(Lima, PER) - Leftist ex-military officer Ollanta Humala will be sworn in Thursday as the next president of Peru aiming to confront the high poverty plaguing his Andean nation despite its solid economic growth.
Humala, 49, starts his five-year term having pledged to work hard to change the daily lives of some 30 percent of Peru's 28 million people who live below the poverty line.
In years past, Humala, who has not held elective office, aligned himself rhetorically with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of the United States.
Now Humala portrays his policy preference as more of the moderate left, saying he is inspired by Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Lula was successful at reducing poverty while fostering economic growth.
"Right now, the fear (of how he will govern) has decreased. But there is no euphoria. Humala has succeeded at easing fears, but now he has to respond to widespread high public expectations," said political analyst Aldo Panfichi.
"I think he is going to follow the trend of Brazil and also of Uruguay, of running (his campaign) to the left, but then governing more from the center," to protect the economy, Panfichi said.
He said it was clear that Chavez's initiatives "have lost some momentum. It is clear that he has not solved Venezuela's problems. Latin American politics are more complex and nuanced than the black or white Chavez painted things."
Humala was elected in a second round run-off in June when he defeated Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Peru's disgraced former president Alberto Fujimori.
He has since met leaders from Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on a tour to forge ties and reassure investors in one of Latin America's fastest growing economies.
Humala's election promises centered on a fairer redistribution of the Andean nation's rich mineral deposits and drew support from many poor, indigenous and rural inhabitants of southern regions of Peru.
But he has brought together liberals and moderate leftists for his first cabinet, including leftist writer and sociologist Rafael Roncagliolo as foreign minister and millionaire businessman Salomon Lerner as his cabinet chief.
Analysts say Humala has managed to allay fears, which inflated during the election campaign, that he would follow the "20th century socialist" path of Venezuela's firebrand Chavez, such as nationalizing key industries.
Humala was openly backed by Chavez in 2006 presidential polls, which he narrowly lost to outgoing President Alan Garcia.
But as Humala takes over from Garcia on Peru's independence day he will inherit dozens of social conflicts set to test the strength of his eclectic cabinet.
He will face a "baptism of fire" on issues such as a windfall tax on wealthy mining companies, which was one of his election promises.
Humala led a failed revolt in 2000 against Alberto Fujimori just before the latter fled into exile, for which he was jailed and then received a congressional pardon.
He has long been plagued by the antics of his family, including radical nationalist outbursts from his father, a 2005 rebellion by one of his brothers, who is now in jail, and a recent visit to Russia by another brother who conducted rogue gas deal talks without his consent.
While his party is the largest minority in the legislature, Humala will have to build a coalition to get much legislative work done.
