  The unusual magneto-transport properties of manganites are widely believed to
be caused by mixed-phase tendencies and concomitant percolative processes.
However, dramatic deviations from "standard" percolation have been unveiled
experimentally. Here, a semi-phenomenological description of Mn oxides is
proposed based on coexisting clusters with smooth surfaces, as suggested by
Monte Carlo simulations of realistic models for manganites, also briefly
discussed here. The present approach produces fairly abrupt percolative
transitions and even first-order discontinuities, in agreement with
experiments. These transitions may describe the percolation that occurs after
magnetic fields align the randomly oriented ferromagnetic clusters believed to
exist above the Curie temperature in Mn oxides. In this respect, part of the
manganite phenomenology could belong to a new class of percolative processes
triggered by phase competition and correlations.
