Environment Ministry must be able to regulate mining activities

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 [...]

Peru replaces national police director

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 president proposes creation of Environment Ministry

Peru President Alan García has proposed the creation of an Environment Ministry to meet the environmental provisions included in the free trade agreement with the United States. During the ceremony of four new cabinet ministers yesterday, García said “the free trade agreement has brought a fundamental call to attention, that we owe to our Democrat [...]

New ministers sworn in by Peru president

Four new ministers were sworn in today by Peru President Alan García in a Cabinet shuffle intended to inject new energy into the government, incorporate independents, and begin moving ahead on some of the reforms and promises offered during the presidential campaign 18 months ago. Jorge del Castillo remains as cabinet chief. The new ministers [...]

Peru’s Ollanta Humala to be tried with brother for 2005 uprising

Peru’s Supreme Court ruled today that ex-presidential candidate Ollanta Humala will be tried with his brother, Antauro, for the 2005 armed assault on a remote police station in the southern town of Andahuaylas, in Apurímac Department. Humala is to be charged with being the mastermind behind the assault. According to Agencia Andina, the State prosecutor, [...]

Del Castillo: Government is obligated to provide for those that supported us

Cabinet Chief Jorge Del Castillo said Sunday that Peru’s government will give preferential treatment to districts where the ruling Apra party candidates were elected. The statement came during the inauguration of a new health center in Lima’s Lurín district, which has an Apra mayor. Del Castillo told the crowd that Crecer – a State program [...]

Bush signs free trade deal with Peru into law: An alternative analysis and perspective

Peru will loom slightly larger than usual in the headlines in U.S. newspapers this weekend after President George W. Bush signed into law a free trade agreement between the two nations. The bill passed following a contentious feud in Congress that ended only after Republicans agreed to Democratic demands to include labor union protection and [...]

Peru’s ex-spy chief fingers Fujimori for 2000 election fraud

Peru’s former intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos says he was just following orders he orchestrated jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s fraud-riddled third term election victory in 2000. Montesinos on Wednesday testified that Fujimori told him to shelve an investigation of allegations that election officials oversaw the systematic forgery of more than 1 million signatures to register his [...]

Government to push for permanent registry for ex-convicts sentenced on terrorism charges

President Alan Garcia is preparing a bill that would require all Peruvians who have served prison sentences for terrorism to periodically report in with authorities for the rest of their lives, Cabinet Chief Jorge Del Castillo said Monday. “What we are seeking is a law that says, ‘You have been sentenced for terrorism, have murdered [...]

Peruvian lawmakers scrutinize possible Venezuelan hand in ALBA cultural center

Cuban Ambassador Luis Delfín Pérez will appear before a Peruvian congressional subcommittee to answer questions about the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) on November 13. Delfín Pérez will be followed by ambassadors from Nicaragua on November 20, Bolivia on November 27, and Venezuela on December 4. ALBA’s activities have been viewed with suspicion in [...]