Non-renewal of Prensa Libre raises free press concerns

The Legal Defense Institute, IDL, issued a statement today in support of journalist Rosa Maria Palacios and in defense of freedom of speech, following the non-renewal of Palacios’ nightly political program “Prensa Libre” by America TV. Palacios, a lawyer –a graduate of the Catolica and the University of Texas at Austin– and prize-winning journalist whose [...]

Nobel writer Vargas Llosa removes weekly column from El Comercio

Novelist and Nobel 2010 winner Mario Vargas Llosa wrote a harsh letter to the publisher of El Comercio daily on Monday, explaining his reasons for rescinding any right to the newspaper to republish his syndicated column from Madrid’s newspaper El País: Dear Publisher, I have asked the daily El País to, as of today, cease sending [...]

OP-ED: Why Humala?

By Eleanor Griffis, Peruvian Times Publisher ~ Two weeks ago, presidential candidate Ollanta Humala took an oath to abide by a list of 12 conditions that would ensure the defense of democracy and rule of law if he is elected president. The event was significant but it didn’t get much press coverage, other than that [...]

Vargas Llosa, De Soto launch attacks in presidential campaign

As Peru’s second round presidential vote approaches and opinion polls continue to show a tight race between leftist Ollanta Humala and right-wing Keiko Fujimori, two of Peru’s most internationally acclaimed intellectuals are squaring off. The war of words between economist Hernando de Soto and Nobel Prize winning author Mario Vargas Llosa, who are supporting Fujimori [...]

Presidential candidate Humala swears to God to respect Peruvian democracy (with podcast interview: Alvaro Vargas Llosa)

With his right hand resting on a gilded bible, presidential candidate Ollanta Humala swore before a who’s who of Peruvian civil society on Thursday to respect the nation’s democracy and make no attempt to alter the Constitution or the market economy if he is elected in the June 5 runoff ballot against Keiko Fujimori.

Peru gov’t to turn house where Vargas Llosa was born into museum

The house where Peruvian novelist and Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa was born will be turned into a museum, Culture Minister Juan Ossio said. In October, Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first Latin American to receive the award since 1990 when it was given to Octavio Paz of Mexico. [...]

Amnesty International: Peru sends contradictory messages on human rights

Peru’s government has been sending contradictory messages on its human rights stance to the international community, according to Hugo Relva, a legal advisor to Amnesty International. On the one hand, Peru has shown positive steps by inaugurating the Memory Museum. The museum is to honor the 70,000 people who died during the 20 years of political [...]

Education Ministry to promote Vargas Llosa works following author’s Nobel award

Peru’s Education Ministry will promote the works of acclaimed Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday, in the nation’s school system, the deputy minister of education management, Idel Vexler, said. “The idea is to incorporate in the readings each month the works of Mario Vargas Llosa. The [...]

Executive sends to Congress bill to repeal decree 1097 following Vargas Llosa resignation from Memory Museum

In a letter sent to President Alan Garcia, Vargas Llosa said the decree “in all forms, constitutes an amnesty barely disguised to benefit a good number of people connected to the dictatorship and convicted or prosecuted for human rights crimes – murders, tortures, disappearances – among them the ex-dictator [Alberto Fujimori] and his right-hand man [Vladimiro Montesinos].”

Peru’s Garcia does about-face on German donation to build memorial museum for victims of political violence

A month after he was harshly criticized for rejecting Germany’s $2 million donation to build a museum to honor the memory of the 70,000 people who died during Peru’s 1980-2000 dirty war with Maoist Shining Path Guerrillas, President Alan Garcia has changed his mind, and announced that he will move forward with the museum’s construction. [...]

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