Peru: "president of hope" wins second chance to prove his power

Photo: Peru: "president of hope" wins second chance to prove his power

Five years later, he left the presidency in disgrace amid 3,000 percent inflation, food shortages and unchecked guerrilla violence. He went into exile in Colombia and France after his successor, Alberto Fujimori, threatened to arrest him for alleged corruption.

In 2001, Garcia ended nine years of exile and returned, seeking redemption.

Many of his fellow Peruvians considered Garcia one of the worst presidents in their nation's history. And that makes his defeat Sunday of Ollanta Humala, a nationalist ex-army officer, all the more remarkable, the AP reports.

Garcia has a new five-year term in which to prove himself.

Garcia blames his disastrous 1980s government on an intoxicating cocktail of youth and power.

Six-foot-three inches (1.9 meters) tall and with long, dark wavy hair, Garcia was called Latin America's John F. Kennedy when he was elected the region's youngest president just before his 36th birthday.

He is 57 now, his sideburns have turned white, but he still strikes an imposing figure, towering over most of his countrymen.