Peru’s President-elect Alan Garcia says voters have sent a clear message to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez: Keep out.

ALAN Garcia staged a remarkable comeback in Peru’s run-off election, beating a fiery nationalist backed by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez to regain control of the country 16 years after his first presidential term ended in economic ruin and rebel violence.

Alan Garcia staged a remarkable comeback in Peru’s run-off election, beating a fiery nationalist backed by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez to regain control of the country 16 years after his first presidential term ended in economic ruin and rebel violence.

AT 6ft 3in, former Peruvian president Alan Garcia strikes an imposing figure in his bid for re-election. But he also casts a long shadow of dark memories.

A FIERY nationalist who has rattled the elite seemed assured of a spot in Peru’s presidential run-off, but the race for second remained too close to call yesterday.

POPULIST Ollanto Humala is leading Peru’s presidential race, with conservative Lourdes Flores and ex-president Alan Garcia competing to qualify for a run-off against the front-runner.

PERUVIANS were voting in a tight presidential contest yesterday that could put their Andean nation on a leftist track akin to Venezuela and Bolivia, giving them their first female leader or offer a former president a second chance.

Alejandro Toledo, Peru's first freely elected president of native Indian descent, has been sworn in.

Alejandro Toledo, a shoeshine boy who rose from poverty to become a World Bank economist, defeated controversial ex-president Alan Garcia in the presidential election in Peru’s cleanest election in years.