by the El Reportero’s news services
Alan García
Prime minister, Yehude Simon, began to negotiate a settlement to the confrontation at Andahuaylas on June 22.
The simmering unrest across the country that has been a constant feature of President Alan García’s second term is unlikely to boil over into outright conflict, but nor is it likely to disappear.
García’s credentials as the centre-right leader of a successful economy have been shredded by the confrontation at Bagua on June5, which left 24 policemen and 10 indigenous protesters dead. Politically, neither of García’s most likely successors, the rightwing populist Keiko Fujimori, nor the leftwing populist Ollanta Humala, are benefiting from his difficulties.
Instead, opinion polls indicate rising disenchantment with the political class as a whole. Presidential elections are due in April 2011.
