Congress to hold second vote to approve new ombudsman on June 14

Peru’s Congress will hold another vote on Tuesday (June 14) to elect a new ombudsman, state news agency Andina reported the president of Congress, Cesar Zumaeta, as saying. The former dean of the Lima Bar Association and publisher of Gaceta Juridica, Walter Gutierrez, has been nominated to the post. Congress held a vote this week [...]

Grieving families bury dead massacred by Peruvian military at Putis

The remains of 92 people murdered and buried in a mass grave by the Peruvian military in 1984 were laid to rest Saturday, nearly 25 years after one of the worst military massacres occurred in the remote Andean village of Putis. The burials culminated a two-day funeral procession that departed from the highland city of [...]

Peruvian Red Cross ships more than 50 tons of warm clothing and blankets to areas affected by extreme cold

As part of its “Together against the Cold” Campaign, the Peruvian Red Cross has shipped more than 50 tons of warm clothing, blankets and medicine to 11,290 families throughout Peru’s southern Altiplano, including Cuzco, Puno, Apurimac and Huancavelica. The blankets and clothing were shipped by private companies, and with the financial and technical support of [...]

Peru Interior Ministry to monitor social conflicts in collaboration with Ombudsman’s Office

Nearly two months after the deadly Bagua clashes that left 34 dead and hundreds of people injured, Peru Interior Minister Octavio Salazar Miranda announced Wednesday the creation of a special office to monitor social conflicts and prevent any further outbreaks of violence. “We have to evaluate the situation. We can’t watch events unfold from a [...]

Number of social conflicts reaches year-high in June

Social conflicts in Peru have shot up from 132 in March 2008 to 273 this past month, daily El Comercio  reported Wednesday. Of the 273 social conflicts tracked last month, more than half were related to environmental concerns and 83 percent are still active, said Peru’s Ombudswoman, Beatriz Merino. Last month’s most heated and severe [...]

Puno Regional President accused of negligence in child deaths from cold

Peru has declared a state of emergency in the highland department of Puno, where 35 children have recently died from exposure to cold weather, and accused Regional President Hernán Fuentes of negligence and mismanagement of funds, reported daily El Comercio. These deaths are due to “structural poverty,” but in this particular case, the “mismanagement of [...]

Peru Ombudsman’s Office recommends new law to improve quality of police force

Peru’s Ombudswoman, Beatriz Merino, published a report Friday, recommending a public policy for the police force, to eliminate bribery at police stations and stamp out mistreatment of the public. In February, the new minister of the Interior, Mercedes Cabanillas, asked Merino to work jointly with the ministry to improve the police system. Merino’s integrated proposal [...]