VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPE #2009/01 1591633
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081633Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5758
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 4719
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7381
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0447
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ JUN QUITO 1256
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1312
RUMIAAA/CDR USCINCSO MIAMI FL

UNCLAS LIMA 002009 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PHUM PE
SUBJECT: OLLANTA HUMALA ONE YEAR LATER 
 
REF: A. LIMA 2000 
 
     ¶B. LIMA 1841 
     ¶C. LIMA 86 (06) 
 
-------- 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Ollanta Humala, the Chavez protege who nearly 
became Peru's President in June 2006, told Poloffs that he 
remains politically active, meeting with members of his 
Peruvian Nationalist Party (PNP) congressional bloc as well 
as unionists and regional presidents.  Humala took pains to 
distinguish his own commitment to peaceful, democratic 
politics from the more extreme views espoused by his father, 
Isaac Humala, and his brother, Antauro Humala.  His 
programmatic ideas -- call for a constitutional assembly, 
opposition to the FTA and assertion that the formal political 
system does not represent the interests of the majority -- 
remain the same as one year ago.  Humala is still angry about 
losing his U.S. visa and continued to insist that it be 
restored.  While Humala's weak organization-building skills 
seemed manifest in his office's palpable quiet, he remains a 
polished spokesperson for the dispossessed who cannot be 
ruled out as the possible consensus candidate of a fragmented 
left looking to in the favor of many impoverished Peruvians 
in 2011.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Ollanta Humala, the Chavez protege who came within 
four points of winning Peru's presidency one year ago, proved 
highly approachable and friendly in a meeting with Poloffs on 
6/4. 
 
¶3.  (U) In the conversation, the first between Humala and the 
U.S. Embassy in over a year, Humala took pains to distinguish 
himself from both his jailed brother, Antauro, and his 
father, Isaac (Ref B).  Ollanta emphasized that he was a 
Peruvian nationalist first and foremost and strongly 
disagreed with the Ethnocacerista focus on race.  He was 
equally emphatic about his commitment to peaceful change 
through democratic means, and his firm opposition to violence 
whatever its political justification.  Humala emphasized that 
Peru had learned through its experience with the Shining Path 
(Sendero Luminoso) terrorist insurgency that violence was not 
the answer. 
 
¶4.  (U) Humala's political platform remains the same as last 
year.  Among the points he emphasized: 
 
-- The established political system represented the interests 
of a small minority, and the great majority of Peruvians -- 
over half of whom live in poverty and 30% in extreme poverty 
-- were unrepresented by it.  He wished to represent the 
interests of those people. 
 
-- Peru needs a constituent assembly to rearrange the rules 
of the game that do not serve the interests of the majority 
and to increase the role of the state in distributing 
economic benefits more fairly. 
 
-- Humala opposes the PTPA because it would favor U.S. 
companies over those of Peru.  He complimented the work on 
labor and environmental issues of PTPA opponents and skeptics 
in the U.S. Congress, underscoring the irony that Peru's own 
Congress had failed to do what the U.S. Congress was now 
seeking to do before approving the agreement. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Humala said that he remains politically active.  He 
meets regularly with the PNP bloc in Congress and he said 
that his headquarters constantly receives visitors.  He said 
he had just met with representatives of a mineworkers union 
as well as the Regional President of Puno, Hernan Fuentes. 
(Note: Fuentes ran as the candidate of Peru's Avanza Pais 
(Advance the Country) Party, which selected another Ulises 
Humala, brother of Antauro and Ollanta, as its candidate. 
Press accounts recently reported that the Government of 
Venezuela has opened an office of President Hugo Chavez' 
Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean -- 
ALBA -- in Puno.  Ref A, further details Septel.)  He also 
expressed regret at the counterproductive interventions of 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during the 2006 campaign, 
clearly indicating that this had not gone according to his 
wishes. 
 
--------------------- 
The Visa Still Smarts 
--------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Humala's overall friendly tone changed notably when 
the question of his U.S. visa surfaced.  When Poloff 
mentioned Humala's November 2006 trip to Cuba for a gall 
bladder operation, the former candidate bristled and said, "I 
would have gone to the U.S., but you took away my visa." 
Humala appeared convinced that the revocation had been 
politically motivated and unpersuaded by the explanation that 
it had long preceded the 2006 presidential campaign.  He 
strenuously denied any involvement in the attempted New Years 
2005 uprising led by his brother, Antauro, which left four 
policemen dead.  He insisted that the U.S. admit what he 
alleged was its error in cancelling his visa and, if we were 
concerned at all by the justice of the issue, to return it to 
him as before.  When Poloffs told him he was welcome to 
reapply, Humala waved away this suggestion. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Comment: An Able Spokesman, But Not an Organizer 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶7.  (U) Despite the visa contretemps, Humala proved friendly 
and approachable, and seemed to genuinely appreciate our 
visit.  He presented his issues effectively, showing a 
certain refinement in the youthful, "country boy" style that 
served him so effectively in last year's presidential 
campaign (Ref C).  Clearly, practice has given him more 
polish.  What Humala apparently lacks is a taste for 
organization-building.  His headquarters was almost deserted, 
exceedingly quiet even for a party center between campaigns. 
His operating style also seems to reflect the presumption 
that important people should come to him rather than the 
reverse.  When frustrated, as with the question of the visa, 
Humala reverts to an authoritarian, military manner, 
attempting to give orders to solve problems that are beyond 
his power.  Humala's organizational weakness has proven to be 
his Achilles heel.  Nonetheless, he remains a talented 
spokesperson with high name recognition and could again 
emerge as the consensus candidate of Peru's fragmented left 
and its many dispossessed in a future election. 
STRUBLE