LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Peru's protester-turned- President Alejandro Toledo took office on Saturday, vowing to beat his country's crushing poverty in a ``new dawn of irrevocable democracy.''The 55-year-old centrist economist, who grew up in a small adobe house with no power or running water, took his oath for a five-year term, swearing ``by God, the nation and the poor of Peru'' in a solemn ceremony in Congress.
His speech was cheered and clapped, but opposition lawmakers held protest banners. Hundreds of fans later ran behind his open-topped car as he toured the streets, blowing kisses and saluting, his arms outstretched savior-style.
``After 10 years of corruption, the light of democracy has come,'' said Luisa Pilares, a 60-year-old biologist.
Analysts say, with a stagnant 54 billion mining- and fishing-based economy, nearly half the country who did not vote for him to woo, and a hung Congress, the untested former World Bank consultant has a tough task ahead. According to the sources he will have to deliver fast or face strikes and protests.
Toledo takes charge after a rollercoaster year of corruption scandals sparked by jailed ex-spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, who controlled Peru's courts, Congress, media and military under Fujimori's hard-line 1990-2000 rule.
Fujimori, who was fired last November as ``morally unfit'' and is holed up in Japan, said in a message on his new Web site that he was nostalgic but history would remember his ``positive legacy''.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo waves after receiving the presidential red-and-white sash from Congress President Carlos Ferrero, during the inauguration ceremony in Lima, July 28, 2001. Toledo crowned his rise from protester to president when he was sworn into office flanked by world leaders after a year marked by corruption and crisis. (Mariana Bazo/Reuters)