Ollanta Humala's champions were the neglected — one in three Peruvians are poor and have gained little or nothing from a mining bonanza that turned its economy into Latin America's top performer the past decade.
Leftist military man Ollanta Humala declared victory Sunday night after unofficial results showed him narrowly winning a bitterly contested presidential runoff against the daughter of disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori.
Humala had promised the poor a greater share of Peru’s mineral wealth, and in a victory speech to a crowd of more than 10,000 said the nation’s impressive economic growth would “be the great motor of the social inclusion Peruvians desire.”
Exit polls gave Humala better than 70 percent of the vote in four poor highland states including Puno, where Aymara Indians who object to a planned Canadian-owned silver mine suspended a nearly month-long highway blockade so people could vote. The protesters fear the mine will poison their water.
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