Former premier Yehude Simon has turned down an offer to be Peru’s ambassador to the Organization of American States, OAS, in Washington, D.C., and has announced his run for President in 2011.
“I have thanked President Alan García for his generosity and courtesy but, evidently, I have not accepted any job assignments,” said Simon in comments to daily Peru21. “I am now going to act as a consultant for two or three regional governments and dedicate myself entirely to politics in order to set the stage for this country’s upcoming presidential elections.”
Simon has set the date for the official start – and funding – of his presidential campaign for September 1, 2009.
“We have yet to determine who will or can finance our political party,” said Simon. “We expect to join forces with another party, but we’re still debating the issue.”
Last September, Simon, 62, said his campaign would be starting early because, “we provincials find it difficult, although not impossible, to conquer Lima” where a third of the country’s voters live.
His party, the Peruvian Humanist Movement, has a national campaign platform that will focus on strengthening agriculture and agro-industry as the main engine driving the economy, without disregarding other industries such as mining, Simon said.
Simon believes the country urgently needs a center-left direction, new options, but has distanced himself from Ollanta Humala – head of Peru’s Nationalist Party – whom he has described as “nationalist and chauvinist.”
A congressman in the 1980s for the now defunct Izquierda Unida, and later a founder of Patria Libre, Simon was accused in 1992 during President Alberto Fujimori’s government of justifying terrorism and was convicted to 20 years’ imprisonment. Amnesty International and local human rights groups worked in his defense and he was released after 8 ½ years with a pardon granted by transitional President Valentín Paniagua. Although not ideal, the pardon was the legal instrument used by the transitional government to obtain a speedy release for more than 300 prisoners who had been unjustly charged and sentenced by a military court between 1990 and 2000. Later, President Alejandro Toledo offered a public apology to Simon for the grave injustice.
In 2002, Simon was elected regional president for Lambayeque, once a stronghold of President Garcia’s Apra party, and was reelected in 2006. In October 2008, he was appointed premier as an independent to offset a cabinet crisis related to Apra members involved in corruption charges on oil contracts.
Heading the cabinet for nine months, which included several difficult situations and the deadly Bagua clash, has weakened his approval rating in the polls. Simon was succeeded by the former president of Congress, Javier Velasquez Quesquén, two weeks ago, when García replaced seven of 16 ministers following months of protests.
