Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Spain, Italy and Netherlands represent 64% of Peru's exports to EU

(LIP-do) -- Peruvian exports to the European Union (EU) reached 1.12 billion dollars in the first quarter of the year, while 64 percent of which were concentrated by Spain, Italy and Netherlands. These percentage are bigger than the 46 percent reported in the same period last year, said the Exporters' Association (Adex) reported.
 
The high concentration of these three countries was driven by their imports of Peruvian minerals: copper and zinc in the case of Spain; copper and lead, in Italy; and copper and molybdenum, in the Netherlands.

However, no one can deny the relevance of non-traditional products such as asparagus, piquillo pepper, giant squids, squids and paprika (Spain); giant squids, squids and t-shirts (Italy); and mangoes, asparagus, carburettors, grapes and bananas (Netherlands).

The exporters' association also reported that exports in the first quarter to that trading union (US$ 1155 million 595 thousand) were 22% more than the same period last year, when the amount was US$ 943 million 626 thousand.

The number of destination countries reached 27, led by Spain, which represented 25% of the total (US$ 290 million 125 thousand), followed by Italy, with 22% , and Netherlands, with 17%.

It should be mentioned that these three countries had a positive growth that enabled them to increase their level of participation in the total. Spain grew by 76%, Italy did so in 80%, and the Netherlands in 47%.

Other countries also showing positive rates, even though their participation is not very significant, are Romania (158%), Hungary (106%), Austria (228%), Cyprus (85%) and Malta (4213%). The new market was Slovakia.

Adex participated with a booth at the Business Round of the First EU-LAC Investment and Business Round Forum to be held on May 16 at the Country Club.

The booth will promote the contact of our partners with foreign visitors, the image of our country and the strategic alliance in sectors such as mining and energy, infrastructure and agribusiness.

News Source: Andina

 | | | |

• Economy : September trade had a surplus of US$ 566 millions
• Business : Microsoft Peru will invest US $500,000 in its expansion
• Travel and Tourism : Prom-Peru to promote Southern Peru tourist destinations in Chilean fair
• Food : US gastronomic website praises Peru's food
• Mining/Energy : Peru: More natural gas found in Camisea

# Tadeo Vitko says :
19 May, 2008 [ 17:33 ]

It is time for Peru to begin manufacturing products and not just exporting raw materials. Peru will never become a developed country unless it sets clear objectives with the first world economies to begin producing finished products based on the raw materials it exports. Manufacturing not only gives added value to the raw material, but creates more jobs, and gives much more economic stability by diversifying its export base.

# CapitanDan says :
19 May, 2008 [ 19:03 ]

Tadeo You hit the nail on the head. The E.U., U.S. and China want the raw materials and care less about spoiling the environment of Peru to obtain these materials. Let them invest in factories to give Peru a chance at more highly skilled and better paying jobs. This will help diversify the economy . Chau

# Arnie Rottmann says :
12 February, 2009 [ 12:54 ]

Dear Mike, Teddy, Tadeo,

What about the Textile Industry? I was amazed finding so many expensive brands in our market manufacturing polos (sold @ $ 80.00+) something is being done, i guess. I lived in Europe for a while and 100% of the cooked esparragus came from Peru, so I believe the country is waking up and starting to export finished products. I now live in Miami, so let's get in touch. 

# Arnie Rottmann says :
12 February, 2009 [ 12:54 ]

Dear Mike, Teddy, Tadeo,

What about the Textile Industry? I was amazed finding so many expensive brands in our market manufacturing polos (sold @ $ 80.00+) something is being done, i guess. I lived in Europe for a while and 100% of the cooked esparragus came from Peru, so I believe the country is waking up and starting to export finished products. I now live in Miami, so let's get in touch. 

# noname says :
12 February, 2009 [ 15:29 ]

Tadeo,

On a perfect world that would be the case... unfortunately the greed reiging the world's leading economies will not allow for that to work that way... if you want them to buy your finished goods, be sure that they will want 10 times more in return. So, we could try it, but in the end they would sabotage our country by not buying any finished goods from us. I seriously doubt China, US or any country in EU, will want to buy cars, bicicles or electronics from us Peru... so we have to yield and sell raw metals... but I think Peru MUST make sure that the price they pay for those raw materials will compensate for the effect that this trading is causing in the enviroment. If it was me? I will either sell at good price or not sell and save it for later when prices go up. I am sure that this leading economies know how to trick the market in order to lower the prices as they please... but the question is how to survive without this income. my answer?  TO EXPORT PURE HIGH QUALITY COCAINE ONLY!

# Rene says :
14 February, 2009 [ 02:14 ]

"I seriously doubt China, US or any country in EU, will want to buy cars, bicicles or electronics from us Peru..."

And why would that be noname? What would be the determining point for these countries not to buy any of those products from Peru if they were quality products at a competitive price? For as I can speak for the Netherlands, one of the initiating countries of the EU, they lost their own car industry over imported cars from various European and asian countries. But so far the Chinese car industry has not had a chance there, simply because those cars did not meet the high security standards. But once they do, they will be welcome but their pricess will not be much lower than the others. Same for bicycles, the Netherlands had a flourishing bicycle industry, but the main brands are now producing overseas simply to reduce the cost price. If the Peruvians would be able to produce good bicycles, there would be an opportunity. The Dutch don't care were it is made, as long as its quality at a reasonable price. Electronics of the major brands are manufactured all over the world, including the products of the Dutch electronics company Philips. The only thing they still produce in the Netherlands is light bulbs. If Philips is not manufacturing in Peru (I do not know whether they do or not), then that's not because of politics of the Netherlands...

And do you really think that the Netherlands gets anything in return just for importing those products from other countries, other than products at a lower cost then when produced in the Netherlands? It is the company that makes the decision to move its production elsewhere, not the government. If the government had a say in that, they wouldn't allow that to preserve the jobs that now have been shedded in the car, bicycle electronics and textile industries. Heck, they even import asparragus from Peru while they used to be grown in the Netherlands.

And if it was you, you would be out of business. There are many other countries exporting those raw materials, and not only the poor ones. The price is not something for you to control, that's the market.

Now, back to the article, are those growth numbers of raw materials in volume or in money? If in money then I'm quit sure that the boom in prices was contributing to that growth and that now with the price bust these exports will be hit hard.

# noname says :
14 February, 2009 [ 04:23 ]

Rene, you have made a few good points there, but to answer your question of why I would say that? well, I just base my comment on what is just happening in USA with their car industry, having so many better quality imports from Japan and Germany, now they went bankrupt. Still Chinese are not allowed for the same reasons you mentioned in your country and Korean are to small to be significant. Bottom line, Detroit has became just a big black hole sucking lots of lots of taxpayer's money, so I would think they wouldn't want to add another imported brand to their list. 

And for the sake of a good debate, I will slightly rephrase what I said in my prior post. I said "the world's reigning economies..." and later on I talked about countries, which was not correct. What I meant is that there are COMPANIES all over the world that would do anything to protect their capital, perhaps not governments but rather private transnationals who count on a squad of evil masterminds that can tailor the game rules to their best interest. At no point I said I would try to control the prices, I know third world countries such Peru could never do that, I said not to sale until price is right. 

Lastly, I don't want to sound like I am full of myself... but as far as I know Peruvian Esparragos are of better quality than any other that's why the get preferred, not really for the price. Here in California, you will find Peru's asparragus at the market's shelf right next to the ones from Mexico, which are $1 less per pound, but still people o for the quality which is very noticeable. 

# David N says :
14 February, 2009 [ 05:39 ]

Blah, blah, blah from no name...yes, everyone is greedy, and has Peru in their sights looking to 'sabotage' the country.  LOL    

'I seriously doubt China, US or any country in EU, will want to buy cars, bicicles or electronics from us Peru'

Now this is just an ignorant statement as these products are currently imported from all over the world, including 'latin american' (where they don't speak latin) countries such as Mexico.

You have no clue as to the ailments of the US auto industry, either.  Do you even know what a union is?

You should change your moniker from noname to nobrain.

# noname says :
14 February, 2009 [ 19:18 ]

So mister David sNob... would you please tell me what is the MEXICAN BRAND NAME for the cars made in Mexico. PLEASE?

As far as I know, all cars manufacturers doing business in Mexican land, are foreign... meaning yes, they do employ CHEAP LABOR and utilize CHEAP RAW MATERIALS from the country...  so??? is that supposed to be good for the poor countries?  ... Listen, I am not asking you to understand something you know already... and don't want to acknowledge, cause that is entirely your problem.

And you are right, Everyone is greedy... I guess is part of human evolution... you made your first statement sound as it is a joke right??? you can laugh all you want... we all here know what you are made of... MY MISSION HERE IS LIP IS TO LET EVERYBODY KNOW THAT ALL WHAT THE SNOB "BRAINIACS" LIKE YOURSELF ARE POINTING OUT AS PERU'S PROBLEM, IS NOT! .... WHAT YOU CONTINOUSLY POINT OUT HERE ARE PERU'S PROBLEMS ARE A RESULT OF HOW MESSED UP OUR PLANET IS, WHERE PEOPLE PAY 30 BUCKS A WEEK TO TRIM THEIR DOGS NAILS... BUT CAN'T SPEND 20 BUCKS A MONTH TO HELP A HUNGRY KID SOMEWHERE ON A REMOTE, POOR AND SABOTAGE COUNTRY. INSTEAD THEY GO TO THAT COUNTRY AND ALL THEY DO IS TO COMPLAIN AND COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERYTHING LIKE ROTTEN 13 YEAR OLD BITCHES.

AND IF YOU WANT TO KEEP ON DOING YOUR "LOL's"... I COMMEND YOU TO WATCH THAT TV SHOW WHERE GUYS COMPETE TO SEE WHO CAN EAT MORE .... I BET YOU FIND IT HILARIOUS TO SEE HOW THEY PUSH 5 OR 6 HAMBURGERS IN LESS THAN 2 MINUTES... WHILE SOMEWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD TINNY INNOCENT KIDS CAN'T EVEN SMELL FOOD CAUSE THERE IS NONE. LAUGH AT THAT, GENIOUS!

# Rene says :
14 February, 2009 [ 22:08 ]

"At no point I said I would try to control the prices, I know third world countries such Peru could never do that, I said not to sale until price is right."
And still, you would be out of business. When countries import raw materials from other countries they want a supplier they can count on. If you would stop supplying simply because you don't like the price, they will go to someone who will continue to supply regardless the price, and will stick with them even when the prices go up.

As for those companies you're talking about, I'm sure they'll try, but that doesn't mean they get it their way. If Detroit had a say in it, then Toyota and Honda would have gotten the boot a long time ago already. And if Anheuser Busch had a say, then Corona and Heineken wouldn't make it into the American market anymore. Sorry, I can't agree with your point.

I've noticed from your many posts that you're not a great fan of capitalism and that you feel that there is a lot of unfairness in this world. Nothing wrong with that. But I think when it comes down to the question whether Peru could produce finished products for the world markets, you are letting those feelings get in the way of giving a thumbs up for Peru. A missed opportunity I would say.

# noname says :
15 February, 2009 [ 03:55 ]

I am writing a very short post right now, since it is kinda late for me. I just couldn't help waiting to ask you this question.

If you really believe that these powerful worldwide capitalists, then I will ask you why a can of Red Bull is legally sale anywhere as far as I know including Peru.... and a cup of coca tea is not?  why can Peru export the coca leave (tea format) to other countries of the world? and what about coffee?

I will come back tomorrow to proceed with the rest of my replay.

# noname says :
15 February, 2009 [ 03:58 ]

Sorry, As I said before, it is late and I noticed I made a gross editing mistake.

"If you really believe that these powerful worldwide capitalists DON'T MANIPULATE THE INTERNATIONAL MARKETS.... then I will ask you.... and so and so..

# Rene says :
15 February, 2009 [ 14:43 ]

I understand your frustration about the coca leave, you have mentioned it several times in other posts. And I agree that coca tea is a good product and I love drinking it when I'm in Peru. However, it is not completely true what you say. I have taken Coca tea back to the Netherlands knowing that there wouldn't be an issue with importation (crude leaves is something different). Also just a few weeks ago I saw a Peruvian salesman at a fair here in Sydney Australia selling coca tea. I spoke with him about it and he told me that with the appropriate license you can import it and sell it. He was now trying out the market to see if there was any interest. And I think that is were the problem is. Most people in this world are not familiar with this product and have many alternatives, such a the Asian varieties. And unfortunately the prejudice and misinformation is not doing any good either.

But I understand the point you want to make. The world associates Coca with cocaine, a drug, and caffeine (and tobacco and alcohol for that matter), are considered as commonly accepted drugs. True and unfair. But that does not mean that the international tea market wants to keep this product out of the market because it would be such a competitive tea product. Be realistic. Neither does that allow you to extrapolate this to other markets.

# noname says :
15 February, 2009 [ 15:44 ]

Rene,

Capitalism itself as a concept is not a bad thing, I don't ban it, I even encourage it. Unfortunately there are some very dangerous results if you mix capitalism with words like greed and dishonesty or prepotence and arrogancy... I don't blame you for thinking that I am against capitalism, I thank you. You are helping me to make my point accross and if you want to know what I am really against is people that has all the cash staged and buried inside some bank in Switzerland and don't let it out and put it to work, creating businesses and jobs for the rest of the people, so I guess this will tell you that I support capitalism, but the good type of capitalism, not the rotten type that we have so much spreaded all over the world.

For instance, not too long ago, I noticed that there were two Peruvian Malt beers that entered the US market, Cuzquena Negra and Morena. I always go out to Peruvian restaurants with american friends since they like the food and after they tried these beers they REALLY LOVED IT, specially the Cuzquena, some told me that it was the best malt beer they ever had, I was proud to hear as you can imagine, this went on for just a couple of months before I heard that some American firm had bought the brand name to market in the US (I believe it was Anhauser Bush who bouthg it, not sure) One month later, there was not a single bottle of these two beers in the entire Southern California area, it's been about a year since that happened. Up to this point, I still don't know what happened there, but I know how competitive these markets are and how tricky and some times, how evil! I wouldn't be surprised at all if some of these giant firms have decided that their american pride was at stage and did something to stop that before it was too late. You see, they couldn't always stop this on time... before the snowball effect took place, for instance your examples of Toyota and Honda and Detroit.

Here is another one for you from our folks from CocaCola. If you've been to Northern Peru, you probably know "Bebidas La Concordia". These are really delicious almost hand crafted soda drinks in many different flavors and they have been with us for so long I couldn't even tell.
Additionally, and this is when it gets interesting...this huge part of the Peruvian northern territory had never surrendered to CocaCola nor Pepsico. in fact, this was (I dont know if still is) for many years, the only place in the world where these two international giants, CocaCola and Pepsi were not #1 on sales. They were always behind La Concordia and they hated that su much that a few years back (late 70's) CocaCola came out with a very dissloyal and disshonest marketing attack... they were offering one free 1 lt. CocaCola for every two empty La Concordia bottles. And of course, once again, the general public not knowing anything about it, they went for it and CocaCola was able to fill up two or three warehouses full with empty La Concordia bottles, which by that time were made out of glass and were not dissposable... so what happened next? CocaCola proceeded to destroy all those thousands of bottles to put La Concordia out of business...
Bebidas La Concordia struggled big time and for a long time... but fortunately this family owned business was able to get themselves together, dusted-off and went back to being #1 again.

This is History. and stuff like this happens every single day of our lifes in every single part of this world. So my point AGAIN! is:

My Country is not perfect, Love it or Leave it. don't critize it because all of you guys are coming from countries that are not perfect either. You like talking about corruption in my country? well, I'll tell you something, Corruption is everywhere, the big difference is that Peruvians are very naive and not as evil as mafias in other countries, so you can see corruption in Peru... but you can't see it for instance in US... or maybe in here someone would like to start talking about the KuKluxKlan or Freemassons?? or perhaps about the secret trading agencies like CIA and FBI? or the most powerfull drug cartel the DEA?...
Rene, this last portion of my post is not really for you, but for you to understand where I am coming from; there are a couple of individuals here that just come here to DISTORT Peru's international image, I wouldn't be surprised if they are getting paid for their dirty job, I wouldn't be surprised if they are spies that are not good enough to do the normal spy work and because of their lousy performance, their boss's only chance to get rid of them is to sit their unshowered behinds in front of a computer and ask them to piss good people off. I Can't tolerate that!

Me and my people want to warmly welcome all people from all over the world, that's how we are and I am sure most people can back me up on that.

thanks for reading!

# noname says :
15 February, 2009 [ 16:27 ]

Rene,

Your news about the coca leave in your country Netherlands and also in Australia are AWESOME NEWS!!!! thank you for sharing. you know? I had an idea for a product made out of coca that would make huge impact in some of the "open" markets like the two you have mentioned.

About your second paragraph. I just saw in Discovery TV, they were showing how they make tea... man! what a nice tea production plant they have there... lots of very sophisticated equipement, and most importantly lost of people working in there... I would love to see that kind of industry going on in Peru! 
Now, if we look at it from the business P.O.W. and of course I don't have any real numbers or percentages on how this runs, but let's look at this two markets for a minute, and let's look at them the simplest way possible; tea drinkers versus coffee drinkers; let's say 80% people of this world drink coffee every day and 15% tea (5% drink mate) ... so if we were to introduce coca tea in this same pie graph... whatever percentage coca tea drinker will represent 10 years from now... that percentage will have to come out from either coffee, tea or mate numbers, correct? simply because were are talking about the same type of product/market. This is how I am assuming that if coca tea was legally allowed to market all over the world, if COULD represent some serious losses for the coffee and tea markets. considering that coca tea has greater benefits that these other two products. Unless you doubt these benefits?

Now, why is it that I keep talking about coca all this time and why is it that we keep having to dissagree? just because  the Coca leaf is a product that only grows in a very small part of the planet, unlike coffee or tea. Simply because if you would need to buy a Ferrari, then you know that your Ferrari will have to be made in Italy and no where else, Im sure that you agree that if there were 20 other countries that could offer an identical car as Ferrari, same exact hand made quality... then their prices would be much lower... offer and demand, but in the case of the coca leaf... because of the geographical matters, these leaves can't grow anywhere, thus Peru and Bolivia will get to share the benefits of having a unique product in the planet. what can be better than that??? The coca industry would grow and grow as the world continue to find out the benefits of this new product (i.e Acai Berry from Brazil is becoming huge in US) and in 10 more years there would be millions or billions of dollars/Euros going in to these so called third world countries. 
For obvious reasons, there are lots of people worried that this could happen sometime...

# Rene says :
15 February, 2009 [ 18:58 ]

"Capitalism itself as a concept is not a bad thing, I don't ban it, I even encourage it. Unfortunately there are some very dangerous results if you mix capitalism with words like greed and dishonesty or prepotence and arrogancy..."
That is not only the case for capitalism, the same holds true for socialism. In all socialist countries it is the people in power who are making themselves rich at the cost of their own people. In concept socialism seems a nice alternative, but since there are always people who do not follow the principles the whole concept fails. In my humble opinion there is no economic system without these flaws and you just try to make the best of it. It is for this reason I believe that capitalism must be accompanied by some level of government regulation, unlike some people who want capitalism without government regulation. But we've seen recently how that can end up...

Regarding Cusquena, did you know that in Cusco, the birthplace of this great beer, it is almost unavailable? All you can get are the inferior beers from the coast. For several years now Cusquena is producing almost exclusively for the export. But talking about controlling the market, you must have missed the news that Anheuser Busch has been bought by the Belgian beer company InBev. Of course there was an outcry from the American public, but even they cannot do anything against the powers of the free market. As the free market does what it's supposed to do, it does not implicate a conspiracy against Peruvian products.

About the story with Coca Cola and Bebidas, sure, unfair competition happens if the government allows it to happen. Now about another favorite Peruvian drink: Inca Cola. Coca Cola couldn't defeat it so therefore they bought it. They tried to replace it with their own product, but the Peruvian people didn't buy it. Now Inca Cola is still number one in Peru, it's just owned by Coca Cola. The message is, the big companies seem powerful, but they still have no chance against the will of the consumer. 

Regarding the coca tea, it is not important whether or not I doubt the benefits. What's important is if it will be able to win over all those consumers. The chinese Gin Seng tea is also said to have health benefits, but not that many people other than Chinese are actually consuming it. Green tea is full of antioxidants, but not everyone likes it. I'm sure there will be place for every variety of tea as long as there is a market for it. And if the market is significant enough the big tea companies will buy and distribute that tea, regardless where it is from. Or do you think that the tea is grown in Europe and the US? No, it's a plant that grows mostly in countries that just like Peru are still economically challenged. Why would those companies wish to exclude Peru? What economic ground is there to make such decision? I do not think Mate de Coca will be able to replace Earl Grey, to name just one of them. And I do not believe either that the tea companies are responsible for making coca illegal in many countries. You and me know what is the real reason for that, whether you agree or not is irrelevant, and as long as the Andean nations are not capable of controlling for what purpose the leaves are used, that will not change soon either. But this post is not about drugs, so I'll will not elaborate further on that.

But what I've noticed with many things is that Peru or Peruvian companies are not very well in putting products in the world market. Pisco, Alpaca wool, to name just a few, there must be another country or company to do all work in marketing that sleeping potential and then when it becomes successfull Peru wakes up and wants to harvest the benefits. Well, it doesn't work that way in this world. You'll have to invest yourself to make something successfull. If Peru doesn't do that, then this sort of conversation can continue forever. If Peruvians continue to believe that the superiority of their products, true or not, will win over the world without further effort, they will contiue to loose out. If they continue to believe that the failures of these products are the fault of other countries and their conspiracies, they will never succeed. I really hope that one day Peru can overcome this and take initiative and put effort into placing new products in the market.

Regarding your remarks about the negative posts, no offense taken. I agree that there are some people here who can only talk negative and take it too far. At the same time I think that if everyone would speak positive, this forum would fall quite soon. There would be no discussion. If I would only be allowed to confirm positiveness, regardless of how stupid things may be, then there would be no reason for me to come here. This is neither a Peru Promotions site for tourists, as some want us to believe, or a Peruvian expat get-together where expat Peruvians tap each other on the back to celebrate how great the country is that they turned their back on (speaking for love it or leave it). Unfortunately your remarks about the KKK and things like that cut no wood either. This site is about Peru and not about the USA. If there would have been such a site, or for my own country, and I would have been interested to contribute to that site, then I would post there the same way as I would post here. Responses like your own sometimes do no good to this site either, it scares people away. But I know that you can have constructive discussions and I appreciate that. I would say keep up these discussions filled with arguments and examples rather than particpating in mud throwing. I just wish I knew your name...

# noname says :
15 February, 2009 [ 20:19 ]

Plain and simple,

Since I live in the States, most of the people I know can't read or write in "Castellano" (Spanish for some) ... some of these friends would be interested in visiting my country and some of them have shown some interested in investing in Peru. So at some point, I would like to feel confortable enough to reffer these friends to come in here to LIP and learn about it more. And how do you think I feel now when I see all these MADE UP NEGATIVE FEEDBACK from some eternal users that won't go away??? They are just here for that reason. In fact, you will never see them post any comments on any of the good news posted here by LIP... Never! I find it hard to believe that you don't see who is the one throwing the mud here. So for right now I feel like I am doing the work of an antibiotic... I entered the body looking bad and doing some controlled damage... but with my best intentions of curing the ill.
Your comment on love it or leave it? hmm! that was a punch below the belt, although I told you that wasn't for you.

I just want you to know that I left because of what I do for a living.. I found myself with the need for leaving the country on temporary basis to continue to qualify and prepare myself for the future. That doesn't mean I turned my back on my country nor I stop loving it.

I thank you for the explanation on Socialism... but seriously! that is not me, never was and never will.

Lastly, someday I hope these germs will go away or change their ways... and just then I will start forwarding pages from here to my friends, I still believe that LIP creator had that type of intention when he first started his marvelous work creating this website.

# Rene says :
16 February, 2009 [ 07:07 ]

"I find it hard to believe that you don't see who is the one throwing the mud here"
If you read my post again you'll see that I mentioned that you're participating in mud throwing. That means that there are others as well. So, yes I do see who are throwing the first mud. But I also do see how you respond to them, inclusive of abusive language (such as F**d up). Too bad you don't see that yourself. It is certainly not a good example on a web site that you wish to share with your friends. Instead it is better to ignore them, be the smarter one and stick with the discussion.
What you're fighting is more like a virus and antibiotics doesn't work on that. You just have to count on your auto-immune system. Apart from that, I think your friends are intelligent enough to determine for themselves what is nonsense and what's not. There are many more sources they can refer to as well. And honestly, I do not think this site is of the caliber that an investor is looking for anyway.

"Your comment on love it or leave it? hmm! that was a punch below the belt, although I told you that wasn't for you."
That comment referred to the more than 3 million Peruvian expats, not necessarily your person. And yes, I'm a bit alergic to the term "love it or leave it" since it is used by nationalistic rednecks in the US and Australia to express their discomfort with immigrants. And since I'm an immigrant myself, first in the US and now in Australia (maybe Peru in the future, who knows), I do not like to hear it. And I would never use that for my own country, since it blocks out all constructive criticism, all the enrichments immigrants bring to another country.

"I just want you to know that I left because of what I do for a living.. I found myself with the need for leaving the country on temporary basis to continue to qualify and prepare myself for the future. That doesn't mean I turned my back on my country nor I stop loving it."
I do not know what your job is, but I believe there is no job that you have to emigrate for. The only way I can read you remark is that there were no further opportunities for you to develop yourself in Peru. As there are so many that follow the same path, it is draining Peru of it's talent. And I do not know what you considered temporary at the time you left, but since you've posted that you've lived in the States for 15 years now... seems that you have given up on the temporary. And you can use your business and customers as an excuse for not returning, but I think that that is not the real reason. I think there is simply no incentive big enough for you to return to Peru and leave behind what you have built up in the US, so you choose to stay in the US. And most immigrants choose the same. Nothing wrong with that, but you need to be honest to yourself. The choice is always yours...

Speaking for myself I think I can say I turned my back on my country. Although not for economical reason. It is the immigration policies of my country that prevent me from returning with my soon-to-be Peruvian wife. They would require us to live seperated for at least a year in anticipation of a visa for my wife and I think no country is worth that sacrifice. I still root for my national soccer team, I am proud of the achievements of such a small country, but I'll also be the first to criticise and debate what's wrong in my country's history and what happens today. Love for your country is good, blind love is not.

"I thank you for the explanation on Socialism... but seriously! that is not me, never was and never will."
Never said you were/would. Please do not take everything personal... it inhibits the debate.

Anyhow, we're far off topic now. Let's conclude this debate and let's debate some fresh news articles again.

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