Sendero Luminoso Peru

Alberto Fujimori sat in his living room and watched himself star on the evening news: driving his tractor unannounced into the poorest of Peru's slums and then, from atop his "Fujimobile," berating Peru's oligarchy before a cheering throng. The bespectacled university administrator was buoyant as he noted high points in the replay of his campaign rally a few hours earlier. And he was not the least bit surprised by its success.

Alberto Fujimori sat in his living room and watched himself star on the evening news: driving his tractor unannounced into the poorest of Peru's slums and then, from atop his "Fujimobile," berating Peru's oligarchy before a cheering throng. The bespectacled university administrator was buoyant as he noted high points in the replay of his campaign rally a few hours earlier. And he was not the least bit surprised by its success.

Only the most optimistic observers could imagine five years ago that South America would enter the second half of the 1980s with 94% of its population living under civilian and constitutional regimes, or that the countries of Central America would be holding internationally monitored elections, a first, if not comprehensive, step toward democracy. In South America, the return to democracy has been the main political issue of the last five years.