Peru government to review medical records cited in pardon of ex-TV mogul

Justice Minister Aurelio Pastor said Wednesday a full review will be made of the medical reports used to justify the pardon granted last December to former TV owner José Enrique Crousillat, who took millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for favorable coverage of the Fujimori regime in the 1990s.

“We are going to ask for a new assessment of the medical tests,” state-run news agency Andina quoted Pastor as saying. “We have asked for the support of the Ministry of Health to recommend experts that, based on the reports in the file, will provide additional information to the executive branch and the president.”

President Alan García granted a pardon to the former owner of America Television on Dec. 11 for “humanitarian reasons,” on the grounds that Crousillat, 77, suffers from a series of ailments, including heart disease, depression and diabetes, which could put his life at risk.

Crousillat and his son, José Francisco, fled to Argentina in 2001 when video tapes recorded in the National Intelligence Service, SIN, proved the wide corruption network that ex-President Fujimori and his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos had woven to control the media and public opinion. Early in 2006, the Crousillats were extradited to face trial in Lima.

Crousillat was sentenced to eight years in prison and charged a fine of $52 million, convicted of “selling” America Television’s editorial line to the Fujimori government in the 1990s. Two videotapes, recorded in the SIN offices in 1999, show Crousillat and his son receiving bundles of dollar bills from Vladimiro Montesinos. In one recording, on Feb. 26 that year, Montesinos counted the $100,000 packets to make up $1 million, “for January and February.” Crousillat and his son received about $619,000 a month to broadcast the news as dictated by Montesinos.

About a month after he was pardoned by President García, however, IDL-Reporteros, a non-profit investigative reporting team, published a picture of Crousillat, who appeared to be in good health during a recent visit to a beach. Crousillat had also been seen in good condition at popular restaurants.

Furthermore, Crousillat filled a lawsuit last Monday against the current directors of America Television in an attempt to regain control of the station, Crousillat’s lawyer, Jorge Castro, told Radio Programas Peru. Castro said former president Alejandro Toledo is also included in the lawsuit. He accuses them of, among other things, collusion and fraud.

“One begins to feel that he has been deceived, because a person that is in the final stages of their health is not at the beach… or at the Costanera restaurant,” President García told daily El Comercio.

Critics of García, however,  question his sincerity and point to his relationship with Crousillat’s daughter, Marisol, who was named to a top position at the government-owned National Institute of Radio and Television of Peru, or IRTP, in July 2009. Marisol Crousillat was appointed to the position by then-president of the IRTP, Ricardo Ghibellini, a confidant of García who was named ambassador to Brazil by the president in February.

“For me it is a mistake to suggest that this is a product of a deceived president. Those who believe that do not know our president,” former anti-corruption prosecutor, Antonio Maldonado, told Ideele Radio. “I don’t think that our president is so naive as to be tricked. This is part of a much more complicated sketch.”

“We have to be clear. The pardon given to José Enrique Crousillat is the largest betrayal of the fight against corruption in recent times. The pardon should be revised, it should be part of a national and international campaign for its revision. It should be annulled.”

Economics Prof. John McMillan and Pablo Zoido, a Ph.D. student in Political Economics, from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, published a paper in 2004 demonstrating the priority that Montesinos placed on Peru’s media in his campaign to control the nation’s democracy. The study, titled “How to Subvert Democracy: Montesinos in Peru” detailed how television owners were paid bribes about 100 times larger than what judges or politicians received.  Control of the Fourth Estate was the key to successfully gutting the democratic system of checks and balances.

Chile submits final arguments over maritime border dispute with Peru

Chile has submitted its arguments over a maritime border dispute with Peru to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Chilean Minister of Foreign Relations, Mariano Fernández, said Tuesday.

“The government of Chile reiterates with this act that it will continue exercising its rights as it has done up until now with full approval, with international law,” state news agency Andina reported Fernández as saying.

The final arguments were reportedly reviewed by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and President-elect Sebastián Piñera, who assumes the presidency on Mar. 11. The Chilean representative to the ICJ, Alberto Van Klaveren, said the change in administration would not affect their case.

Chile said in January that part of its case at the ICJ would include official Peruvian maps that support their argument for maintaining the current maritime border.

In January 2007, Peru began proceedings against Chile at the ICJ. 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.

Chile says the current border, which is parallel to the equator cutting west across the pacific, was established under two agreements in the 1950s, however Peru claims those agreements were fishing treaties and the maritime zone has never been delimited.

Peru submitted its arguments to the ICJ in March 2009. Its proposed border follows the countries south-western sloping border into the ocean.

President García announces national earthquake disaster prevention program

President Alan García launched a national program on Wednesday to develop an earthquake disaster prevention program in Peru following the magnitude-8.8 earthquake that hit neighboring Chile last Saturday.

García said engineers will conduct surveys of buildings at risk of collapsing during a powerful quake. The program will primarily focus on urban centers, including Peruvian capital Lima as well as Arequipa and Trujillo, state news agency Andina reported.

“We need all families to be sufficiently prepared to know what to do in the event of a large earthquake,” said García. “To know which are the safest places from a structural and anti-earthquake perspective, and to reinforce them. This won’t have a high cost but it will prepare us for any event.”

The epicenter of Saturday’s quake occurred offshore about 200 miles south of Santiago and 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second largest city where widespread looting has broken out. At least 800 people were killed and 2 million displaced. The Peruvian embassy in Chile said the displaced includes 1,003 Peruvians living in Chile.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for Chile and Peru after the earthquake and later extended it to other Pacific nations. The warning was canceled on Sunday.

The president of Peru’s Geophysical Institute, Ronald Woodman, told daily El Comercio that Peru’s current tsunami alert system is ineffective. He said the government approved financing to develop an alert system following the magnitude-8 earthquake that devastated Peru’s southern coast in 2007, however has still not provided the funds.

“In 2009, Congress’ Budget Commission understood the importance of this (tsunami) alert system and authorized the Ministry of Economy and Finance to transfer the funds to Peru’s Geophysical Institute to implement a tsunami alert system,” said Woodman. “The entire year passed and they have not provided the money and I don’t know why. They don’t give reasons.”

Study: Peru Amazon entering into second energy boom

A new study examining hydrocarbon activities in Peru’s Amazon rainforest over the past 40 years says the region is in the early stages of a second energy boom that could have major environmental and social impacts.

The study, published in the Environmental Research Letters journal, says 42 of the 52 active Amazon hydrocarbon concessions were awarded between 2005 and 2009.  State hydrocarbons promotion agency Perupetro reportedly signed 13 new Amazonian contracts in both 2005 and 2006, setting single year contract signing records. Read more…

New For 2010 at the Peruvian Times Store

Dozens of new gift ideas have just been added to the Peruvian Times online store, including fresh new designs and contemporary classics in the art reproductions and photograph sections.

Shop Now!

The photos we have added to the Store are new views and angles of Lima taken recently by Canadian photographer Frank Scheme, who spent his school years in Peru and returns on photographic assignments.  More of his photographs of Miraflores and Barranco coming soon!

Other photographs available through the Store include spectacular scenes of the Huascarán and Huayhuash national parks as well as the Machu Picchu sanctuary by American mountaineer, photographer and publisher Jim Bartle, and the first of many black and white photos from our Peruvian Times archives.

The art reproductions section includes a broad range of techniques, and we have added prints of three acrylic paintings by Eugenio Raborg, a well-established contemporary Peruvian artist, and new watercolor paintings to the series of Peruvian flowers by Nazca-born artist Olivia Watkin, whose work has been used to illustrate a series of stamps for the Peruvian Postal Service, the Geographical Institute’s Atlas of Peru, and journals such as the Lima Geographical Society.

The art reproductions are limited edition giclée prints, a process using fine inks to produce colors and quality that are true to the original painting.  Only a handful of Peruvian artists in the world use this printing method, and Peruvian Times is proud to be a pioneer in helping Peruvian artists, and artists working in Peru, to get their work known and appreciated by a much broader public. Each print is signed and numbered by the artist.

The new additions join the already varied selection of art prints that we offer, including prints on canvas of religious paintings in the Colonial or Cuzqueño style by Ruben Aponte, classic 19th century drawings by French scientist Alcide d’Orbigny, and prints on high quality photographic paper of the colorful bird and wildlife paintings that American artist Bernard Scott has painted during trips to Madre de Dios and other parts of the Peruvian rainforest.

Scott paints in acrylics on archival board, and his work has been exhibited at the National Audubon Society and in National Geographic.  His paintings are very contemporary in style but his depictions of wildlife are accurate –he majored in zoology and botany before studying art. And there’s no doubt, for instance, that the backdrop of blue hills in his paintings of macaws is the mountain range in Madre de Dios.

Later this summer, we will be adding the work of a group of watercolor painters working in Arequipa, many of whom have won prizes in the nation’s three leading watercolor competitions (Michell, ICPNA and Peruvian-British cultural).

The Peruvian Times Store also carries folk art, a selection of one-of-a-kind pieces from Kuntur Huasi, a handcraft shop that has dedicated over 35 years to working with and encouraging artisans in their unique crafts to maintain their high standards of creativity and avoid mass production. The art includes work by potters, weavers, silversmiths and woodcarvers from all over Peru, often in age-old designs and now frequently using their ancient techniques to produce more contemporary objects.

And last, but certainly not least, is the growing selection of books the Peruvian Times Store has available.   The two most popular books are Exploring Cusco, by Peter Frost, and the Field Guilde to the Birds of Cusco and Machu Picchu, by Barry Walker, both published by Jim Bartle.  Jim also has three slim books on Machu Picchu and the mountain ranges of Huascarán and Huayhuash which, with stunning photos and equally good text, make ideal gifts.   And a very good read to get some background on Peru is Kurt Schultze-Rhonhof’s Peru Beyond Machu Picchu:  Its People, Its Problems, Its Possibilities.

Later this summer, new books will be added from the San Martin de Porres University’s editorial trust, which will include academic publications and a broad range of books in English on cuisine and foods from the Tourism and Hotel Management faculty.

Browse, and enjoy.   And if you buy now, claim your $5 bonus on future purchases when you spend $75 or more! (Offer valid until Feb.22).

If you would like to receive updates on Peruvian Times Store products, please sign up by contacting store@peruviantimes.com and write Store Updates in the subject line.

Why to root against The Milk of Sorrow’s Oscar nomination

By Rick Vecchio

It was with bemused surprise that I saw Claudia Llosa’s “The Milk of Sorrow” nominated the other day in the category of Best Foreign Language Film for the 82nd Academy Awards. But the slow groan of disbelief didn’t really start rumbling in the back of my throat until the  Oscar nod was hailed by Peru’s government as a huge advance for the country’s image in the world.

“This nomination will bring Peruvian destinations into fashion and will be key to boosting tourism in Peru,” declared Peru’s minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martin Pérez.

A remarkable statement, if you believe, as I do, that “The Milk of Sorrow” does for Peru and Peruvians what John Boorman’s “Deliverance” did for the Appalachians and the mountain people of Georgia.

The film centers on Fausta, played by Magaly Solier, who suffers from “la teta asustada,” a mythical psychological malady afflicting Andean children whose mothers were raped during Peru’s dirty war between Maoist guerrillas and government security forces in the 1980s.

Fausta’s trauma is not only due to having been weaned on the “scared milk” of her mother’s breast. She also has been raised on her mother’s songs, sung in their native Quechua language, with graphic lyrics describing the brutal rape that occurred while she was gestating in her mother’s womb. Desperate to avoid the same fate, she inserts a potato into her vagina.

Her family has migrated from the epicenter of the insurgency in Peru’s Andean highlands to settle in one of the sprawling shantytowns that ring the coastal desert capital, Lima.

In fact, tens of thousands of Andean Indians did flee to Lima in the 1980s and ’90s to escape political violence. It was the last of three major migrations from Peru’s rural highlands to the cities in the 20th century that helped to shape the rich tapestry of Peru’s culture and form the character of its society.

It is when her mother passes away in present-day Lima that the film begins and Fausta’s story unfolds.

“The Milk of Sorrow” is the tale of a smart, attractive, yet sullen and paranoid young woman who must overcome pathological fears as she struggles to earn enough money to take her mother back to their ancestral homeland in the Andes for burial.

Fausta contends with an evil upper class white woman who takes her on as a maid, and then exploits and betrays her.

And then there is her amiable, yet very bizarre family, which is less concerned with her mother’s interment (her rotting corpse is left under a bed in the house) than throwing parties and saving up for the lavish wedding of her cousin. Over Fausta’s objections, they start to dig a grave in the arid, rocky ground, only to lose interest and instead fill the hole with water to create a makeshift pool to get some relief from the desert heat.

Finally, there are the debilitating infections from a putrid potato, literally sprouting roots from Fausta’s vagina.

The film was a box office smash in Peru last year after winning the Golden Bear award for best film at the 59th Berlin Film Festival, beating “Slumdog Millionaire” in ticket sales during its first week in Lima.

“Milk of Sorrow is a profound film, full of meaning and ultimately optimistic,” wrote Peruvian philosopher Francisco Miró-Quesada in daily newspaper El Comercio after the movie’s wide release last March. “One of the most interesting aspects of Milk of Sorrow is the constant revelation of our social reality as it exists in the shantytowns of the capital.

“What Claudia Llosa does is summon our attention so that we are conscious of the poverty and exclusion that exists in our country,” he wrote.

In contrast, Indigenous rights advocates who populate Peru’s vibrant blogosphere overwhelming blasted the movie as overtly racist, and launched vitriolic attacks against Claudia Llosa, accusing her of taking an elitist cue from her uncle, novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, with whom their movement has long exchanged ideological barbs.

Without question, Claudia Llosa wields immense talent and cinematic skill, offering up technical excellence that most Peruvian films lack. There are shots of Lima’s lunar-like outskirts, where its poorest people live, that are nothing less than stunning cinematography. But the visual intrigue that “Milk of Sorrow” offers cannot make up for its completely off-base allegory.

Llosa’s first feature film, MADEINUSA, released in 2006, was also met  with accusations of racism from similar quarters. In that film, a young geologist from Lima haplessly wanders into a remote Andean village where the residents practice the elaborate — and completely fictitious — custom of abandoning any vestige of morality between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The annual festival of debauchery  is premised on the idea that since God is dead and can’t see what is happening, their sinful conduct will not count against them.

Magaly Solier gives a brilliant performance as Madeinusa, the 14-year-old daughter of the village mayor, whose incestuous plans for her are thwarted by the ill-fated stranger from the big city.

Taken in context, it could at least be argued that MADEINUSA was pure fable, with a timeless setting, making the process of willing suspension of disbelief more palatable.

But only in the most rarefied of Ivory Towers could one point to “Milk of Sorrow” as a “revelation” of Peru’s “social reality as it exists in the shantytowns of the capital.”

On Oscar night, I’m going to be rooting against “Milk of Sorrow.”

Tourism Minister: No damage to Machu Picchu, railway repairs expected to be completed in 8 weeks

Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martín Pérez, said Tuesday that Peru’s top tourist attraction, Machu Picchu, was not damaged following torrential rains, mudslides and floods that washed out roads and railroad tracks  leading to the 15th Century sacred Inca citadel. Pérez told Radio Programas Peru he expects repairs of the railway to be finished in eight weeks.

“The citadel (of Machu Picchu), which I visited on Saturday after the tourists had been evacuated, was in perfect condition,” said Pérez. “The Inca knew not only how to build the drainage system, the hydraulic system is absolutely amazing. We went on Saturday and it was dry. Absolutely dry.” Read more…

President García pledges support for flood-devastated Cusco; estimates Machu Picchu train repairs could take less than 2 months

President Alan García called for public calm on Friday after flying over areas devastated by torrential rains, mudslides and floods in Peru’s southern Cusco department. García said the government will guarantee the reconstruction of the regions infrastructure and relief aid for some 25,000 people left homeless by the floods, daily El Comercio reported.

“The government is going to guarantee what is necessary to re-establish highways, railways and, in second place, electrical connections, which have been damaged in various places and can be re-established,” said García. He said the reconstruction could be done in less than two months. Read more…

Tourism Ministry: Tourists evacuated from Machu Picchu by age, not nationality

Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martín Pérez, said on Wednesday the elderly, children and pregnant women are the first ones being evacuated from Machu Picchu, after torrential rains and mudslides stranded tourists at Peru’s sacred Inca citadel and top tourist attraction.

Pérez denied foreign tourists were given priority over Peruvian-born visitors, state news agency Andina reported.

“Yesterday we evacuated 475 tourists from Machu Picchu to Ollantaytambo, 103 of which are Peruvian nationals,” said Pérez. “We are evacuating tourists according to their age, if they are ill, if they are pregnant and children with their mothers.”

The Sacred Valley, the headway to Machu Picchu and the region’s agricultural bread basket, has been devastated by floods that have swept away bridges and destroyed vast swaths of crops. More than 10,000 residents have been affected. Read more…

Peru one of four countries to see 2009 increase in foreign direct investment

Peru was one of four countries, and the only emerging economy, whose foreign direct investment increased during last year’s global financial crisis, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, or the UNCTD.

Foreign direct investment, which measures foreign ownership of productive assets and is a key component of national development strategies, reached $6.2 billion in Peru in 2009, up 29.1 percent from $4.8 billion in 2008, the state news agency Andina reported. Other countries that had an increase in foreign direct investment in 2009 were Italy at 75.5 percent, Germany at 40.7 percent and Denmark at 3.2 percent. Read more…

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