Archive for November, 2007
Friday, November 30th, 2007
Jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori could face charges for his 1992 ¨self-coup,¨ according to Agencia Andina. The head of Peru’s Extradition Unit, Omar Chehade, told Agencia Andina that officials are considering making a request to Chile to include ¨self-coup¨ charges as part of Fujimori’s extradition.
Chile’s Supreme Court decided to extradite Fujimori on September 21, 2007. The decision was based on two charges of human rights violations and five corruption charges. According to Percy García Cavero, penal law expert at University of Piura, Fujimori can only be tried for the seven charges for which he was extradited. (more…)
Posted in Corruption, Criminal Justice, Law, Politics | No Comments »
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich has won the Roxy Pro Hawaii at Sunset beach today, event number seven of eight on the 2007 ASP Women’s World Tour. The victory is her second on the 2007 tour and her first ASP World Tour win in Hawaii. With one event left, Mulanovich trails ratings leader Stephanie Gilmore by just 101 points.
¨It’s pretty amazing, I really never thought of a World Title coming here¨ Mulanovich told the Association of Surfing Professionals, which covered the event on its Web page. ¨I Just wanted to have fun, surf wave by wave, and just have a good contest. But now it’s on, it’s so on!¨ Mulanovich finished the final with 13.73 points to defeat second-place Amee Donohoe’s. (more…)
Posted in Sports | No Comments »
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
A report presented by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on Wednesday shows a strong correlation between health conditions and poverty in Peru. Twenty percent of the poorest population, for instance, bears 50 percent of deaths from nutritional deficiencies and anemia.
The 2007 edition of Health in the Americas is two volumes, with one dedicated to 46 country reports and the other an analysis of hemispheric health conditions from a social and economic perspective.
In Peru ¨nearly all welfare indicators show that rural areas, indigenous populations, females, the jungle region, and the central and southern highlands are at a disadvantage¨ says the country report. (more…)
Posted in Health Care, Women | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
Human rights organizations launched Peru’s first national campaign against discrimination of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transvestites (GLBT) and sex workers on Monday. The campaign is organized by the GLBT and Sex Workers Round Table, the National System of Community Defense (SINDECO), the Platform for Vulnerable Communities and the Homosexual Movement of Lima (MHOL), according to the campaign’s website.
Activists will broadcast their message with advertisements on buses, posters on city streets, short films, informative fairs, public marches and meetings with politicians. Twelve regions are participating in the campaign.
(more…)
Posted in GLBT, Law, Women | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
Criticism is mounting against a proposed law that President Alan Garcia wants to fast-track through Congress to simplify trial procedures — a move some believe could allow jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori to sit out his upcoming trials on corruption and human rights abuse charges.
The executive bill, marked “urgent,” was introduced Nov. 7, and includes one provision in particular that has set off alarm bells:
“The accused cannot leave the proceedings without permission from the Court, however, once the charges have been formulated, such permission may be granted for justifiable reasons, and the defendant can be represented by defense counsel.”
Some legal experts, human rights advocates and opposition lawmakers have interpreted that to mean Fujimori could avoid being present in court and exempted from having to confront his former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos face-to-face.
Garcia denied the suggestion, telling reporters: “There exists the most exaggerated and inept interpretation to say this could benefit Fujimori. Nothing could be further from reality … Let’s stop ‘Fujimori-izing’ the national scene.”
Posted in Criminal Justice, Law, Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
The Special Criminal Sector of Peru’s Supreme Court has found ex-Interior Minister Juan Briones Dávila guilty of rebellion and kidnapping charges during ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s 1992 self-coup, local Peruvian media reported Monday. Briones has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay 50,000 soles, or about $16,500, in civil reparation to people detained by security forces during the self-coup, including current Cabinet Chief Jorge Del Castillo. (more…)
Posted in Criminal Justice, Politics | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
President Alan Garcia is preparing a bill that would require all Peruvians who have served prison sentences for terrorism to periodically report in with authorities for the rest of their lives, Cabinet Chief Jorge Del Castillo said Monday.
“What we are seeking is a law that says, ‘You have been sentenced for terrorism, have murdered people, so you have the obligation for the rest of your life to report to authorities where you live, what you are doing and what you are up to,’” CPN radio quoted Del Castillo saying. (more…)
Posted in Insurgency, Politics | No Comments »
Monday, November 26th, 2007
Peruvian geologists date stone blocks used in Machu Picchu’s construction to 250-million-years-old. The study’s co-author and geo-scientific director at the Geological Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (INGEMMET), Víctor Carlotto, told Agencia Andina the stones were formed three to six miles below the earths crust.
“Through the process of uplifting in the Andes, the rocks reached the surface as fractured granites. Over thousands of years they were formed into ‘chaos blocks’,” which were unstable and difficult to work with, said Carlotto. Thousands of people, using terraces and platforms, were needed to move the blocks in order to construct buildings and the drainage system. (more…)
Posted in Archaeology | No Comments »
Saturday, November 24th, 2007
Jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori is scheduled to face his first human rights abuse trial Dec. 10 to answer for his regime’s brutal excesses to tame the Shining Path insurgency during his 10-year rule.
Coincidently, members of his political party spent all last week trying to muster support for a vote of censure against President Alan Garcia’s Cabinet chief, Jorge Del Castillo. They accuse Del Castillo of failing to stem attacks on police by suspected Shining Path guerrillas, now in the employ of cocaine traffickers.
Guerrillas armed with grenades and machine guns stormed a police outpost last month in a remote Andean village in Apurímac, killing one officer. Two weeks later, four more officers were killed in an ambush on a jungle road in Huancavelica.
“On this issue, our presence signifies the clearest and healthiest intention to seek an accord between all political groups to act in unity to combat subversive violence, the violence of terrorism, the violence of narcotics trafficking, or of narco-terrorism,” Del Castillo said in an address to Congress.
“No one should try to seek political points on this issue, let alone over the bodies of dead police,” he added. (more…)
Posted in Cocaine, Insurgency, Media, Politics | No Comments »
