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)
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