The Americas
Economist Asks
The right call
Jun 7th 2011, 15:22 by The Economist online
PERHAPS the most controversial provision of Colombia's new law defining the victims of the country's internal armed conflict was its inclusion of people targeted by the government's own forces. Álvaro Uribe, the former president, strongly opposed extending the category to this group, but Juan Manuel Santos, his successor, got the law approved. The Economist's readers agree with Mr Santos: 83% of them support recognising the victims of state actors.
This week's Economist Asks poll looks at Ollanta Humala, who won Peru's presidential election on June 5th. Mr Humala ran a populist campaign supported by Venezuela's Hugo Chávez in 2006 and lost, but successfully cast himself as a moderate in this year's race. Do you think his move to the centre is genuine? Let us know.
In this blog, our correspondents provide reporting, analysis and opinion on politics, economics, society and culture in Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada.
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Readers' comments
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I think its easy to forget that Humala is a politician and politicians want to get elected.
He thought presenting himself as Chavista style reformer would get him elected....it didn't. .
So he moved to the centre and this time presented himself as a moderate and it did get him elected.
Blair moved the Labour Party to the centre.
Cameron moved to the centre too.
Politically America is the outlier inasmuch as politicians must move to the extremes (at least in the Primaries)...but they soon reinvent themselves towards the centre.
Its just politics.