Peru: novelist Vargas Llosa says democracy in danger during elections

"What is at stake in Peru is whether the democracy we have, with all its imperfections, is going to survive or is going to disappear once again and going to be replaced by a military and nationalist dictator, which is what would happen if Mr. Humala wins," Vargas Llosa said. The author spoke at the release of his latest book.

Photo: Peru: novelist Vargas Llosa says democracy in danger during elections

Humala, a retired lieutenant colonel, is facing former President Alan Garcia, a center-left Social Democrat.

"Alan Garcia is the lesser evil and we should vote for the lesser evil," said Vargas Llosa, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1990 against Alberto Fujimori.

He said that when Garcia was in government, he allowed freedom of the press and respected the outcome of democratic elections.

"That's why it's so important that democracy survive, even if it's mistreated, and that's infinitely less bad than a demagogic-type of dictatorship mixed with militarism and nationalism," Vargas Llosa said.

Humala, an open admirer of the left-wing military dictator Gen. Juan Velasco, who held power from 1968-75, has been vigorously endorsed by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and has promised heavy state intervention in Peru's free-market economy. He also has worried Washington because he opposes the U.S.-backed eradication of Peru's coca crop, the raw material for cocaine.

Humala has also been confronted with accusations of human rights violations, allegedly perpetrated during his 1992 command of a jungle counterinsurgency base. He denies any wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a smear campaign, the AP reports.