MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peruvian presidential candidate claims US involvement in campaign

Peruvian ultra nationalist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala claims United States is involved in the upcoming runoff election June 4 openly helping his opponent former president Alan Garcia.

In the campaign trail the former Army officer and frustrated coup plotter Humala said the US Embassy in Lima "intruded in the presidential campaign and openly supports Alan Garcia" following a report that Washington had cancelled his visa.

"I had a visa valid for 10 years and I no longer have one", complained Humala to the reporters following him on the campaign.

Apparently the most voted candidate in the first round had his US visa revoked because of the prosecution of his brother Antauro Humala, a former army major, who led an abortive rebellion in the town of Andahuaylas in January 2005.

"I am not charged in the case of Andahuaylas, I was only a witness" highlighted Humala, who said it was a "pretext" to tarnish his image. Humala who retired from the Peruvian Army in December 2004, has been accused by political foes of having instigated the uprising led by Antauro, which left six dead.

The U.S. Embassy in Lima said earlier this week that the State Department had revoked Ollanta Humala's visa in January 2005 "on the basis of information that indicated his possible ineligibility to enter the United States".

At the same time, however, Ambassador James Curtis Struble offered to facilitate a new visa for Humala if the candidate wanted one.

Humala said that he doesn't have "to ask favours from the ambassador or anything else for that matter" and went on to accuse Struble of acting as Garcia's "godfather".

Spokesperson for Humala's party said that he had planned to visit the United States next week for meetings in Washington and New York with representatives of international finance and development institutions and human rights organizations.

However Humala rejected the offer and demanded the US Embassy make public the reasons for the cancelling of his original ten year visa.

Furthermore the candidate said that policies of a future Humala administration would not "collide with the interests of the United States" as long as Washington's agenda did not threaten Peru's national interests.

Garcia has repeatedly accused Humala of receiving financial support from Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez who has promised to withdraw Venezuela's ambassador to Lima if the former president is elected.

Alan Garcia, whose record as president from 1985 to 1990 was marred with corruption and incompetence is comfortably leading in public opinion polls leading to the June 4 runoff. In the first round Humala garnered 31% of the vote and Garcia managed 24% after a several weeks' vote by vote count with conservative candidate Lourdes Flores.