Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Where La Laptop Hits El Camino: The OLPC Roll-out in Peru

After months--nay years--of anticipation, criticism, setbacks and praise, the One Laptop Per Child program is finally taking the diminutive slab of highly-designed tech to its intended audience in a large way. Peru, one of the earliest and strongest supporters of the OLPC, is beginning to ship them in large numbers to some very poor school districts, and MIT Technology Review has a well-researched tale of how it's all going. (Core77 - click here to read complete article posted by Carl Alviani)


Peru Takes the Other Path

It's about 90 minutes flying time from Lima to this jungle metropolis of 400,000. But daily life here is light years away from what it is in the Peruvian capital. After almost two decades of gradual reforms by the central government, Lima is today home to first-world services, globally competitive businesses, shopping malls and an emerging middle class. But here in the hub of the Peruvian Amazon, living standards are all too similar to what they were 30 years ago. (The Wall Street Journal - click here to read complete article by Mary Anastasia O'Grady)


We Are Helping the Poor, Not Supporting Terrorists

The Journal chose to publish a photograph of George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Institute, in connection with an April 28 op-ed "Friends of Terror in Peru" by Mary Anastasia O'Grady. The article seeks to link armed terrorist organizations and groups connected to Hugo Chavez to human rights organizations and other nonprofit associations in Peru. (The Wall Street Journal - click here to read complete article)


Food crisis: summit in Venezuela, protests in Peru

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez convened an extraordinary meeting of member nations of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) in Caracas April 23 to discuss the world food crisis. At the meeting, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, and Chávez signed a series of accords to promote mutual agricultural development, create a joint food distribution network, and create a $100 million ALBA food security fund. (World War 4 Report - click here to read complete article submitted by Bill Weinberg)


22-year-old Israeli murdered in Peru

A 22-year-old Israeli tourist was found murdered in Arequipa, in southern Peru, the Foreign Ministry announced Sunday night. The victim was identified as Tamar Shahak. Israel Radio reported that she was an announcer for Army Radio and a correspondent for Walla. According to the report, Shahak was in the middle of an extended trip through South America. (The Jerusalem Post - click here to read complete article)


Malaysian social worker gravely ill in Peru prison

Punitha K.K. Samy, 50, was arrested after authorities at the international airport in Lima found 3kg of cocaine in her luggage. On Tuesday, Peruvian prison authorities contacted Dr Kalai Kumar, a friend and former employer of Punitha here, to reveal that the woman was gravely ill. (nstonline - click here to read complete article by Fadhal A. Ghani)

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


Karol Castillo Pinillos, a native of Trujillo, was crowned Miss Peru Universo on Thursday evening and will represent the Andean country at the Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant on July 14 in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

Giuliana Cevallos, Miss Loreto, was the runner-up.

Karol, an 18-year-old university student majoring in psychology, is the youngest of three.

She affirms that her two older brothers, Paulo and Bruno are very protective of her.

The new Miss Peru Universo, who has long black hair and is just under 6 feet tall, captivated the panel of judges last night at what used to be the Hacienda Villa, located in Chorrillos, a seaside Lima district.

After the pageant, the new beauty queen stated she did not think she would win the crown and dedicated her victory to the city of Trujillo.

"I dreamed of it but I didn't expect it," said Karol. "This proves that anyone can reach (the goals) they set."

In Peru Protest, Women Urge Action on Food Prices

More than 1,000 women protested outside Peru’s Congress on Wednesday, banging empty pots and pans to demand that the government do more to counter rising food prices, which are squeezing the poor worldwide. The women, some toting small children on their hips, run food kitchens, known as eating halls, for the poor. (Reuters - click here to read complete article)


Peruvians ditch the dollar, move savings to soles

Max Campos, one of hundreds of money changers who works the street corners of Lima, Peru's capital, spent years trying to get his hands on U.S. dollars. Now he dumps them for the once beleaguered Peruvian sol. Campos, 32, has become part of a sea change of savvy consumers helping to break the Peruvian economy's link to the dollar faster than the government expected. (Reuters - click here to read complete article)


Peru's Coffee Output to Rise 9% as Farming and Prices Improve

Peru's production of coffee, the country's biggest agricultural export, will rise 9 percent in the year through March 2009 as farming practices and prices improve, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. Output will increase to 4.3 million bags from an estimated 3.95 million in the year ended March 31, the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service attache said in a report prepared by Gaspar E. Nolte and posted on the USDA's Web site. (Bloomberg - click here to read complete article by Ron Day)


Oxygen-poor ocean zones are growing

Oxygen-starved waters are expanding in the Pacific and Atlantic as ocean temperatures increase with global warming, threatening fisheries and other marine life, a study published today concludes. Most of these zones remain hundreds of feet below the surface, but they are beginning to spill onto the relatively shallow continental shelf off the coast of California and are nearing the surface off Peru, driving away fish from commercially important fishing. (LA Times - click here to read complete article by Kenneth R. Weiss)

Americans Can Cash in with Investments in Peru

As American investors struggle with the beginnings of a financial crisis in this country, many are looking overseas for investment opportunities that can bring them a great return in a short amount of time. Manny Backus, known in investment circles as the stock trading whiz kid, says there are plenty of high yield profits to be made in the Peruvian stock market. "It's a little known but fastest growing stock market in the world," Backus said. If someone had invested in these foreign stocks in 2006, "you could have made 11 times more money investing in Peruvian stocks than you did investing in American stocks." (PRWeb - click here to read complete press release)


Cuban Residents in Peru Condemn US Economic Blockade

Participants in the First Encounter of Cuban Residents in Peru condemned the US economic blockade against the Caribbean nation and demanded the immediate release of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States. (Cuban news agency - click here to read complete article)


RIGHTS-PERU: Fujimori Hemmed In

After 50 days of hearings, the Peruvian court trying former President Alberto Fujimori has heard virtually incontrovertible evidence that the former president was responsible for kidnappings and for two massacres of civilians perpetrated in the early 1990s, according to prosecutor Avelino Guillén. (IPS - click here to read complete article by Ángel Páez)


Missing Spaniard found dead in Peruvian jungle

The body of 23 year old Spanish student, Pablo Barbadillo Maestre, who was last seen alive in Pacal Guacamayo (Madre de Dios, Peru) on Sunday, April 13th, has been found in the Peruvian jungle. The well-preserved corpse displayed no obvious signs of violence, except for numerous animal and insect bites that may have been inflicted post mortem, and it is believed that Pablo died accidentally. (Think Spain - click here to read complete article)


Feds seize $4 million in heroin at airport

Customs and Border Protection agents say they uncovered $4 million in heroin concealed in Peruvian candy boxes at Newark Liberty International Airport. Tuesday's discovery came three days after a Colombian citizen was arrested on charges of trying to smuggle $1 million dollars worth of liquid heroin through the airport. (WNBC - click here to read complete article)


Potato production a solution to food shortages

Global potato production is expected to be boosted in response to the global food crisis. The recent spike in grain prices has led to food shortages in some countries, with riots in the most severe cases. The International Potato Centre in Peru is now reporting more interest from both governments and business to invest more in potato production. (ABC Rural - click here to read complete article)


Luxury Cruises Now Available on the Amazon River in Peru

Luxury cruises are available to nearly any destination you can dream up, but up until now, they weren't available on the Amazon. A company by the name of Aqua Expeditions has just launched the very first luxury cruise on the Amazon, and the area once unfamiliar to such luxury will now get its taste of in-suite air conditioning, and fabulous 280-thread count sheets. (Cleveland leader - click here to read complete article)


Susanna Baca's Peruvian Passion

A woman with an incandescent look on her face dances on the stage, inspired by a rapture the audience can feel. She stops for a moment and poses, then dances again; the smile on her face seems permanent, the joy she conveys – irresistible. (The Epoch Times - click here to read complete article by Cherian Philipose)

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


Former Miss Universe and Chilean entertainer, Cecilia Bolocco made headlines in Peru when she arrived to the Andean country and stated she desperately needed a pisco sour and a plate of ceviche.

What made headlines was the fact that Bolocco stated she wanted an "original" pisco sour, admitting that she prepared it Peruvian style in her home.

"I have to be very honest and say that I prepare pisco sour in my home the way it is prepared here. That's how it should be done," said Bolocco, who is in Peru to promote a new line of clothing she has recently released.

The release of the new line can be seen tonight during a fashion show to be held at Saga Falabella in Jockey Plaza.

Cecilia Bolocco, who was the first Chilean woman to win the Miss Universe beauty pageant, has not been the only person to comment on Chile's pisco this week.

Peru's president Alan Garcia said on Monday that he supported statements made by the country's Minister of Agriculture, Ismael Benavides that Chile's pisco is "water downed", assuring the Peru had surpassed Chile's pisco a long time ago.

The statements were brought on after Chile's Minster of Agriculture, Marigen Hornkohl declared that May 15 would be National Pisco Day in Chile.

Telefonica Wholesale Tests Broadband Network in Peru, Confirms Positive Impact of P4P Technology

Telefonica International Wholesale Services, a subsidiary of Telefonica Group, recently conducted a field test of the company’s broadband network in Peru, evaluating its peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol technology, P4P. Results from the test showed that the P4P protocols had a positive impact on network efficiency, achieved by shifting traffic from external to internal links and byrouting the internal traffic shorter distances across the network. (TMC net - click here to read complete article by Calvin Azuri)


APEC trade ministers meet against backdrop of uncertainty

At the 2007 summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum, the leaders asked ministers and officials to report back in 2008 with a summary of steps taken to promote regional economic integration. When they meet in Arequipa, trade ministers, as bidden, can be expected to look again at progress towards the body's overall goal -- free and open trade among the developed nations of the 21 country Pacific Rim forum by 2010 and by 2020 for its developing countries. (Newsahead - click here to read complete article)


April 28, 1947: Kon-Tiki Sets Sail From Peru to Polynesia

1947: Thor Heyerdahl and five crewmen leave Callao, Peru, on a balsa-wood raft. They're hoping to prove that ancient South Americans could have sailed to Polynesia. Heyerdahl was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnologist who crossed the boundaries of academic disciplines and ruffled plenty of feathers in the process. He theorized that South Americans had visited and traded with Polynesia, not that they were the primary population source. Scholars derided him and maintained that South American balsa-wood craft would get waterlogged and sink before they could cross the Pacific. (Wired - click here to read complete article by Randy Alfred)

Friends of Terror in Peru

Thursday's vote by the European Parliament to take the Peruvian guerrilla group known as the Tupac Amaru (aka MRTA) off its terrorist list has Peru in an uproar. For good reason: The MRTA is notorious for kidnapping, torturing and murdering civilians to advance its political agenda. More recently, Peruvian officials have linked it to Hugo Chávez's "Bolivarian Movement," which seeks to destabilize democracies in Latin America, and to the Colombian rebel group FARC. (The Wall Street Journal - click here to read complete article by Mary Anastasia O'Grady)


Peru fears Bolivian camps harbor rebels

Bolivia's leftist government has established dozens of outposts in the high Andes region of Peru, which Peruvian officials fear have become centers of revolutionary training that threaten to revive Marxist-inspired insurgencies that terrorized the nation for decades. Some are located in public buildings; others operate out of private homes. (The Washington Times - click here to read complete article by Martin Arostegui)


Peru, Chile battle for best-pisco title

Peru says Chilean pisco is «bad» and «watered-down. Them's fightin' words in a long-running, bilateral battle to claim the «domain of origin» title for the fiery liquor. Agricultural Minister Ismael Benavides fired off the provocative adjectives on Friday _ a day after Chile declared May 15 «National Pisco Day. The dispute over the clear grape brandy goes back to the 1879-83 War of the Pacific. (AP - click here to read complete article)

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


When asked about the celebration of National Pisco Day in Chile, Peru's Minister of Agriculture, Ismael Benavides stated, "Chileans are crying about the wound, our Pisco is superior in taste and quality".

The plans to celebrate National Pisco Day in Chile on May 15 have not been received well by many in the country, especially sine the spirit's origin has been a controversial issue between the two nations for several decades.

"Everyone in the United States told me how bad Chilean pisco tasted. It can't be compared to ours," said Minster Benavides, affirming that the characteristics of the fine Peruvian spirit could not be compared to the low quality Chilean liquor.

He added that not only was the quality of Peruvian pisco much higher but that the Andean country's government invested much more in obtaining international recognition for the origin of the spirit.

National Pisco Day is to be celebrated in La Serena, Chile - approximately 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Santiago.

In Peru, National Pisco Day is celebrated the fourth Sunday of every July.

Peru to protest Europe on terrorism

Legislators in Peru plan to lodge a protest on Friday with the European Parliament after it declined to list the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, an insurgent group, as a terrorist organization. The motion would be delivered "so that they can know the feelings of Peruvian legislators against terrorism," the Peruvian News Agency reported. On Thursday the Peruvian Congress approved a resolution to reaffirm the group as a terrorist organization and criticize the European Parliament for its decision to omit the group, according to the Peruvian News Agency. (CNN - click here to read complete article)


Peru's Banco de Credito BCP switches to Teradata data warehouse

Teradata Corporation announced today it has signed an agreement in which Banco de Crédito BCP, the leading financial institution in Peru, will replace its present data warehouse with a powerful Teradata enterprise data warehouse (EDW), a Teradata Financial Services Logical Data Model (FS-LDM) and the Teradata EDW Roadmap. (Finextra - click here to read complete article)


International Organisation for Migration and Telefónica del Peru Sponsor Photo Exhibit on Child Labour

Telefónica del Peru supported IOM to organise a photo exhibit on child labour by award-winning Spanish photographer Fernando Moleres. The exhibit "Children at Work" contains 18 hard-hitting photographs showing the exploitative conditions that children are subjected to in many parts of the world. It opens on Monday 28 April in the Peruvian capital Lima and is part of IOM's counter trafficking information campaign. (Union Network - click here to read complete article)


Peru Sells $216m in Sol Bonds

Peru placed PES600m ($216m) in sol-denominated 6.95% 2031 sovereign bonds on the local market. The ministry had originally targeted PES400m, but raised the offer on demand that reached PES1.357bn, the finance ministry said. The transaction follows a PES273m sale in March, as Peru focuses on liability management and repaying expensive foreign debt. (Latin Finance)

Weaving better future for Peruvians

NSCAD University students are stitching together a relationship that will take them out of the classroom and to another continent. Twenty design pupils are working with developmental groups in Peru to start an online shop that will connect craftspeople from villages in the high Andes to a global marketplace. Some of the students involved in the coursework, which they’ve dubbed Project Peru, got together Tuesday afternoon at a studio in the Halifax school to talk about what they hope to accomplish.(The Chronicle Herald - click here to read complete article by Kristen Lipscombe)


Peru police nab ex-Birmingham soccer coach on sex charge

Birmingham police say a youth soccer coach charged with molesting a 7-year-old boy is jailed in Peru after eluding arrest for 18 months. Twenty-six-year-old Claudio Caffelli was charged in October 2006 with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. Police say Caffelli molested the boy at his Birmingham home. They say a 2006 cell phone signal indicated he'd fled to Lima, Peru, his mother's hometown. (AP - click here to read complete article)


Perú Negro

It is widely accepted that during the international black pride movements, this ensemble-founded by Ronaldo Campos de la Colina to preserve Peru's African heritage 30 years ago-became the national standard other bands emulated. And they haven't let up yet. Peru Negro's first internationally-available recording, Sangre de un Don, was released by Times Square Records in the US in Spring 2001. (World Music Central - click here to read complete article)


Forex - Peru's Sol At 6-week Low Versus Buck [USD/PEN]

Peru's Nuevo sol slipped to a 6-week low of 2.8220 versus its U.S. counterpart at noon in New York on Wednesday, compared to yesterday's close of 2.7340. Peru's Central Bank President Julio Velarde said on Monday that the bank could further raise reserve requirements for bank accounts owned by foreign investment funds, to curb inflows of hot money as the Andean economy booms. On Monday, the Peruvian Central bank said that it wants to slow the sol's appreciation, which could cause trouble for banks and lenders if the sol were to enter a depreciation cycle. (RTTNews - click here to read complete article)


Soccer-FIFA ask Peru striker Pizarro to drop lawsuit - agent

Peru striker Claudio Pizarro, banned by his country for 18 months for indiscipline, has been asked by FIFA to withdraw a lawsuit he has taken out against the Peruvian federation over his suspension. Pizarro's agent Carlos Delgado said in a radio interview that soccer's governing body wanted the Chelsea player to keep his case to the sporting tribunals. (Reuters - click here to read complete article)