Peru President's Kin Create Headaches

LIMA, Peru - If U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton ever thought their brothers caused them public relations headaches, they might feel lucky compared to Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo.

The alleged misconduct of several of his eight siblings _ as well as a few nephews and most recently a sister-in-law _ are casting an even darker shadow over one of Latin America's least popular presidents.

"In a democracy, no one wears a crown. The law applies to everyone, including my own family," Toledo told a gathering of business executives Thursday night. "The presumption of innocence is for everyone but every crime should be severely punished, no matter who falls."

It's a line he's repeated often in recent months, and investigators seem to believe it too: Peru's Auditor General Genaro Matute conceded last month his agency was handling 42 investigations of "all of the Toledos."

While he made his speech, Toledo's sister-in-law, Juana Rodriguez, wife of his brother Fernando, was across town being booked for alleged involvement in a scheme to put six people on the Education Ministry payroll.

Congressman Wilmer Rengifo, a member of Toledo's political party, said the suspect who was arrested with Rodriguez in a sting operation on Wednesday had impersonated him in a scam to pressure an education ministry official to hire the individuals.

"I love my president and I have always worked by his side," Rodriguez shouted as police bustled her past a throng of reporters into a closed-door arraignment. Her lawyer said her arrest resulted from a misunderstanding. That didn't stop the story from topping Peru's headlines and newscasts.

Toledo, who started out as a shoe shine boy and grew up to become a Stanford-trained economist, began his five-year term in July 2001 with approval ratings near 60 percent.

Hailed as Peru's first democratically elected president of Indian descent, he presented himself as a rags-to-riches crusader against poverty and corruption. He led fiery street protests that helped topple President Alberto Fujimori's 10-year authoritarian government in 2000.

But his approval rating quickly dropped amid popular discontent with unemployment and a string of scandals involving his ministers, aides and especially his family.

Recent polls show he has about 10 percent support.

"The gravest problems with the government, in the public's opinion, stem from the problems with the family," said Manuel Saavedra, director of Peru's CPI polling firm. "My suggestion would be to export his entire family as a nontraditional product and see if there's some country that would take them."

In the United States, there have been plenty of examples of presidents with troubled siblings, but they never had too much effect. Jimmy Carter's brother, Billy, wrote a book called "Redneck Power" and accepted money from the Libyan government. Bill Clinton's half brother, Roger, was jailed for a year for dealing cocaine.

But for President Toledo, family scandal has been a constant onslaught. Since Toledo took office, several of his nieces and nephews have faced allegations ranging from nepotism to sexual assault.

Congress in February opened an investigation of his sister, Margarita Toledo, after local media accused her of using the family name to help a friend win a construction contract with Peru's port authority. She denies any wrongdoing.

She is also under scrutiny by state attorneys for allegedly overseeing a systematic operation to forge signatures in 1997 and 1998 to register Toledo's Peru Possible political party ahead of the 2000 presidential election.

She and the president deny that charge.

Last month, a judge opened a criminal investigation of the president's brother, Pedro, on allegations he used his family name to win a lucrative telephone concession for a virtually unknown company, Telecomunicaciones Hemisfericas.

Pedro Toledo, who could face five years in prison if convicted of influence peddling, has said he advised the fledgling company as a broker, but did nothing wrong.

"There is a witch hunt against the president's brothers and sisters," Pedro Toledo told congressional investigators.

Opposition Congressman Mauricio Mulder, of the left-leaning Aprista party, suggested sarcastically after Rodriguez's arrest that the Toledo clan provide a "family census."

"Every week we have a similar scandal and it can't continue like this," he said.