Peruvian woman faces 'machismo' in race for presidency
BY KEVIN G. HALL
Herald World Staff
LIMA, Peru -- Between Lourdes Flores Nano and the
presidency of Peru stand a rugged-looking international
economist and the macho barrier.
The conservative 41-year-old Peruvian congresswoman, who
is unmarried and lives with her parents, has bolted from
obscurity to a solid second place in the 10-candidate
presidential campaign and may force front-runner Alejandro
Toledo into a runoff after the election April 8.
The macho hurdle -- testing the willingness of Peruvians to
vote for a woman -- is forcing the nation into reexamining sex
roles, machismo and privacy. Never in Peru -- or elsewhere
in Latin America -- has a woman attained the presidency
without a boost from her husband's fame.
Flores Nano has captured much of the women's vote in
Peru's electorate of 15 million, no question. But to become
president, she also must win over lots of undecided male
voters, such as Teodoro, an unemployed salesman. He likes
what he hears from Flores but isn't sure he can vote for a
woman.
``When I was drunk, I told my friends they shouldn't vote for
her because we are macho Peruvians,'' he admitted in an
interview, declining to give his last name. But when sober he
leans in her favor.
``It's kind of a battle of the sexes,'' said Manuel Torrado, a
pollster with Peru's Datum Agency. His surveys indicate the
women's vote will decide the election.
Latin America's past female presidents -- Argentina's Isabel
Peron, Nicaragua's Violetta Chamorro, Panama's Mireya
Moscoso and Guyana's Janet Jagan -- all were elected after
their presidential husbands died.
In an interview, Flores Nano voices optimism that Peruvians
are ready to elect her, and contends the status of women in
Peruvian government is rising.
``There are important examples, like the policewomen in
Lima,'' she said, referring to a decision in 1998 to fire corrupt
male traffic police officers and replace them with
no-nonsense women.
``I think I represent a new generation of political women, who
have gotten our experience through politics and are ready to
hold top positions,'' she said.
Running for president as an unmarried woman in a macho
country has come with indignities. Many Peruvians joke that
the former basketball star and lawmaker must be a lesbian.
In one recent televised interview, the host asked her point
blank whether she was still a virgin.
``What's it to you?'' Flores Nano shot back, effectively
putting the matter off limits.
``Only in our [Latin] countries would someone still ask that
question and would it still have some importance to the
public,'' said Ivonne Macassi, director of the Flora Tristan
Center for Peruvian Women, a women's rights group.
Flores Nano's answer ``invited others to think that we should
not accept it when people invade our privacy to judge our
conduct,'' Macassi continued. ``It was the first time a public
and very Catholic person said, `What's it to you?' ''
Flores Nano, who favors loose and casual dress to cover
what she says are 10 to 15 extra pounds, has said she
hopes to marry but has pledged not to date if elected
president.
In an nationwide poll early this month, Toledo held a 2-to-1
edge with male voters but mustered only a tie with Flores
Nano among female voters.
In past Peruvian elections, the female vote mattered mainly
when one candidate was decidedly more handsome than
another, as the women's vote tended to favor the
good-looking one, said pollster Torrado, ``in the context of
machismo world.''
A paternity suit against Toledo, alleging that he fathered a
daughter he refuses to recognize, has helped Flores Nano.
A court order for Toledo to submit a DNA sample in the case
is not expected before April 8 but could come during a
runoff, with explosive political implications.
Polls suggest that as much as 30 percent of voters remain
undecided. Among them are Leonardo Lujan and Ruben
Mercado, two admitted machos drinking beer and throwing
dice in a small Lima bar.
``We might experiment to see if a woman president could
profoundly change things,'' said Lujan.
``I have to think about it,'' Mercado chimed in. ``We've never
had a woman president. That is my doubt; it could mean real
change.''
Flores owes her popularity in part to her gender. Since
former President Alberto Fujimori fled to Japan in November
to escape charges of corruption, thousands of blackmail
videotapes made by his notorious intelligence chief,
Vladimiro Montesinos, have been released as part of a probe
into Fujimori's 10-year rule.
Shocked Peruvians have watched a variety of politicians from
all parties, Supreme Court justices, cabinet ministers and
titans of industry and media accept bulging envelopes of
cash to support Fujimori. Those caught on tape have one
thing in common: They are, almost exclusively, men.