Archive for January, 2008
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
Former presidential candidate and opposition leader, Ollanta Humala, says charges that he helped mastermind the 2005 armed assault on a remote police station in the southern town of Andahuaylas, in Apurímac Department, are politically motivated.
The comments follow a request by State Prosecutor Gladys Fernández that Humala serve a 15-year prison sentence and pay a fine of 50,000 soles, or about $17,000, in civil reparation for his involvement in the assault. Fernández also requested that Humala be exiled after completing the prison sentence.
“This isn’t my first trial, there have been seven investigations, all of them since I entered politics,” Radio Programas radio quoted Humala saying “the government wants to imprison me.”
Humala adds that behind the exile request there is “clearly political pressure on the prosecutor. To request the exile of a citizen in the 21st century is unconstitutional, every citizen has the right to live in their country.” (more…)
Posted in Criminal Justice, Politics | No Comments »
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
Chile’s Congress has rescinded the fast-track status of a Senate bill seeking free trade negotiations with Peru, citing Peru’s decision to file suite in the International Court of Justice in The Hague to settle the maritime border dispute between the two nations.
Peru’s Foreign Minister José Antonio Garcia Belaunde told reporters that Chilean lawmaker were only hurting their own country by annulling the free trade deal’s priority status. “This isn’t some kind of cooperation accord or a donation, but rather a commercial accord in which both parties expect to benefit,” he said. “The ones damaged by this will be on both sides of the border.
The maritime dispute dates back to the 1879 – 1883 War of the Pacific, in which Peru and Bolivia lost substantial territory to Chile. Central to the row is 38,000 square kilometers, or about 14,500 square miles, of fishing-rich sea which Chile currently controls.
Posted in Business, Regional Politics | No Comments »
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
The former Agriculture Minister during the administration of jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori received a seven year prison sentence Wednesday for fabricating signatures that helped Fujimori get reelected in 2000. Absalón Vásquez was found guilty of fabricating the signatures for the Vamos Vecino party ahead of Peru’s 2000 presidential elections, Agencia Andina reported.
Vamos Vecino was part of the Peru 2000 alliance, the political party Fujimori formed in order to support his 2000 reelection. According to Agencia Andina, Vásquez was found guilty of crimes against public confidence and unlawful association with the intent of committing a crime.
Along with Vásquez, Fujimori’s former presidential adviser and intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, was sentenced to eight years in prison for bribing officials to carry out the forgeries.
Vamos Vecino’s former director, Migdonio Bellota, and current lawmaker Rolando Reátegui were also found guilty of supporting the forgeries. Bellota was sentenced to six years in prison while Reátegui received a four year sentence, which amounts to a slap on the wrist. According to Peru’s penal code, any sentence of four years or less is automatically suspended.
Posted in Corruption, Criminal Justice, Politics | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
Formal employment has grown by almost 8 percent in Peru’s urban centers from November 2006 to November 2007. According to the Labor Ministry, the retail sector had the highest formal employment growth at 10.4 percent, followed by the industrial and service sectors with growth at 8.4 and 7.8 percent respectively.
Retail growth was reportedly due to an increase in business during the holiday season while employment growth in the service sector is attributed to teaching.
In Peru’s capital, Lima, industrial employment growth was due to an increase in textile business and manufacturing of tools and machines, including electro-mechanical instruments. In other urban centers, the industrial employment growth reportedly came from food and beverage companies.
The city of Chincha, located in the earthquake-devastated Ica Department, had the highest formal employment growth at 19 percent followed by Tacna, the capital of the southern Tacna Department, at 18.4 percent. In Lima, formal employment grew by 8.4 percent.
In some cities, however, opportunities in the formal economy decreased. For example, in the northern-coastal city of Chimbote, in Ancash Department, formal employment decreased by almost 2 percent.
While formal employment has reportedly increased, many Peruvians are still working in the informal economy, outside the purview of the government and without labor benefits.
A 2002 report by the National Institute for Statistics and Informatics, INEI, reported the scope of Peru’s informal economy. INEI reported that 4.3 million urban jobs, or 61.5 percent, were in the informal sector. About 1.8 million people in Lima, or 53.1 percent of the city’s possible labor force, had informal jobs
Posted in Business | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
A family of coca growers who had replaced their illicit yield for legal alternative crops was brutally executed Sunday morning in Peru’s eastern jungle province of Padre Abad, in Ucayali Department. The mayor of a local community told Radio Programas radio the crime was in retaliation for the family’s support of a State program that encourages farmers to voluntarily eradicate their coca plantations.
One of the victims, 30-year-old Aniceto Cámara, received death threats the day before the attack because of his involvement in the eradication program, Agencia Andina reported. The other victims include Cámara’s wife, 28-year-old Césarea Polino, and their three children aged 10, seven and one. Cámara’s younger brother, 25-year-old Inocencio Cámara, was also killed.
Radio Programas reported that the adults were tied up and shot with shotguns and revolvers and that the children were hacked to death with machetes.
Cabinet Chief Jorge Del Castillo told Agencia Andina, “this murder shows the ferocity at the criminal hands of drug traffickers, who … kill those who want to change to a lawful economy.” (more…)
Posted in Coca, Cocaine, Criminal Justice | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Mercedes Aráoz announced that negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement with Canada will be finalized this weekend, as part of Peru’s efforts to diversify its market.
Aráoz said an agreement was nearly sealed during a Monday night video teleconference meeting, which settled in-depth and technical details, Agencia Andina reported. “We are going to meet this weekend,” said Aráoz “in order to finalize the details and be able to close the agreement.”
According to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, trade between Peru and Canada totaled $2.38 billion in 2006. Peruvian exports to Canada were $2.1 billion, a 54.3 percent increase over 2005. Peru imported $289 million during the same period, a 9.1 percent increase over 2005.
Peru’s principal exports to Canada are gold, copper, asparagus and fishmeal, while its major imports are cereals, machinery, electrical equipment, leguminous vegetables and paper. (more…)
Posted in Business | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
Residents in an Andean town near Peru’s southern border with Bolivia took justice into their own hands early Monday morning by drowning a father and son who they suspected of killing a 30-year-old man.
According to daily La República, Lorenzo Mamani Vilca and his son were captured by the mob in the town of Ilave, in Puno Department, around midnight on Sunday. The mob accused the father and son of killing the man, who allegedly did not pay a debt from a livestock purchase.
After the men were captured, municipal guards arrived some 30 minutes later and tried to persuade the mob to hand them over to police. Instead, they dragged them to the Ilave river where they were subsequently drowned.
Vigilante justice is not new to Ilave. The town made international headlines in April 2004 when thousands of its residents dragged their mayor, Cirilo Robles, into the street and beat him to death for alleged corruption. Robles was later exonerated.
Posted in Criminal Justice, Regional Politics | No Comments »
Monday, January 21st, 2008
Five people are dead and 20 injured after a dozen gunmen robbed two buses before dawn Sunday close to Peru’s southern border with Bolivia. According to local media, passengers on the buses were mainly workers from Peru’s informal mines who were transporting gold and silver from Sina district to the city of Juliaca, in Puno Department.
The first bus was reportedly stopped at about 3 a.m. by the group, which was heavily-armed with AKM assault rifles and shotguns. Minutes later, a second bus traveling on the same route and carrying three off-duty police officers was also intercepted.
A gunfight broke out when the officers tried to stop the holdup, resulting in the deaths of one officer, 42-year-old Mario Gamarra, three civilians, and one of the bandits, Agencia Andina reported.
According to daily La República, the head of the police in Puno’s Azángaro province, Colonel Enrique Gonzales, will lead the search for the assailants with a team of 40 officers. The daily also reported that police have reinforced Peru’s southern border to prevent the group from fleeing to Bolivia.
With 10 days remaining in January, 11 passenger buses have been robbed on Peru’s highways this month. According to the Office for Highway Protection, 13 buses were robbed during January 2007 and 14 buses in January 2006.
Posted in Criminal Justice | No Comments »
Monday, January 21st, 2008
Peru and China have begun the first round of negotiations for a free trade agreement that could be ratified by November, according to Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Mercedes Aráoz. Agencia Andina quoted Aráoz saying that Peruvian and Chinese officials will try to reach an agreement before the 2008 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit scheduled for November in Lima.
“We want to reach a good agreement with our partners before the 2008 APEC summit,” said Aráoz. “It isn’t an obligation, but it would be a dream to quickly reach this type of an agreement.”
China is currently Peru’s second largest trade partner, as their bilateral economic and trade activities continue to expand. According to a FTA Joint Feasability Study, the bilateral trade volume totaled $3.9 billion in 2006, a 35 percent increase from 2005. (more…)
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Saturday, January 19th, 2008
Heavy rains are causing widespread damage to ancient ruins in Peru’s normally arid northern coast, says a regional director from the National Institute of Culture, INC.
Enrique Sánchez, the INC chief in La Libertad department, told Enlace Nacional the rains are damaging the adobe walls in the Chan Chan site, the largest city in pre-Columbian America and the capital of the Chimu Kingdom, which reached its peak in the 15th century before being conquered by the Inca Empire.
About 300 miles northwest of Lima, Chan Chan was a 28-square-mile city that was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Site in 1986. UNESCO described it as “an absolute masterpiece in terms of town planning,” and “a unique testimony to the ancient Chimu Kingdom.”
However, the same year the site was also added to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger due to its exposure to natural erosion from wind and rain.
“Naturally, we always have conservation work,” said Sánchez “but it rains and that produces drips and the drips break the walls, they break the frieze murals… it’s uncontrollable.”
Sánchez added that workers are covering Chan Chan structures with plastic tarps in order to protect it from the rain. “Plastic tarps are put on the monument so they won’t be affected too much, and the next day we take them off.” (more…)
Posted in Archaeology, Environment, Natural Disasters | No Comments »
