'THEY HAVE TO ACCEPT ME'

Toledo On Reports Of His Drug Use, His Leadership Agenda--And On Coming To
Power In A 'Racist' Country

In the closing days of Peru's election campaign, front runner Alejandro
Toledo discussed his candidacy with NEWSWEEK's Joseph Contreras in Lima.
Excerpts:

CONTRERAS: The respected Peruvian newsmagazine Caretas published a cover
story last month alleging that you tested positive for cocaine use in
October 1998. You have denied the report and accused the magazine's editor
in chief of waging a smear campaign against you. What is the basis for your
charge?

TOLEDO: I have a great respect for Caretas as a publication. It is an
institution in Peru, and I don't understand the political motivation of
[editor] Enrique Zileri in this. I do know that among his associates are
people who are very close to [rival candidate] Lourdes Flores.

What are their names?

I prefer not to go into this in order to avoid adding more gasoline to the
fire. But it has profoundly surprised me. Yet at the end of the day that's
democracy, and that's what I have fought for. I don't believe there can be
democracy without unlimited freedom of expression. If I am elected
[president], let the press criticize me. That's fine because I fought for
that freedom of expression.

Have you ever used cocaine?

Oh, please...

But you have drunk coca tea...

Oh, yes, I drink it every day. When I go to [the Andean cities of] Puno or
Cuzco, I drink three or four cups a day.

And you have chewed coca leaves?

Yes, in the mountains with my father. That's part of the culture.

But you've never had anything to do with narcotics?

Never, never. Though I would not pass judgment on those who do because each
person has his own values.

Would the election of an mixed-blooded Indian to the presidency of Peru
signify a major breakthrough for the indigenous peoples of other Latin
American countries?

This would be the first time in 500 years since the arrival of the
Spaniards that a person coming from the 95 percent of the population who
never took part in the political leadership of the nation is democratically
elected president. That enormous rupture with tradition would represent an
enormous responsibility for me.

The father of candidate Lourdes Flores hurled a racial epithet at you
during the final weeks of the campaign, and your wife, Eliane Karp,
countered with a similar slur aimed at Flores's supporters. Do you regret
the role that race has played in this election?

Yes, I do. My country is a profoundly and devastatingly racist country.
There are some people who must be gritting their teeth, [but] they have to
accept me. I have all the credentials. I went to San Francisco, Stanford,
the World Bank. I've achieved what others would like to have done and then
some. Obviously I can't change this face. Fortunately.

Don't you think of yourself as a man of the Western world?

My life is a very strange mixture. I wear Giorgio Armani, I'm a man who has
been educated in the academic institutions of the Western world, and I can
circulate in Paris, New York, Washington and Tokyo. But I love it when I go
to my peasant communities. When I travel I bring along cassettes of
[Peruvian] folk music that I like. In this age it is not incompatible to
champion those indigenous values and also realize we are living in a
globalized, competitive world. This is not merely an academic exercise. I
have lived this.

Some of your critics have branded you a populist for your promises to boost
the salaries of teachers, policemen and government health workers.

A teacher with 15 to 20 years' experience earns an average monthly wage of
$ 160. Is it populist to be concerned about their wage increases? If I
become president, I will increase the amount of spending on education from
14 to 30 percent of the national government budget. But that doesn't mean
we'll spend more than what the government receives in revenues. That means
we'll have to immediately cut spending in other sectors, like the defense
budget. It would be populist if you offered [better salaries] for political
gain by increasing government spending that generated hyperinflation.

There are some outward similarities between you and your wife, Eliane, and
the Clintons. Like Bill Clinton, you rose from humble origins to the very
pinnacle of national politics, you're dogged by questions about your moral
character, and you're married to a high-powered professional woman who
alienates as many voters as she helps you win over. Do you and your wife
have a lot in common with the Clintons?

The news media has tried to draw certain parallels, but you have to put it
in proper perspective. Being poor in the United States is very different
from being poor in Peru. There are some parallels. I admire much of
President Clinton's work in the area of social issues, and I have a high
regard for Hillary Clinton's mind. Eliane is a woman who thinks for
herself, who is a very capable professional with extensive experience in
the international ambit, [but] who also has a deep-seated concern for
Andean culture. Her declarations surprise many because there's a notion
that the wife of a candidate should be a woman who stays at home cooking
and taking care of the children. She's not like that.

Is there anything about the Clintons that you find worthy of emulating?

Yes, the fact that they share the political task at hand. But I make the
decisions and I take full responsibility for those decisions.