Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Controversy over a new law prohibiting public schools from hiring teachers who did not finish in the top third of their class during their studies has intensified, with Peru’s Education Minister threatening criminal charges against many of the country’s regional presidents who say the law is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
In an attempt to improve Peru’s ailing public school system, the Education Ministry established through Supreme Decree 004 that applicants for public teaching positions are required to have completed their education degree within the top third of their class
“Peru needs to make a quantum leap forward in education and with mediocre people who finished last we aren’t going to take that step,” daily Correo reported Cabinet Chief Jorge Del Castillo saying.
The president of La Libertad Department, José Murgia, said his department will implement the law. “Our children deserve the best teachers,” he said. “Don’t we want the best teachers for our children?”
However, 17 other regional presidents have argued the law is unconstitutional and discriminatory. Some say they will not implement it. (more…)
Posted in Media, Politics, Regional Politics | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
A state prosecutor fighting reassignment to a jungle post for fear of reprisals from one of Peru’s most notorious drug barons has suffered another legal setback.
Judge Teresa Jara García rejected a habeas corpus appeal by prosecutor Luz Loayza against Attorney General Adelaida Bolívar and members of Supreme Court of Prosecutors, according to daily El Comercio.
Loayza was appealing orders from the attorney general and the Supreme Court that she return to her post in the jungle city of Iquitos, where Loayza says her life would be in danger jailed cocaine kingpin Fernando Zevallos. Jara said she made the decision last Friday however would not provide more information. (more…)
Posted in Cocaine, Criminal Justice, Politics, Women | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
State prosecutor Luz Loayza’s lawyer said he will appeal a decision by Peru’s Supreme Council of Prosecutors ordering Loayza’s return to her post in the city of Iquitos, where she would be at the mercy of drug traffickers. Aníbal Quiroga told daily La República they will appeal the decision in the judiciary and are prepared to bring the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with support from the Lima Bar Association.
In November 2005, Loayza, 47, brought charges against Peru’s cocaine kingpin, Fernando Zevallos, who is currently serving a 20 year sentence for money laundering and drug trafficking. She reportedly received numerous death threats and escaped an assassination attempt in Iquitos during the year and a half trial against Zevallos.
Loayza has argued her life would be at risk if she returns to her post in the jungle city, capital of Loreto department, where drug traffickers have promised revenge.
However, the Supreme Council ordered Loayza’s return to Iquitos on Friday, arguing she failed to report death threats to her superiors. According to daily El Comercio, the Supreme Council echoed earlier comments by Attorney General Adelaida Bolívar saying prosecutors are inherently at risk. (more…)
Posted in Cocaine, Criminal Justice, Politics, Regional Politics, Women | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
The Peruvian Medical Federation voted to postpone releasing patients prematurely from public hospitals as part of their ongoing national strike over health care investment and improved salaries. According to Radio Programs radio, the union’s president, Julio Vargas, said they would wait 48 hours in the hope of opening dialogue with Health Minister Hernán Garrido-Lecca in order to end the 20-day strike.
The announcement to release the patients without proper treatment received swift reaction from Garrido-Lecca, who threatened to file criminal charges against the striking doctors if they followed through with their plan.
“If doctors dare to do that, they are committing an illegal act. It is an offense, it is a criminal act and it will be penalized as such,” Agencia Andina reported Garrido-Lecca saying. The minister also said that patients would be transferred to army and police hospitals if they were released without proper treatment from Peru’s public hospitals.
About 13,000 doctors began the national strike on Jan. 8 demanding, among other things, improved salaries and working conditions.
Posted in Health Care, Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
The head of the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, SPDA, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, sat down for an interview with daily El Comercio to discuss the creation of Peru’s future Environment Ministry and its relation to the country’s mining industry, one of the largest in the world.
Pulgar says the Environment Ministry must be able to regulate the environmental impact of mining. “A ministry that overlooks a widespread topic like mining has to be able to regulate. If not, it becomes a coordinator,” says Pulgar.
Without the ability to regulate, the ministry would have the same powers as the National Environmental Council, Conam, which he says “has lost credibility and become unmanageable.” “Citizens are demanding an entity that will be able to provide answers to mining.” (more…)
Posted in Environment, Mining, Politics | No Comments »
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
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 »
Friday, January 18th, 2008
Cabinet Chief Jorge Del Castillo testified today at the human rights trial of jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori that an elite military unit tried to kill President Alan García during Fujimori’s 1992 “self-coup.” Del Castillo said the unit was likely the Colina group, the paramilitary death squad that Fujimori is accused of authorizing to carry out its campaign of extrajudicial killings in the early 1990s.
Fujimori, 69, dissolved Congress on April 5, 1992, amid a faltering economy and raging guerrilla insurgency, which he inherited from García’s first administration. Fujimori justified the self-coup arguing Congress was obstructing efforts to stabilize the economy and quell the decade-long battle with Maoist Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebel movements.
Del Castillo said he was in García’s house when Fujimori announced the self-coup on television. During the announcement a military unit surrounded and fired on the house, calling for García to come out with his hands up.
“I was violently beaten, hooded, struck. They were ‘disappearing’ me,” Del Castillo said, adding that he was held without charge for five days. “My kidnapping marked the beginning of a process of hostility that occurred during the entirety of Fujimori’s government,” Del Castillo testified. “Death threats, surveillance, control of communications media, etc.”
García escaped, climbing over his back yard fence and hiding in a neighbor’s empty water tank overnight. He later slipped out of the country and received political asylum in Colombia.
Fujimori testified in his own defense, telling the court tribunal: “At no time did I issue a directive or have knowledge of any directive to make an attempt against the life of Alan Garcia or hurt any member of his family.” (more…)
Posted in Criminal Justice, Politics | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Peru began proceedings against Chile today at the International Court of Justice, ICJ, in The Hague over a maritime dispute that dates back 120 years. According to the ICJ, the dispute is related to “the delimitation of the boundary between the maritime zones of the two States in the Pacific Ocean” and the recognition of “a maritime zone lying within 200 nautical miles of Peru’s coast.”
The 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.
The maritime dispute has caused considerable tension in the past. In August 2007, Chile recalled its ambassador from Peru after the State-run newspaper, daily El Peruano, published an official map that indicated Peru’s control over the contentious area.
Peru has claimed that the maritime zone has never been delimited, however Chile says the current border was established under two agreements signed in the 1950s.
Peru’s application at the ICJ “requests the Court determines the course of the boundary between the maritime zones of the two States in accordance with international law.”
Peru also requests the Court “declares that Peru possesses exclusive sovereign rights in the maritime area situated within the limit of 200 nautical miles from its coast but outside Chile’s exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.”
The current border is parallel to the equator cutting west across the pacific. Peru’s proposed border follows the countries south-western sloping border into the ocean.
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Monday, December 31st, 2007
President Alan García swore in the new director of Peru’s national police today. Gen. Octavio Salazar replaces Gen. David Rodríguez amid a growing drug trade connected to remnants of Shining Path guerrillas.
Before his promotion, Salazar was the head of Lima’s Seventh Police Division.
During the ceremony, García stressed the importance of fighting corruption and Peru’s growing drug trade. “I’m sure we will make the drug traffickers and money launderers back away this year” said García. “They are the ones who corrupt the resources of our national society.”
“We have to continue lowering the crime rate, increasing the acceptance of the national police, and fighting narco-terrorism, as well as corruption,” Salazar told reporters after the ceremony. “The important thing is that we have a plan in which we need to incorporate the population, the media, and each and every person.” (more…)
Posted in Criminal Justice, Politics | No Comments »
