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Ollanta Humala

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Political People

   CAPTION: Ollanta Humala

          (Photo: José Cruz/ABr, 2006)
   Date of Birth   June 26, 1963
   Political party Partido Nacionalista Peruano
   Profession      Military

   Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso Uñña (born June 26, 1963) is a Peruvian
   left-leaning nationalist politician. He is a former Lieutenant Colonel
   of the Peruvian Army. At the end of December 2005, he officially
   registered to run in the 2006 presidential election under the Union for
   Peru ticket, with his own Peruvian Nationalist Party's support . After
   winning a plurality in the first round he lost the second round to Alan
   García on June 4, 2006.

Military career

   Ollanta Humala is the son of Isaac Humala, lawyer, member of the
   Communist Party of Peru - Red Fatherland, and ideological leader of the
   Ethnocacerista movement. He is the brother of Antauro Humala, now in
   prison for a failed uprising in January 2005. Humala was born in
   Ayacucho and attended Colegio Franco Peruano in Lima. He began his
   military career in 1982 when he entered Chorrillos Military School with
   the rank of lieutenant.

   In 1991, now with the rank of Captain, while taking a basic course in
   the Military Intelligence School of Peru, Humala participated in the
   Grupo Cacerista. The clandestine group at the time was under
   investigation by the director of the school and was composed of active
   and retired military officials who rejected what they viewed as
   corruption within the Peruvian military and supported a nationalist
   ideology. Many of these now make up Humala's core base of support.

   In his military career, Humala was also involved in the two major
   Peruvian conflicts of the past 20 years, the battle against the
   insurgent organization Shining Path and the 1995 Cenepa War with
   Ecuador. In 1992 Humala served in Tingo María ( Huánuco Region)
   fighting the remnants of the Shining Path and in 1995 he served in the
   Cenepa War on the border with Ecuador. There have been some accusations
   that he participated in torture while fighting the Shining Path, under
   the nom de guerre "El Capitan Carlos" ("Captain Carlos"), while he was
   the commander of a military base in the jungle region of Madre Mia from
   1992 to 1993. His brother Antauro Humala in 2006 stated that Humala had
   used such a name during their activities. Humala, in an interview with
   Jorge Ramos, acknowledged that he went under the pseudonym Captian
   Carlos but stated that other soldiers went under the same name and
   denied participation in any human rights abuses.

2000 uprising

   In October 2000, he led an uprising in Toquepala, ( Tacna Region),
   against then President Alberto Fujimori. The main reason for the
   rebellion was the return of Vladimiro Montesinos, former intelligence
   chief who had fled Peru for asylum in Panama after being caught on
   video trying to bribe an opposition MP. This led to fears that he still
   had much power in Fujimori's government, and Humala and about 60 other
   Peruvian soldiers revolted against senior army commanders.

   But by the end of the rebellion, many of Humala's men deserted him,
   leaving him only 7 men. During the revolt, Humala had called on
   Peruvian "patriots" to join him in the rebellion, and some 300 former
   soldiers answered his call and were reported to have been in a convoy
   attempting to join up with Humala. The revolt also gained some sympathy
   from the Peruvian populace with the influential left-of-centre
   newspaper La República calling him "valiant and decisive, unlike most
   in Peru". The newspaper also had many letters sent in by readers with
   accolades to Ollanta and his men.

   In the aftermath, the Army sent hundreds of soldiers to capture the
   rebels. But Humala and his men managed to hide until President Fujimori
   was impeached from office and Valentín Paniagua Corazao was made
   interim president. Later Humala was pardoned by Congress and allowed to
   return to military duty. He was sent to Paris, then to South Korea
   until December 2004, when he was forcibly retired. His forced
   retirement is suspected to have partly motivated the etnocacerista
   rebellion which his brother Antauro Humala led in January 2005.

Political career

   In October 2005 Humala became the leader of the Partido Nacionalista
   Peruano (the Peruvian Nationalist Party) and is running for the
   presidency in 2006 on the Union for Peru (UPP) ticket.

   Ambassador Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the former Peruvian
   Secretary-General of the United Nations and founder of UPP, told the
   press on December 5, 2005 that he did not support the election of
   Humala as the party's presidential candidate. He said that after being
   the UPP presidential candidate in 1995, he had not had any further
   contact with UPP and therefore did not take part in choosing Humala as
   the party's presidential candidate for the 2006 elections.

   In November and December 2005, some Peruvian Jews, including a Rabbi,
   accused Humala and his group of being openly xenophobic. Isaac Mekler,
   the leader of the Jewish Association of Peru, later met with Humala and
   told Peru.com that he does not believe Humala's ideas to be
   anti-semitic. Mekler also announced his intention to become part of
   Humala's Partido Nacionalista Peruano, and run for a congressional
   seat.

   On March 17, 2006 Humala's campaign came under some controversy as his
   father, Issac Humala, said "If I was President, I would grant amnesty
   to him ( Abimael Guzmán) and the other incarcerated members of the
   Shining Path". He made similar statements about amnesty for Víctor
   Polay, the leader of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, and other
   leaders of the MRTA. But Ollanta Humala has distanced himself from the
   more radical members of his family during his campaign.

   Ollanta Humala's brother, Ulises Humala, ran against him in the
   election, but was considered an extremely minor candidate and came in
   14th place in the election.

   On April 9, 2006 the first round of the Peruvian national election was
   held. Humala came in first place getting 30.62% of the valid votes, and
   immediately began preparing to face Alan García, who obtained 24.32%,
   in a runoff election on June 4.

   In the second round campaigning for the Peruvian elections Diego
   Maradona the Argentinian soccer star, announced that he would visit
   Peru on May 4 to play a friendly game with former Peruvian soccer
   players. Maradona has also expressed his support for Humala's campaign
   and is a personal friend of Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan
   President Hugo Chávez. In response to the announcement that Maradona
   was coming to Peru to support Humala the candidate for the APRA party
   Alan Garcia was quoted as saying "Maradona comes by order from his
   friends in Cuba and Venezuela and even so Ollanta Humala will not
   manage to pull a goal on us". In the end, Maradona did not make any
   political statements after all.

   On May 18, 2006 the University of Lima released a poll predicting
   second round election results with Humala receiving 31.1% of votes and
   his opponent Alan Garcia receiving 50.6% of the vote.

   On May 20, 2006, the day before the first Presidential debate between
   Alan Garcia and Ollanta Humala, a tape of the former Peruvian
   intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos was released by Montesinos'
   lawyer to the press with Montesinos claiming that Humala had started
   the October 29, 2000 military uprising against the Fujimori government
   to facilitate his escape from Peru amidst corruption scandals.
   Montesinos is quoted as saying it was a "farce, an operation of
   deception and manipulation".

   Humala immediately responded to the charges by accusing Montesinos of
   being in collaboration with Garcia's Aprista Party with an intention to
   undermine his candidacy. Humala is quoted as stating "I want to declare
   my indignation at the statements" and going on to say "[w]ho benefits
   from the declarations that stain the honour of Ollanta Humala?
   Evidently they benefit Alan Garcia". In another message that Montesinos
   released to the media through his lawyer he claimed that Humala was a
   "political pawn" of Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan
   President Hugo Chávez in an "asymmetric war" against the United States.
   Montesinos went on to state that Humala "is not a new ideologist or
   political reformer, but he is an instrument".

   On May 24, 2006 Humala warned of possible voter fraud in the upcoming
   second round elections scheduled for June 4th. He urged UPP supporters
   to register as poll watchers "so votes are not stolen from us during
   the tabulation at the polling tables." Humala went on to cite similar
   claims of voting fraud in the first round made by right-wing National
   Unity candidate Lourdes Flores when she told reporters that she felt
   she had "lost at the tabulation tables, not at the ballot box". When
   asked if he had proof for his claims by CPN Radio Humala stated "I
   don't have proof. If I had the proof, I would immediately denounce
   those responsible to the electoral system". Alan Garcia responded by
   stating that Humala was "crying fraud" because the polls show him
   losing the second round.

   In the month of May 2006 the Peruvian Communist Party - Red Fatherland,
   of which Humala's father Isaac Humala is a member, in a prepared
   statement titled "A Vote for Humala and a Vote for Change" endorsed
   Humala's candidacy in the second round.
   Geographic distribution of Second Round votes, by winning candidate.
   ██ Alan García, >2/3 of valid votes ██ Alan García, <2/3 of valid votes
   ██ Ollanta Humala, >2/3 ██ Ollanta Humala, <2/3
   Enlarge
   Geographic distribution of Second Round votes, by winning candidate.
   ██ Alan García, >2/3 of valid votes ██ Alan García, <2/3 of valid votes
   ██ Ollanta Humala, >2/3 ██ Ollanta Humala, <2/3

   On June 4, 2006 the second round of the Peruvian elections were held.
   With 77% of votes counted and Humala behind Garcia 45.5% to 55.5%
   respectively, Humala conceded defeat to Alan Garcia and congratulated
   his opponent's campaign stating at a news conference "we recognise the
   results...and we salute the forces that competed against us, those of
   Mr Garcia". . He has refused to meet with Garcia to congratulate him as
   the winner as is customary after elections.

   Questioned by the media, Humala denied any ties to Venezuela's
   president Hugo Chávez, but said he would welcome his support. On
   January 3, 2006, Evo Morales made his first official visit to Venezuela
   as President-Elect of Bolivia. Humala attended the official ceremonies
   held in the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas where both
   Morales and Chávez pledged their support to Humala in his bid for the
   2006 presidential race in Peru. In objection to this, Peru recalled its
   ambassador to Venezuela, Carlos Urrutia, in protest against Venezuela's
   alleged interference in the election.

   In March 2006, Humala also met with President Néstor Kirchner of
   Argentina in Buenos Aires. During the meeting, Humala stated that
   regional integration took priority over bilateral agreements with the
   United States and called Kirchner a "brother" in the cause to integrate
   Latin America. Humala would also meet with Brazilian President Lula da
   Silva to discuss regional integration.

   On May 8, 2006 Humala met with Bolivian President Evo Morales in
   Copacabana, Bolivia on the Bolivian border with Peru. While meeting
   with Morales Humala stated that he stood in "solidarity with the
   historical and legitimate demand of the Bolivian Republic" of access to
   the Pacific Ocean which Bolivia lost after the War of the Pacific when
   Chile annexed what is now the Antofagasta Region of Chile. Humala also
   explicitly stated that he was not opposed to a free trade agreement
   with the United States but said that any free trade agreement with the
   United States would have to be negotiated through the Andean Community
   (CAN) and signed with approval of all members of CAN. During the
   meeting Humala emphasized the need to maintain CAN as a bloc to
   negotiate with the United States and asked Morales to work to help
   maintain the CAN, referring to the CAN's recently troubles with
   Venezuela removing itself as a member in protest to the signing of
   trade agreements with the U.S. by Peru and Colombia.

   On June 12, 2006 Carlos Torres Caro, Humala's Vice Presidential running
   mate and elected Congressman for the Union for Peru, stated that a
   faction of the UPP would split off from the party after disagreements
   with Humala to create what Torres calls a "constructive opposition".
   The split came after Humala called on leftist parties to form an
   alliance with the UPP to become the principal opposition party in
   Congress. Humala had met with representatives of the Communist Party of
   Peru - Red Fatherland and the New Left Movement. Humala stated that the
   opposition would work to "make sure Garcia complies with his electoral
   promises" and again stated that he would not boycott Garcia's
   inauguration on July 28, 2006.

   On August 16, 2006 prosecutors in Peru filed charges against Humala for
   alleged human rights abuses including forced disappearance, torture,
   and murder against Shining Path guerillas during his service in San
   Martín. Humala responded by denying the charges and stating that he was
   "a victim of political persecution" making claims that the charges were
   "orchestrated by the Alan Garcia administration to neutralize any
   alternative to his power".

Ideology

   Andrés Avelino Cáceres, source of inspiration for many Peruvian
   nationalist movements
   Enlarge
   Andrés Avelino Cáceres, source of inspiration for many Peruvian
   nationalist movements

   Ollanta Humala is often associated with his family's Antauro, Ulises,
   and Isaac Humala's " Movimiento Etnocacerista", an ethnic nationalist
   group composed of former and current Peruvian soldiers many of whom are
   veterans from the domestic conflicts against the Shining Path and to a
   lesser extent against the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and the
   brief Cenepa War between Ecuador and Peru. But Ollanta has distanced
   himself from his family during his campaign and considers himself to be
   a "nationalist" ideologically apart from the etnocacerista movement.

   Etnocaceristas strongly embrace identification with their Quechua
   language, Incan heritage, nationalization of the country's industries
   (beginning with recently privatized industries), reintroduction of the
   death penalty, legalization of coca cultivation, and a strong
   anti-Chilean stance, particularly against Chilean investors which many
   etnocaceristas claim are manipulating the country's economy. The name
   etnocacerista is composed of two parts, the first evoking ethnic
   identity, particularly Peru's Incan Native American origins. The second
   part, "cacerista", refers to 19th century Peruvian president and war
   hero Andrés Avelino Cáceres. During the War of the Pacific Cáceres led
   the Peruvian resistance against Chilean occupying forces. Since the
   war, particularly because of the Chilean annexation of the resource
   rich Tarapacá Region, Chile has become Peru's traditional rival.

   Ollanta Humala has embraced the Bolivarian concept of a pan-American
   republic, often referring to other Latin American nations as "brother
   nations" particularly with regard to Bolivia which was for a short time
   in a Confederacy with Peru and which sided with Peru in the War of the
   Pacific against Chile. Humala has also expressed sympathy with the
   government of Juan Velasco, which took power in a bloodless military
   coup on October 3, 1968 and nationalized various of the country's
   industries whilst pursuing a favorable foreign policy with Cuba and the
   Soviet Union.
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