TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) – Trailing in opinion polls, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum headed home to Pennsylvania on Friday for a short visit, effectively turning his back on the Florida primary that has become a two-man race between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

While Romney and Gingrich battle it out in Florida, Santorum is returning to attend a fundraiser, prepare his tax returns for release and hold a news conference in West Chester.

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) – It is one of the code phrases of the 2012 presidential campaign: “the food stamp president.”

That’s what Republican Newt Gingrich calls Democrat Barack Obama in casting the president’s economic record as a failure, and bemoaning what Gingrich sees as a poor work ethic among those dependent on government help.

LIMA (Reuters) – Peruvian leftists who supported President Ollanta Humala for years are leaving the government and may stop supporting him in Congress, saying his emerging authoritarian tone amounts to a further drift to the right.

At least two high-profile leftist aides who felt betrayed have quit their posts and more resignations are expected after Humala, a former military officer, shuffled his Cabinet over the weekend.

LIMA (Reuters) – Peruvian President Ollanta Humala swore in a new team of ministers on Sunday in a shake-up that could lead to harsher crackdowns on social protests but will leave the country’s free-market economic model in place.

Humala, who was a soldier before becoming a politician, named Oscar Valdes, a former army officer who was his instructor in the military, to be prime minister.

LIMA, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Peruvian President Ollanta Humala
was set to swear in a new Cabinet later on Sunday in a shake-up
that could lead to harsher crackdowns on social protests but
leave the country’s free-market economic model in place.

Humala, who was a professional soldier before becoming a
politician, said on Saturday that Oscar Valdes, a former army
officer who was his instructor in the military, would be prime
minister.

LIMA (Reuters) – President Ollanta Humala replaced his prime minister on Saturday with a former army officer who was his instructor in the military in an unexpected Cabinet shake-up that stunned Peru.

Oscar Valdes, who until now had been Humala’s interior minister, will replace Salomon Lerner, a businessman who was the most powerful centrist in the government and had helped Humala shed his left-wing image to win election in June.

LIMA, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Security forces fanned out across
Peru’s Cajamarca region on Monday to enforce emergency measures
decreed by President Ollanta Humala to put an end to 11 days of
protests against a $4.8 billion gold mine project.

Humala, a former army officer, called leaders of the
environmental protest “intransigent” after weeks of mediation
efforts failed again late on Sunday – prompting him to give the
military and police extraordinary powers to end rallies that
have shut roads, schools and hospitals in Cajamarca.

LIMA, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Peruvian President Ollanta Humala
declared a state of emergency late on Sunday to quell protests
against Newmont Mining’s $4.8 billion Conga gold mine project
that have hobbled the region of Cajamarca for 11 days.

Humala, a former army officer, chided leaders of the
environmental protest as intransigent after weeks of mediation
efforts failed. His decree allows the military to help police
reopen roads, schools and hospitals shuttered for days by
rallies and marches against the proposed mine.

LIMA (Reuters) – Peruvian President Ollanta Humala declared a state of emergency late on Sunday to quell protests against Newmont Mining’s $4.8 billion Conga mine project that have hobbled the region of Cajamarca for 11 days.

Humala, in a nationwide address, called leaders of the environmental protest intransigent and said the ruling would give security forces added power to ensure that roads, schools and hospitals could reopen after having been shuttered for days by rallies and marches against the proposed mine.

LIMA, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Newmont Mining Corp
temporarily halted work on its $4.8 billion Conga gold project
on Tuesday after the government asked it to help calm violent
protests and restart talks with a skeptical local community.

President Ollanta Humala had been trying to mediate a
bitter conflict over water at the proposed mine for weeks but
ended up ordering police to break up protests on Tuesday after
demonstrators started vandalizing the U.S. company’s property.