Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

Student protests and even violent confrontations with Peru's national police have not managed to stop the Municipality of Lima from using property that belongs to a university to build a new road.

Despite the fact that the mayor of Lima explained that an agreement had been made between the University of San Marcos and the municipality in 1991, the dean of the university, professors and hundreds of students continue to protest the work being done around and now on university grounds.

Up until recently, municipal construction workers were only working on a bypass next to the university.

Early Monday morning, professors, students and even the dean of South America's oldest university were shocked to find that one of the campus' walls had been torn down.

The wall, which surrounds the university campus, was demolished by the municipality at dawn - many hours before professors or students arrived to the campus.

According to municipal authorities, the wall was torn down at 3 a.m. in the presence of government lawyers to make sure a crime was not being committed.

It was announced that the destruction of the wall was a part of the construction of the new bypass to be located at the intersection of Universitaria and Venezuela avenues.

Representatives from the Municipality of Lima assured that an agreement had already been established between the government and the university.

University representatives do not agree, however, according to authorities at San Marcos, the municipality was still negotiating with the university and had not told them of the demolition of one of their walls.

Municipal authorities have assured that a new wall will be built in approximately 20 days.