President Humala returns from APEC Summit in Hawaii

President Ollanta Humala was back at the government palace Monday and the increasing noise of social protests, following his successful week in Hawaii at the 19^th APEC Summit with other leaders of the 21 member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Forum.

Peru was recognized as one of the Asia Pacific basin’s three emerging economies, and President Humala, together with the President of Vietnam, Truong Tan Sang, were welcomed as the new leaders among the APEC economies.  Humala took office on July 28 this year, and Truong  was appointed head of state of Vietnam on July 25.

Humala, accompanied by his ministers of Economy, Foreign Affairs, and Read more…

Nineteen Years Later, Death Squad Victims Given Burial in Santa

The remains of nine men, kidnapped and executed almost 20 years ago by the Colina death squad, were buried this past Sunday at the cemetery in their home town of Santa, following a service led by Bishop Piorno of Chimbote.

A representative for Cabinet chief Salomon Lerner was present, as well as relatives of the La Cantuta university students who were killed in Lima, also in 1992, by the same death squad.

According to statements made by the families to the Truth Commission, CVR, the peasant farmers were taken violently from their homes, in the countryside around the coastal town of Santa, in the early hours of May 2, 1992, by seven or eight uniformed, masked men and one woman who travelled in several Read more…

Satellite images confirm true source of the Amazon

Satellite images taken by the Kompsat-2 confirm the findings of a scientific expedition made 15 years ago to the source of the Amazon River —a small spring in the Apacheta gulley on Mt. Quehisha, 5150 meters above sea level in the Andes of southern Arequipa.

Confirmation of Apacheta as the source also means that the Amazon is not only the largest but the longest river in the world,  around 400 kilometers (250 miles) longer than the Nile. Read more…

Law 29703 comes under fire for being “pro-corruption”

Legislation that was approved recently by Peru’s Congress, which holds public servants criminally responsible for corruption only if it causes economic damage to the State is coming under fire, with President-elect Ollanta Humala calling it a “pro-corruption” law.  Congressional members of his party filed a petition to repeal the law.

“It would seem to be a pro-corruption law. It creates anxiety and uncertainty and it is cause for joy for the corrupt,” daily La Republica reported Humala as saying. Humala said the law fails to consider the moral and ethical considerations, “which are fundamental to preserve the confidence of the people who personally feel the effects of corruption.”

Lima Mayor Susana Villaran has also come out against the legislation, signed under Law 29703.

“It is embarrassing that they have approved this law,” she said. “I have committed myself to fight against corruption. I am cleaning the mayor’s office in Lima of corruption and I hope that Congress has the capacity to listen… to be able to repeal the articles.” Read more…

Fujimori fit to return to prison, tongue growth not life-threatening

A pre-cancerous growth on ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s tongue is not terminal and he can return to his prison cell, according to Pedro Sanchez, a doctor at Lima’s oncology hospital INEN.

“He suffers from cancer in the buccal cavity, but doesn’t require hospitalization,” daily La Republica reported Sanchez as saying.

Fujimori, 72, was admitted to INEN last week to examine a precancerous growth on his tongue, on which he had surgery last year.

Doctors also conducted tests to determine if his weight loss is related to the growth on his tongue. Fujimori has recently lost 15kg (33 pounds). Read more…

Wanted ex-prime minister turns himself in after 10 years in hiding

Juan Carlos Hurtado, Peru’s former prime minister and minister of economy at the start of  jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s administration, has turned himself in to authorities after spending the last decade in hiding.

Hurtado went into hiding in 2000 over corruption allegations. He was accused of receiving money from Fujimori’s imprisoned former spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, to support his (unsuccessful) campaign for mayor of Lima, as well as seeking Montesinos’ financial help in shoring up the ailing military and police pension fund. 

On Thursday, a Lima court ordered Hurtado to remain under house arrest, daily El Comercio reported.  The state attorney’s office is studying an appeal. Read more…

Prosecutor in Fujimori trial appointed as next attorney general

State attorney Jose Antonio Pelaez has been selected to succeed Peru’s Attorney General Gladyz Echaiz, state news agency Andina reported.

Pelaez, 64, will assume the role of attorney general on May 12 for the period of 2011-14.

Pelaez joined the state prosecutor’s office in 1981, although he left for a period during the administration of jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori

His best known case was that of Fujimori. Pelaez was in charge of leading the team of attorneys that led successfully to Fujimori’s 25-year-prison sentence for human rights abuses and corruption, a court process recognized  internationally as impartial and impeccable. The judge who headed the court, Cesar San Martin, was elected president of the Supreme Court at the beginning of this year. Read more…

Update: INPE clarifies Van der Sloot not involved in prison stabbings

Peru’s national penitentiary institute INPE has clarified that Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot was not involved in stabbings of fellow inmates at Lima’s maximum security Miguel Castro Castro prison.

INPE said in a statement that a report claiming Van der Sloot’s involvement “is false.”

Van der Sloot’s lawyer, Maximo Altez, said he may press charges against two journalists from Dutch magazine Panorama, which originally published the information. Read more…

Interior Minister to meet with MHOL members following police attacks on gays, lesbians

Interior Minister Miguel Hidalgo will meet Wednesday with representatives from the Homosexual Movement in Lima (MHOL), following police attacks on gay and lesbians activits last Saturday.

The meeting is intended to inform MHOL of the actions the ministry is taking following charges levied at Peru’s National Police of excessive force, state news agency Andina reported.

“The Interior [Ministry] and National Police are clear and firm in their respect for laws and legislation that regulate their actions, in the framework of respecting the human rights of all people, with no distinction of their creed, social condition or sexual orientation,” Hidalgo said. Read more…

Paved Inter-Oceanic Highway Jeopardizes Carbon-offset Plans

High gold prices and the resurfaced Inter-Oceanic Highway are encouraging the migration of hundreds of informal miners to Madre de Dios region in search of the precious metal, and are jeopardizing the Peruvian government’s plans for carbon-offset deals, according to a report by The Daily Climate.

Each day, some 200 informal miners from Peru’s highlands arrive in Madre de Dios, the most active alluvial gold mining region in the country where about 80 percent of the gold from informal mining is produced. Read more…

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