The pressure on Toledo

IT WAS the last thing Peru needed. On March 21st, just three days before George Bush was due to make a brief visit to Lima, a powerful car bomb exploded near the United States' embassy, killing at least eight people and injuring up to 40. The government was already looking shaky. Since taking office as Peru's president last July, Alejandro Toledo has been hailed abroad as the embodiment of a newly restored democracy, after a decade of authoritarian rule by Alberto Fujimori. At home, he has disappointed. Each week sees protests by citizens demanding jobs and handouts, or denouncing the government's policies or its predecessor's abuses.