By Beatriz Merino, Peru’s Ombudsman
Published in La Republica
Imagine that one day you answer the military’s offer for protection from terrorist attacks. Imagine that because you were convinced that you were protected beside the military base, you headed back to your town to bring other campesinos, including your wife and children, along with you.
Imagine that after […]

Dancer and model Leisy Suárez, who was photographed nude astride a horse saddled with a Peruvian flag, could face up to four years in jail for allegedly desecrating a national emblem, according to Edilberto Bejarano Salas, the Defense Minister’s attorney.Bejarano, who Thursday formally pressed criminal charges against Suárez, said it was “an offense,” according to […]

In 2007, Peruvians living in the United States wired between $1.6 and $1.8 billion to family members in Peru, according to the Peruvian consul in Washington, D.C., Manuel Talavera.
The results of a two-month survey, conducted between November and December 2007 by twelve Peruvian consulates across the United States, were presented this week by Talavera during […]

President Alan Garcia signed an accord with his Colombian and Brazilian counterparts Sunday to reinforce surveillance of the Amazon region’s rivers, to combat the illegal traffic of arms and drugs and rebel groups such as Colombia’s FARC guerrillas.
“This tri-national action in the Amazonian jungle rivers will bolster our work in this very important territory and […]

Exactly 16 years after nine agrarian university students and a professor were brutally murdered and their burnt remains buried in shallow graves by a paramilitary death squad, loved ones and students held a wake for the victims of the La Cantuta massacre Friday. The memorial service is to be held on Saturday.
“It’s important to us […]

Trumpeter and composer Gabriel Alegria, one of Peru’s most influential jazz musicians, has made it big on the U.S. jazz scene with his 2008 tour featuring music rich with the heritage of Afro-Peruvian beats and guest appearances by some of today’s top names in jazz. His Peruvian leg of the tour, set to begin on […]

Peru’s ombudswoman has warned the government that the Rimac River, the most important source of potable water for Peru’s desert capital city, Lima, is threatened by possible  arsenic, lead and cadmium contamination from a mining operation upriver in the Andes.
Beatriz Merino, in an open letter to President Alan Garcia’s top Cabinet minister, contended that the […]

The chief of Peru’s Sierra Exportadora, Gastón Benza, called Thursday on President Alan Garcia’s Council of Ministers to approve the construction of 100 potato flour production plants to offset the rising cost of wheat and to promote the export of Peruvian potato bread, “papapan.”
“There is an important demand for potato flour in Europe, Japan and […]

Extreme cold temperatures have plummeted down to −26.5°C, or −16°F and strong ice-cold winds are blowing across Peru’s highland region of Puno, said meteorologist Hernán Saavedra, regional Director of the country’s National Meteorology and Hydrology Institute, or Senamhi.
The higher zones, including Capaso, Masocruz and Punta Perdida, have been hit by extreme weather, with temperatures averaging […]

The head of Puno’s regional government, Hernán Fuentes, denied allegations that he illegally hired unqualified personnel with funds from the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP. The news, which generated sharp reactions in Lima, was widely reported in Peru’s newspapers Wednesday.
Fuentes, who is being investigated for allegedly hiring government consultants that did not meet the […]