Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Peru's Vargas Llosa: The hopes of Cuba's revolution have not been realized

Peruvuian author Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the most influential writers in Latin America, said history will not absolve ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro. "The hopes awakened by the Cuban revolution have not been realized," Vargas Llosa told the French news agency AFP in New York. "Cuba is today a poorer country, with huge inequalities between the lives of the nomenclature, tourists and the average Cuban." (Sun-Sentinel - click here to read complete article by Ray Sanchez)


Peru Upgrades Limit On Foreign Investment By Private Pension Funds

Peru's government has increased the legal limit on foreign investments made by the nation's private pension funds, or AFPs. The nation's Superintendent of Banking, Insurance and pension funds, SBS, said late Wednesday that the legal limit has been lifted to 30% from a previous 20%. "This increase in the limit will take place gradually taking into account macroeconomic conditions and the exchange market," the SBS said. (CNN Money - click here to read complete article)


Taylor looking for donations to help pay for soccer trip to Peru

Olney native Kristin Taylor has been chosen to represent the United States in Lima, Peru, in July at the 2008 Apemude Invitational Series. Taylor, a 2007 graduate of East Richland High School, was selected along with 15 other girls soccer players. She is currently majoring in Sports Science at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, and hopes to coach soccer at the college level one day. (Olney Daily Mail - click here to read complete article)


Aon Re Global Acquires Peruvian Reinsurance Intermediary Cosegur Re

Aon Re Global, the world's largest provider of reinsurance brokerage and capital solutions and a unit of Aon Corporation (NYSE: AOC), today announced it has acquired Peruvian reinsurance intermediary Cosegur Re, offering clients in Peru greater access to worldwide reinsurance markets and Aon Re Global's industry-leading catastrophe modeling and servicing capabilities. (Sun Herald - click here to read complete article by Aon Corporation)

Over 1,500 delegates, which are to take part in APEC meetings in Arequipa, were received with joy and jubilee by the city's people. A colorful parade was held in honor of the representatives that would be attending meetings in the "White City". The mayor of the province of Arequipa, Simón Balbuena Marroquín, made sure to take part in the festivities and welcome the international representatives, who are representing 21 different countries around the world.

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


Claro, the largest mobile phone network in the Americas and one of Peru's main cellular phone service providers, announced Thursday morning that it would be selling Apple's iPhone in Peru.

Rodrigo Arosemena, the commercial director for Claro announced that the iPhone would be distributed in the Andean country and that Claro, which is part of the telecom group América Móvil, would be providing the service for the multimedia mobile phone.

It was reported that this had been made possible after América Móvil, the fourth largest mobile phone network operator in the world, had come to an agreement with the American multinational corporation Apple Inc.

Arosemena explained that it was not known yet when the iPhone would be released in Peru because the agreement had just been signed between América Móvil and Apple.

He stated there was not a fixed date for the release of the phone.

Furthermore, it is not known if Claro will be the only mobile phone company that will provide a signal for Apple's iPhone, which was released in the United States in June 2007.

Claro's main competitor in Peru is Movistar, which has approximately 9.7 million active cellular phone lines in the Andean country. Claro has approximately 5.5 million.

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


Luis Castañeda, the mayor of the municipality of Lima, has asked citizens across the country's capital to please be patient and understand that the roadwork being done is necessary for Lima to be a modern city and catch up to other Latin American countries.

Upon traveling through Lima, there are very few districts where motorists, commuters and pedestrians will not run into construction.

There have been complaints and discomfort but nothing like what happened today at the National University of San Marcos.

One of the projects the municipality of Lima is working on is the construction of a bypass at the intersection of Venezuela and Universitaria Avenues in Cercado de Lima.

This is also the intersection where San Marcos, the oldest university in South America, is located. Aside from the bypass that is being built, the municipality will also widen Universitaria Avenue.

Since the avenue is bordered by stores and the university, the municipality decided to use property belonging to the university to make the street bigger.

Students claim to have been complaining to the university's dean for over six months and say no progress has been made. They took to the streets last week claiming they were being ignored and their rights were being violated.

Protests escalated to riots on Thursday afternoon when students began throwing rocks at police and police responded with tear gas. It was reported that a vehicle was set on fire and two officers were injured.

Over 500 students had gathered at the university to begin a march. They were interrupted by police when it was known they had not notified authorities they would be marching to downtown Lima.

Iamgold sells Peru La Arena property to Rio Alto

Iamgold said on Thursday it has agreed to sell its La Arena copper and gold property in Peru to Rio Alto Mining for $47.6 million and a 5.5 percent interest in the smaller company. Toronto-based Iamgold said the sale was part of move to sell off noncore assets. "The 5.5 percent ownership interest acquired as part of this transaction will provide Iamgold the opportunity to participate in the future succes of La Arena,' Iamgold Chief Executive Joseph Conway said in a statement. (Reuters - click here to read complete article)


Peru's tribal land protected from gas concessions

Indigenous rights groups praised Peru's petroleum agency on Thursday for excluding areas where isolated tribes live from an auction of oil and gas concessions. Rights groups say the decision is a turnaround for Perupetro, which previously had indicated it might open up the protected areas for bidding. (Reuters - click here to read complete article by Dana Ford)


Peru Offers 17 Blocks in Second Oil and Gas Licensing Round

Peru kicked off its second annual oil and gas licensing round Tuesday as part of a push to raise hydrocarbon production and start exporting oil and natural gas within the next two or three years, Ronald Egusquiza, president of state oil licensing agency Perupetro told International Oil Daily. (Energy Intelligence - click here to read complete article)

Vehicular and pedestrian access restrictions due to EU-LAC Summit to start May 10

(LIP-do) -- Vehicular and pedestrian access restrictions to the surrounding areas of the National Museum, National Library and 14 hotels in Lima will be in force from May 10 (at 22:00 p.m.) to May 18 on the occasion of the V European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) Summit, announced Lima police chief Gen. Javier Uribe. Uribe said that the registration of people living in the surrounding areas of the Summit's venues and hotels has not yet concluded which is why he urged neighbors to do it as soon as possible. Gen. Uribe asked neighbors to restrict their family and friend visits during the days of the summit which is to be held from May 13 to 17. He also ruled out imposing a curfew for these days. Some of the hotels that will accommodate visiting world leaders are Marriot, Los Delfines, Country Club, Meliá, El Olivar, Royar Park Lima, Las Américas, Miraflores Park Plaza, Sol de Oro, Golf Los Incas, among others.


EU-LAC non-working holidays to be made up later

(LIP-do) -- The minister of Labour, Mario Pasco Cosmópolis, pointed out today the non-working holidays' hours due to the EU-LAC summit will have to be made up later. “This is an authorization for not working, it is not a banning. People who will work those days won’t get double salary and who won’t work will have to compensate those days working later”, he said. The government decree approved Thursday 15, Friday 16 and Saturday 17 as non-working holidays for Lima and Callao because of the summit. These holidays are obligatory for the private sector. The minister remarked that the purpose of these holidays is to facilitate transit for people as well as for vehicles in Lima and Callao.


5,000 to attend Exhibition of businesswomen’s products in Arequipa

(LIP-do) -- More than five thousand people living in the southern region of Arequipa are expected to attend the Exhibition of Businesswomen’s Products that will take place from May 11 to 14 in this lively city in the framework of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum. The regional coordinator of the Ministry of Woman and Social Development (Mimdes) in Arequipa Gerardo Lovón Zavala said this is a good opportunity to appreciate the wide range of export products made by Peruvian and foreign businesswomen. "People attending the event will have the chance to visit the 150 stands set up at Cerro Juli Convention Center in Arequipa", he added. To continue reading the article, click here.


News Source: Andina

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


The media in Peru continues to watch Fujimori like a hawk during his trial.

Reports have been released with media catching Peru's former president sleeping, screaming, laughing and wearing sandals.

In the latest of reports, a photographer for a local newspaper took a picture of Alberto Fujimori as he was making preparations for 2011 presidential elections.

The former president was photographed taking notes on fund-raising campaigns, the cost of meetings and publicity as well as the prices of shirts and hats.

Paul Vallejos, a photographer for Peru21, took a picture of Fujimori during his trial as he was taking the sheets out of a folder and began to check each point. The former president then took some notes in a large notebook he always takes to court.

It was reported that this took place as a witness was at the stand giving his testimony.

Congressman Carlos Raffo explained that Alberto Fujimori "gets bored during the trial and has the right to think about other things".

"I imagine that after 55 sessions with prosecutors asking questions about the same thing for hours, the engineer (Fujimori) must get bored," Raffo said on CPN radio.

"He has the right to think about other things, he isn't prohibited from thinking about the future."

Furthermore, the congressional representative stated that he had attended the trial during the summer sessions and affirmed that it was "very boring to listen to prosecutors asking the same questions for three hours."

"If they asked more intelligent questions then things could be done in 20 to 30 minutes for the good of everyone," said Raffo.

He added that it was not illegal for Fujimori to prepare his campaign during the trial.

"He is simply a political leader that is going through a hard time and has not stopped thinking about the future," Raffo explained.

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


After beating ninth-seeded Richard Gasquet and Argentinian José Acasuso, Luis Horna's winning streak at the Rome Masters in Italy was brought to an end by Radek Stepanek on Thursday in a match that ended 6-4 1-6 6-3.

Both Horna and Stepanek are unseeded players and had not seen each other on a court since 2005.

The Peruvian player, who is ranked 111th, won the second of three sets, while the 29-year-old Czech, who is ranked 27th in the world, won the first and third sets.

Peru's number one player lost the first set 6-4 but responded incredibly in the second set, beating Stepanek 6-1. The third set was dominated by the Czech player.

To reach the third round of the Rome Masters, Stepanek took out Jarkko Nieminen and upset No.5 seed David Ferrer in two matches that lasted three sets each.

Horna on the other hand, upset No.9 seed Richard Gasquet and José Acasuso, winning straight sets in both matches. He was unable to advance to the quarterfinals though.

Radek Stepanek has advanced to the quarterfinals and will go up against World No.1 Roger Federer, who has won twelve Grand Slam singles titles, four Tennis Masters Cup titles, and fourteen ATP Masters Series titles.

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


A bill that would make it much easier to get a divorce in Peru was proposed by congresswoman Rosario Sasieta in 2006 and is on the verge of being promulgated by the country's president.

The bill, which would make it possible to file divorce papers at a municipality or a notary instead of at the country's Justice Palace, was approved by the Congressional Justice Commission in March and was passed by Congress on Wednesday evening.

With 57 votes in favor, 28 against and 7 abstentions, the bill was approved by Congress for the second time. It will now be passed to Peru's President Alan Garcia to be signed into law.

From the day the bill is received by the president, he has 15 days to make his decision on the proposed law.

If the law is approved, couples that have been married for at least two years will be able to file for a divorce at a municipality or a notary.

According to Raul Castro, the head of the Congressional Justice Commission, the new law would speed up the divorce process, which currently takes between 6 and 8 months.

Rosario Sasieta explained that the objective was to reduce the cost of a divorce, the amount of time it took and alleviate the Judicial Power of a lot of paperwork.

The congresswoman explained that from the time divorce papers were filed until the moment a judge passed a sentence, a great deal of judicial workers were unnecessarily put to work.

It was reported that divorces would be handled at municipalities or notaries as long as spouses had already come to an agreement with respect to child custody and personal possessions.

There are currently over 3.6 million divorce cases pending in Peru's court system.

Peru's government has dropped plans to open up uncontacted Indians' reserves to oil exploration. The latest round of concessions, announced this week, do not include any of the uncontacted Indians' reserves.

The move appears to be in response to a storm of criticism from Survival and Indian organisations in Peru. Survival had urged the Peruvian government not to permit exploration in such areas because it could lead to the tribes' extinction.

The decision represents a U-turn for Perupetro, the state body responsible for negotiating exploration rights. Perupetro spokespeople had previously suggested the uncontacted Indians did not exist, and that exploration in their reserves would be permitted.

According to reports, a Perupetro spokesperson stated this week that none of the new areas include 'reserves for uncontacted tribes in order to avoid confrontation with local communities and environmental organisations.'

However, part of one of the new concessions, although not a reserve, is inhabited by uncontacted Indians, and elsewhere in Peru oil and gas exploration remains a huge threat.

French company Perenco has recently acquired the rights to work in the northern Peruvian Amazon where at least two uncontacted tribes live, and companies Repsol-YPF, Petrolifera and a consortium led by Pluspetrol all work in areas inhabited by the Indians.

Survival International's director, Stephen Corry, said today, 'Perupetro's decision is the right one - from both a legal and humanitarian point of view - and we hope this change of heart is permanent.

However, there remain other areas inhabited by the Indians where exploration is still going on. These areas must be made off-limits too, and the companies should withdraw in accordance with international law.'

Survival International Press Release