Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peruvian police arrested the driver of a truck transporting values who gave sleeping pills to his companions in order to steal S/. 2.4 million (some US $833,000) that were to be deposited at an ATM in Lima, according to local press.

Félix Jesús Luciano Cuenca (38), used to work as a driver for Hermes money transport company; however, last Tuesday he stole all the money he was transporting.

Cuenca invited his workmates a drink that put them to sleep in a few minutes, and he left them locked inside the armored truck, after removing the wads of cash and bearer checks.

After the investigations, the Police arrested Luciano Cuenca while he was walking by Lima Downtown, on his way to see a lawyer.

The thief was taken to Department of Criminal Investigation for interrogation.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

More than 70% of Mayors and 50% of Regional Presidents commit irregularities during their governments, claims Rosa Florián, from the National Plan to Fight Corruption.

She said in a radio interview that this group will request the Congress to authorizate them to investigate these facts, especially those regarding local governments with pending lawsuits, and to lift bank secrecy when required.

The proposal was made after Florián noticed that the Regional President of Ucayali, Jorge Velásquez, did not attend the citation, and after that lawmaker Pedro Santos denounced the usage of school supplies to distribute politic propaganda.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Within a year, people who need to validate their Peruvian passport may do so via Internet, filling an online form with their data and the code of the voucher of the paid fees.

Peru's Immigration and Naturalization Office (Digemin) explained that this is the first step of a project that seeks to modernize and facilitate the acquisition and renewal of Peruvian passports and ID cards for foreigners.

During this first stage, Digemin will not need any extraordinary investment; it will work with its own staff, their own resources and their own computers; however, moving to the next stage will require a special budget to be allocated.

The next stage, which will require an investment of US $1 million, will involve using passports with chips, which will keep all the passenger's data and improves security.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional, or TC) declared that the lawsuit filed by Cementos Lima had grounds and was sustained, and voted for the reestablishment of the 12% tariff for cement.

The court explained that the norm given by the government in October 2007 “affected the principle of equality,” that is, it was discriminatory in favor of some companies.

Attorney Joseph Andrade, from Rubio, Leguía, Normand and Associates, explains that the Constitutional Court considers that the equality in the market of both producers and importers was not respected by the Decree 158-2007-EF, so it should not be applicable.

Andrade thinks that the real issue with this sentence it is not the convenience or inconvenience for certain companies in the sector, but the fact that the Constitutional Court is becoming a activist judge of economic policy, in this case of the tariffs policy.

“Now anyone that may feel affected by a law could react and protest,” says Andrade.

Finance Minister Mercedes Araoz remarks that the sentence issued by the Constitutional Court “undermines legal security and endangers free trade agreements,” adding that that same logic could be used to question the decisions took by the Peruvian state.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's President Alan García removed Aurelio Pastor from Justice Ministry, due to the current public corruption scandal regarding the pardon granted to José Crousillat, a former media executive convicted of receiving bribes to provide favorable press coverage for Alberto Fujimori's government.

The decision was made official in a decree that was distributed among the press yesterday by Prime Minister Javier Velásquez Quesquén

Pastor blamed on the media pressure, claiming that El Comercio Group may be seeking to drive him from office “in order to benefit their own businesses,” since its reporters, as well as some opposition politicians, had been calling for Pastor's resignation for defending the presidential pardon granted to 77-year-old Jose Enrique Crousillat, the ex-majority owner of America Television's Channel 4.

After receiving the presidential pardon, granted on humanitarian reasons due to an alleged heart condition, he was seen and photographed shopping in a supermarket, working out at a gym and eating at a luxury restaurant, apparently in a good state of health.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Former Minister of Housing and Mayor of Magdalena, Francis, Allison talked with the press for the first time after the infamous incident in the United States related to US$50,000 he tried to take to Peru without declarating them.

Allison showed to a TV program documents that would prove the money that was seized by American authorities was his, but insisted on saying that he didn't know it was prohibited to take out money from USA without declaring it, as he had said before.

He added that before being Mayor of Magdalena he had about US$160,000 in savings, and part of that money was deposited at Bank of America, where he made a withdrawal of US$50,000 before coming back to Peru with his wife.

In the interview he didn't say a word about his links to Business Track, company especialized on espionage.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Walter Villalobos Flores, the Mayor of Cochabamba district in Cajamarca, admitted that his administration took S/. 40,000 (some US $13,333) from public funds, that were supposed to finance an electrification project for 40 communities, and used them in to throw a party, reports EnlaceNacional.com

Acording to Villalobos, pictured here, he and the engineers in charge of the electrification project fabricated payrolls and used farmers to receive the money.

The channeled funds was spent in organizing and affording a popular party in honor of a patron saint in the same district.

Residents have threatened to start public protests if Villalobos does not pay the money back and have asked the National Comptroller's office to investigate on the case.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The Financial Intelligence Unit of the National Agency of Banking and Insurances detected, between 2003 and 2009, almost US $3.460 million related to money laundering.

Daniel Linares, head of that unit, reported to Peru's Congress that most of these cases were related to illicit trafficking of drugs.

According to the Financial Intelligence Unit, it has sent a total of 404 reports on money laundering and unjustified amounts of money to the Prosecutor's office, from which 158 would be related to drugs trafficking, 56 with bribing government officials and 39 with tax fraud, among other offenses.

Lawmaker David Waisman expressed his concerns, because, according to him, there should be a larger number of investigations in course now, due to high presence of drug trafficking in Peru.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Chile presented at The Hague Court its alegations against Peru's demand on the maritime borders lawsuit both countries are currently disputing.

Peru claims that due to the fishing agreements between both countries, the border should be considered as a diagonal line equidistant between both countries rather than a longitudinal line that extends out from the land border.

On the contrary, Chile's position maintains that those limits are not subject to any negotiation, and that the maritime border is a simple horizontal lime established during the 50's.

The lawsuit, which is to decide over about the ownership of valuable fishing waters off the coasts of both nations, will continue with the presentation of the Peruvian reply and then the respective official response from Chile, followed by both parties' final alegations: then The Hague Court will issue its sentence.

(Map: AFP)

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The first day of the regional strike in Puno against the Inambari Hydroelectric Project has started with the blockade of the highway between Arequipa and Puno, while social organizations from the district of San Gaban have arrived to Puno's capital, preparing some demonstrations for today.

They are meeting in Yanamayo, in the northern area of Puno city, and are expecting to do a protest march later today.

In addition to the road blockade, passengers transport service have halted their operations today; the bus terminal looks almost empty, according to local radio reports.

Efrain Anahua, regional secretary of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru  told the press that the residents not only oppose to Inambari project, but also demand that the government finish the Inter Oceanic Highway soon.

The Inambari project would destroy 50 kilomoters of this highway.

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