Weekly Report - 28 January 2010 (WR-10-04)

A new presidential candidate has emerged in Peru ahead of next year's elections. Jaime Bayly Letts, an outspoken journalist and talk show host, appeared in the latest national opinion poll on 3%. This might not sound like much but then he did not appear before; the frontrunner, the mayor of Lima, Luis Castañeda, is only on 30%; and Peru has a history of producing dark horses for the presidency. One of these was Alberto Fujimori, who came out of nowhere to beat the novelist Mario Vargas Llosa in 1990. It is interesting that talk of Bayly's potential bid coincides with his call for Fujimori to be pardoned after a supreme court panel confirmed his 25-year conviction earlier this month [WR-10-01].

Born in 1965 to wealthy parents, Bayly made his name with sharp-edged political journalism before hosting a number of popular talk shows on television. Although he was forced into exile after Fujimori's autogolpe in 1992, he now says he would pardon Fujimori “for humanitarian reasons" if he won the presidency because he did far more good things than bad. Bayly lives in Bogotá. He presents 'El Francotirador' (The Sniper), which broadcasts in Peru on Sunday nights. (See Andean Report [RA-10-01] for more biographical details).

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