VENEZUELA may sever relations with Peru after the election of an outspoken critic of Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan leader, as the country’s President.

Alan García held an insurmountable lead of 53.5 per cent, against 46.5 per cent for Ollanta Humala, his nationalist rival, with 91 per cent of the vote counted after Sunday’s presidential run-off.

In his acceptance speech Señor García said that Peruvians had sent an overwhelming message to the anti-American Señor Chávez. Peruvians rejected the “strategy of expansion of a militaristic, retrograde model that he (Chávez) has tried to impose in South America,” Señor García said.

The Venezuelan leader was accused of trying to influence the outcome of the election by endorsing Señor Humala, a former army officer who appealed to Peru’s indigenous poor and disenfranchised, pledging greater state control over the country’s vast natural resources.

During an acrimonious campaign Señor García and Señor Chávez exchanged numerous insults. Señor Chávez said: “If, by some work of the devil, Señor García is elected President of Peru, I’m going to withdraw my ambassador from Peru because Venezuela cannot have relations with a president like that.”

Alí Rodríguez, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, said yesterday that relations between the two countries were under review after the election: “It is regrettable that Señor García’s first remarks as president should have been addressed at Venezuela.”

But he later added: “It is possible there will be a period in which the situation calms down and we can establish a normal relationship as there should be between two brother nations. Everything depends on the Government of Peru.”

The election victory represents a remarkable comeback for Señor García, a 57-year-old lawyer who leads Apra, the country’s oldest political party, and was President of Peru from 1985 to 1990. He left office in disgrace after his first term, with Peru nearly bankrupt and battered by a Maoist insurgency. Facing corruption charges, he fled into exile for two years, but returned after the Supreme Court ruled that the statute of limitations on charges against him had expired.

Many Peruvians remain deeply suspicious, saying that they voted for him not because of who he was, but who he was not. “History has given him another chance,” wrote the Correo newspaper, while Peru 21, cautioned: “Señor García, this is not a blank cheque.”

Señor García says that he has changed, painting himself as a moderate socialist and promising to sustain the growth that has made Peru one of Latin America’s fastestgrowing economies under Alejandro Toledo, the outgoing President.

“Alan is the lesser of two evils,” said Madeleine Huerta, a 33-year-old medical student, after voting for Señor Garcia.

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