Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

Chinese officials caught an unidentified woman with a knife in front of the Marriott Hotel where U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao were meeting yesterday night.

When the woman entered a restricted zone near the hotel without proper identification, Chinese officials stopped the woman, which she then pulled out a knife hidden in her book.

After officials removed the woman from the entrance of the hotel, Peruvian police were struggling to detain the woman into the police car.

The incident happened just moments after President Jintao and President Bush ended their meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Miraflores where they are in town for the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Peru’s National Police (PNP), in coordination with US security officers, has ordered to increase security measures in the surrounding area of the Marriott hotel, located in the district of Miraflores, where U.S. President George W. Bush will stay from today.

The US president arrived in Lima accompanied by a large delegation of government officials, among them the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in order to attend the 16th APEC Leaders' Summit this weekend.

Residents of the area, pedestrians and journalists waited several minutes in front of the hotel to see him; however, they were disappointed because the delegation entered through a back door of the hotel, which is located in front of the Pacific Ocean.

Colonel Luis Flores Prialé reported to Andina news agency that several police officers are placed in strategic positions, in order to enhance security and protection to the president.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

Dressed in orange suits and white masks, protesters from Amnistía Internacional (AI) denounced the shameful human rights abuses of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, where in recent years, many are being detained due to the war on terrorism under United States President George W. Bush.

Activists demanded that President-elect Barack Obama keep his promise to shut down Guantanamo Bay when he takes office in January. “The horror of Guantanamo can never be forgotten!” shouted one protester while 30 others kneeled to the floor with their hands behind their backs.

Jorge Trefogli, director of AI in Peru, said Wednesday’s demonstration was to remind people of the illegal human rights abuses going on in Guantanamo Bay, where inmates are denied basic judicial rights, and of Obama’s promise to shut the prison down in his first 100 days as president starting January 20, when he is officially sworn in to office.

Trefogli told reporters Obama should form a commission investigating the illegal actions in Guantanamo Bay carried out by the Bush administration in the last eight years.

AI planed the Guantanamo Bay protest during the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit not only because of President Bush’s attendance, but to remind other economically developing countries who are visiting Lima for the summit to respect human rights.

When asked by reporters why AI are not protesting against China for their accusations of violating basic human rights like freedom of speech, Trefogli explained that the group already made a campaign spotlighting China’s abusive power during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

Chinese web entrepreneur Jack Ma faced an angry mob of around 200 Peruvian textile workers in the famous garment district, Gamarra. Ma, along with Peruvian Production Minister Elena Conterno, were meeting with local textile workers to discuss the future of Peru’s textile industry after the Free-Trade Agreement between China and Peru.

But workers were not so trusting of Ma’s positive outlook. Many fear the FTA signed with China would cause a drastic loss in jobs and Peruvian-made goods due to cheaper costs the Chinese bring.

“We can’t compete with the Chinese,” one worker told a reporter. “We are without work. Sooner or later,” she went on, Peru will be filled “with badly made, cheap Chinese products.”

Ma, who is considered in his country as the Chinese “Bill Gates,” tried to calm the angry mob’s fears of losing their jobs to Chinese labor.

Struggling to make himself heard over shouts of “get out of here!” by vendors, Ma tried to assure Peruvians that his country is no threat to their labor, that he was encouraging vendors to sell their goods to China, not the other way around.

“If you don’t sell abroad, businessmen in other countries will come to sell in your markets,” he warned.

When the crowd wouldn’t break, Conterno ran to his defense, cutting the speech short. She admits  holding the speech in a chic neighborhood would have been easier but wanted Ma to speak to people who would be directly affected by the China-Peru FTA.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

The Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC) will keep its doors open to the public for free during the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) holiday on November 20, 21, and 22.

While many private enterprises will be closed during what the Peruvian government recognizes as official non-working days, INC locations will stay open to give visitors an opportunity to learn about Peru’s culture, history and treasured artifacts.

According to an official press release by INC, the museums that will stay open are: Museo de Sitio “Arturo Jiménez Borja -  Puruchuco” (Carretera Central, Km. 4.5, Ate Vitarte), Museo de Sitio Huallamarca (Nicolás Rivera 201, San Isidro), Mirador Cerro San Cristóbal (Cerro San Cristóbal, Rímac) and the Museo de Sitio Huaca Pucllana (General Borgoño block 8 s/n, Miraflores).   

In addition, visitors can also go to the Museo de Arte Italiano (Paseo de la República 250, Lima), Casa Museo “José Carlos Mariátegui” (Jr. Washington 1938-1946, Lima), Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú (Plaza Bolívar s/n, Pueblo Libre) and the Museo Nacional de la Cultura Peruana (Av. Alfonso Ugarte 650).

Only two INC museums will be closed from November 20–23, which are the Museo de Sitio Pachacamac and Museo de la Nación.

Just days before 21 heads of state gather in Lima for the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, a man was found carrying 36 grenades in his backpack in the Lima district of San Martín de Porres.

According to police, Edwin Valladolid, 31, was detained on Sunday while going in the direction towards the center of Lima. An on-going investigation is still underway to pinpoint where Valladolid was headed and his motives.

"We think he belongs to a larger group, which we are still trying to identify," said Police Colonel Julio Vergara.

Vergara, also in charge of APEC security, said it was unlikely Valladolid was targeting the international summit but will not rule it out as further investigation continues.

According to El Comercio, Valladolid told police he was unaware of the contents inside the package he was carrying and only doing a favor for his friend “Pocho.” 

The arrest came after three police officers in Ayachuco were killed in an ambush that is suspected of being led by the Maoist Shining Path rebel group.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

An overwhelming crowd of over 35 thousand fans cheered frantically as they waited for R.E.M. to enter the stage on Friday's Lima Hot Festival. Fans grew wild, eager to see the rock legends at the Estadio Nacional, their first-ever performance in Lima. But it was towards the end of the show that drew the most cheers when guitarist Peter Buck raised a glass of Pisco sour, Peru's national drink, to the audience. It was an honorable toast to Peru and their successful show  that night.

During the concert, the group held up a sign “R.E.M. ama al Peru” with fans asking for more songs they've waited so anxiously to hear. Their set list included songs like “Losing My Religion,” “Everybody Hurts,” “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine),” among others.

R.E.M. is currently on their Latin American tour promoting their recently released album “Accelerate.” When they arrived in Lima at Jorge Chavez International Airport, the band was welcomed by dozens of fans who waited to give them a generous greeting.

When Patricia Menendez of northern Peru buried her slain daughter, she vowed to seek justice in a case where evidence pointed toward a U.S. citizen from central Pennsylvania.

This week, Peruvian president Alan García signed documents seeking the extradition of former Paxtang resident William Trickett Smith II to the Andean country to face a charge of homicide in the death of Jana Claudia Gomez Menendez.

The body of the 21-year-old Peruvian woman was found stuffed inside a suitcase that washed up on a beach at Lima in mid-August of 2007, less than six months after she married Smith following an Internet romance.

"I am so happy. I feel that the fight that I started for justice for my daughter reached the right ears and has echoed on," Patricia Menendez said late Wednesday afternoon in a telephone interview from her home in Trujillo, Peru. "My family will not stop until William Smith pays for what he did."

Smith is incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Smithfield on unrelated charges.

News Source: Andina

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

Keeping a promise made to Peruvian children in the Limean district of Villa Maria del Triunfo, Victoria's Secret model Petra Nemcova has returned to the Andean country to inaugurate new classrooms and a computer lab.

The construction of these study halls along with the state of the art computer lab was made possible by Petra's foundation, the Happy Hearts Fund, which she is the founder and president of.

Stating that Petra is more than just a beautiful model, Peruvian media have affirmed she understands it is more important to give to others than to live for oneself.

Through her foundation, which focuses on helping needy children across the world, Petra arrived to Peru and discovered that children in Villa Maria del Triunfo needed her help.

Six months ago, the Czech model promised school children she would do something to improve the quality of their education. On Tuesday afternoon, with the inauguration of new and improved classrooms Petra kept this promise.

In her limited Spanish Petra told these school kids they had made her heart happy.

As a small token of gratitude for what Petra is doing for our youth and in the hope she will remember her visit always, Living in Peru met with her and gave her "101 Reasons to be Proud of Peru".

Thank you Petra!

If you are also interested in knowing more about Peru, we invite you to download your own copy from this site or read it right here.

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

Amidst scandals and accusations of corruption, the Municipality of Lima continues to build "El Metropolitano", a highway that is to join the district of Chorrillos with the district of Comas.

The new highway, which includes an underground bus station with a shopping center, is to have natural gas buses running from the southern to the northern end of metropolitan Lima.

One of the strips currently being worked on, which has caused a great deal of trouble for motorists, is the stretch that runs through downtown Lima.

With traffic that is already considered chaotic, the construction of this strip of highway has made matters worse.

Approximately three months after construction of this piece of "El Metropolitano" began, Engineer Walter Paredes, head of projects and infrastructure at Pro Transporte, announced 20 percent of the road had been completed.

He affirmed there had not been delays and that construction was progressing as scheduled.

"We've estimated that construction work will take ten months," said Paredes, explaining that this stretch of highway should be ready in March 2009.

Construction work began on July 14 between the 9th and 12th blocks of Lampa Street in downtown Lima.

Work has now advanced to Alfonso Ugarte, Emancipación and España avenues.