boom that has benefited one of the world's top minerals producers, and from credit expansion until the recent slow-down.

"I guarantee that every cent you bring will be protected by the political stability that Peru will have in the next 10 years. This is my long-term contribution for when after the crisis passes," Garcia said.

Fallout from the global economic crisis would hit Peru hardest in May and June, Garcia said while talking up an economic stimulus plan designed to keep growth at 5 percent this year.

Private economists forecast 2009 growth of around 1 percent, which would mark a sharp slowdown after more than seven years of swift expansion. (Writing by Terry Wade; Editing by Vicki Allen)