Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivingInPeru
Isabel Guerra

According to Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), medicine prices in Peru are likely to drop thanks to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States.

“There is no reason to say that medicine prices will rise because the FTA has entered into force, we are sure prices will drop due to lower import tariffs,” Peruvian Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mercedes Araoz said.

Peru’s Association of National Pharmaceutical Industries (Adifan) had said that the reform of Health General Law would imply that laboratories should pay 1,2 billion soles for studies made to certify that Peruvian medicines fulfill requirements of duration and quality in temperatures up to 30 degrees, which represents additional production costs.

Peruvian Minister denied this argument and said “They (Adifan) know that their problem is not related to fulfill bio-equivalences, but to compete against other products with better prices.”

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

DPA - El Comercio

Former Peru President Alberto Fujimori is considered guilty of the alleged crimes of violation of human rights and corruption during his government, according to a survey published today, conducted   by the Catholic University (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú -PUCP) a few days before the issuing of his sentence.

This survey, run in Lima right before the second and final day of Fujimori's personal defense, shows that 64% of the 462 interviewed people consider that Fujimori is guilty of the charges.

Around 25% think that the 70-year-old former President is innocent, and 10% refuse to answer, according to the same survey

Lima, Peru's capital city, represents 1/3rd of the total of the nation’s voters.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

Living in Peru
Dely Goicochea

Galena Corporation, a Peruvian company that operates lottery and mobile phone games, and is supported by both MGS, a Finnish public company quoted on the Frankfurt stock Exchange, and Silverstring Investments N.V., a company with professional international gaming experience – subscribes an important agreement with the Chulucana’s Beneficence and launches the most innovative and secure mobile phone lottery system.

Thanks to this agreement, a percentage of Galena Corporation’s lottery profits will be donated to the Chulucana’s Beneficence, an entity that supports poor children and elderly people.

It is worth noting that the company will donate 5.5% of its profits to the Chulucana’s Beneficence.

This certainly generates great expectations because the global growth for the mobile phone games segment is expected to reach US$ 16.6 billion by the year 2011, while the profit projection for Peru is US$ 12.7 million for the first year, just for SMS lottery.

As a gesture of its long term commitment, which is much more than profits generated by lottery, Galena Corporation’s first donation to Chulucanas will be a children’s park, as well as musical instruments for INABIF to set up musical bands in five orphanages.

Juha Kikeri, MGS’s CEO, pointed out that, “We will launch an innovative lottery via mobile phone within the next few months, developing a new segment in the lottery market. Galena Corporation introduces a new way to play the lottery, offering all the guarantees and the latest technology”.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke late today issued a final judgment against the Government of Peru in the amount of $8.3 million and in favor of Jose Guevara, a Venezuelan national who helped Peru capture its fugitive spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos in 2001.  At the same time, Judge Cooke rejected Peru’s request that the Court reconsider its decision finding that Mr. Guevara had proven his entitlement to collect the reward for Montesinos’ capture.

“Peru has not set forth any grounds justifying reconsideration,” said Cooke. “Accordingly, Peru’s motion for reconsideration is denied.” Cooke’s order denying the motion went on to state that “three major grounds to justify reconsideration must be met: an intervening change in controlling law; the ability of new evidence; and the need to correct clear error or prevent manifest injustice.” None were according to Cooke.  

The ruling against Peru’s latest attempts reaffirmed Cooke’s September 9th summary judgment that the government of Peru owed Guevara the reward money.

“After a long, arduous fight, Mr. Guevara and his family are now one step closer to receiving the promised reward,” said Diaz, referring to Cooke’s ruling. “This is a precedent-setting case in international litigation in this post 9/11 era, where countries routinely make reward offers for the capture of terrorists, political figures and drug dealers.”
   
In 2001, Guevara filed to claim the widely publicized reward for providing crucial information that led directly to the arrest of Montesinos, who is now on trial in Peru on a long list of charges related to arms trafficking, drug dealing, money laundering, extortion and murder while he headed Peru’s National Intelligence Service in the 1980s.

However, the Peruvian government reneged on its reward offer and since then, Peru’s legal team has used a variety of tactics in its efforts to avoid payment. However, Guevara’s claim has withstood all those challenges, said Gonzalez, who noted that the decision represents a dual victory for Guevara and the community-at-large.

“By enforcing Peru’s promise to pay Mr. Guevara, the U.S. courts have recognized the basic principle that a party will be held to its word,” he said. “If a government or a governmental entity is going to offer a reward in exchange for information that it cannot otherwise obtain on its own, then it must be prepared to pay that reward.”

In her Nov. 7th decision, Cooke rejected counterclaims by the Peruvian government that Guevara, who was Montesinos’ guard for several months in Venezuela, had stolen funds from that nation, aided Montesinos in stealing government money and enriched himself at the government’s expense. 

“Guevara never received any money from the defendants directly,” said Cooke in her ruling. “There was no evidence for conspiracy or aiding and abetting the conversion of funds. There was no evidence of a benefit to Guevara.”
   
Seven years ago, Guevara filed his suit in the U.S. to claim the reward.  The Peruvian government then sought to dismiss the case under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), which protects foreign governments from U.S. lawsuits. Diaz and Gonzalez argued that by offering a reward, Peru had engaged in “commercial activity,” which is an exception to the FSIA.

On November 1, 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld Guevara’s position and ruled the case could continue in the U.S. The Peruvian government then filed a series of counterclaims, which were dismissed in Cooke’s summary judgment.

Looking ahead, Diaz said, “I am not sure when Mr. Guevara will be paid, given the recent resignation of Peru’s entire Presidential Cabinet for allegations of corruption and kickbacks, but at least they now know the U.S. judicial system is not a place for them to seek refuge from their legal responsibilities.”

Panoro Minerals Ltd. is pleased to announce that the most recent results from its exploration program at the Company's 100% owned Antilla Project in Peru have demonstrated;

1. Positive infill results confirming the continuity of the supergene enriched zone within the East Block Target Area; and

2. The extension of the supergene enriched zone to the Northwest side of the East Block Target Area.

The table below presents a summary of the results from the infill drilling program within the East Block Target Area.

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Drillhole    From (m)    To (m)    Thickness (m)    Cu (%)    Mo (%)
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ANT-46            76       102               26      0.63     0.006
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includes          82       102               20      0.70     0.007
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and              142       151                9      0.41     0.003
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ANT-48            56       106               50      0.61     0.016
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includes          68       106               38      0.73     0.013
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ANT-49            28        76               48      0.85     0.008
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ANT-52           160       187               27      0.38     0.014
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ANT-55           108       131               23      0.25     0.001
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ANT-59             0        54               54      0.32     0.002
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includes           0         6                6      0.41     0.001
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and               28        42               14      0.49     0.001
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                  68       100               32      0.42     0.002
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ANT-60             7        18               11      0.42     0.001
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and               58        62                4      1.04     0.001
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and               80        86                6      0.46     0.001
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ANT-62            60       110               50      0.48     0.012
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includes          60       102               42      0.52     0.012
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and              134       144               10      0.47     0.005
-------------------------------------------------------------------

ANT-62 was extended to a depth of 757 m and encountered primary copper mineralization in the sedimentary package that is likely related to primary porphyry copper mineralization with erratic grades below the nominal cutoff grade of 0.3% adopted for the current exploration program. ANT-60 is located at the southeast boundary of the East Block Target Area confirming the thinning of the mineralization in this area however ANT-59, also located at the southeast boundary, but to the southwest of ANT-60 indicates that the mineralization extends outside the East Block Target Area in this sector.

The table below presents a summary of the results from ANT-61 which was collared approximately 70 m from the northwest side of the East Block Target Area indicating that the supergene enriched zone also extends beyond the East Block Target Area in this sector.

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Drillhole    From (m)    To (m)    Thickness (m)    Cu (%)    Mo (%)
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ANT-61           196       242               46      0.51     0.010
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Includes         198       220               22      0.74     0.009
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ANT-58 was collared outside the western boundary of the East Block Target Area and intersected a leached horizon with very low mineralization. Three additional drillholes have been advanced outside the northwest boundary of the East Block Target Area in order to further delineate the extension of the supergene chalchocite zone.
These holes have been located between 200 m to 250 m from the boundary of the East Block Target Area. The assay results from these drillholes will be reported as they are received.

The drillhole locations are shown on the company's website.

All drilling was carried out by Bradley MDH S.A. and all assay samples are being tested by ALSChemex laboratory in Lima, Peru. Fred Tejada, P.Geo., is the Company's VP-Exploration and the Qualified Person for this project.

Doe Run Peru recently marked the 11th anniversary of operations at its La Oroya operation with the announcement of significant improvements in all the environmental emissions indicators at the metals processing facility.

“In these 11 years we have faced huge challenges. Today we are seeing radical improvements in each and every environmental indicator at the (La Oroya) metallurgical complex,” said Juan Carlos Huyhua, Doe Run Peru’s president and general manager.

“Now we have the challenge of continuing the improvements and reinforcing the company’s competitiveness within a context of sustainable development.”

On September 30, 2008 Doe Run Peru inaugurated the sulfuric acid plant for the lead circuit at La Oroya. The project was completed as part of the company’s environmental operating agreement with the government and the city of La Oroya.

With an investment of nearly $50 million, the plant’s launch is expected to yield reductions of some 50 percent in sulfur dioxide emissions. Along with the sulfuric acid
plant inauguration the company also opened the doors to its new warehouse and dispatch center for the sulfuric acid produced at the metallurgical facility.

Significant environmental improvements Throughout its 11-year history, Doe Run Peru has reported on environmental improvements in both its operations and its emissions, with resulting benefits for the people of the La Oroya community.

Among September’s most significant results, which have been verified by the appropriate auditing organizations, are the following improvements:

1. Main stack lead emissions are down 70 percent from October of 1997 when Doe Run arrived in La
Oroya.
2. The level of lead in the air of La Oroya is 77 percent lower than it was 11 years ago.
3. Air levels of arsenic were 57 percent lower
4. Air levels of cadmium were 83 percent lower
5. The volume of industrial effluents discharged into the Mantaro
5. The volume of industrial effluents discharged into the Mantaro River are down 88 percent compared to levels the company found when it arrived in La Oroya in 1997.
6. Lead has been virtually eliminated from the water discharged into the Mantaro River.
7. Arsenic in the water discharged into the Mantaro has also been virtually eliminated – down 99 percent – compared to 1997’s levels.

Click here to read complete press release

Eighty Legendary Musicians, Devoted Cancer Survivors and Supporters from Four Countries Unite for Ten Day Musical Trek in Support of Cancer Care for Peru

On the heels of their record-breaking performance at 18,536 feet in the shadows of Mt. Everest, the Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHS) today announced details for "Peru Rocks" – a 10-day musical journey taking place October 8-17 in multiple locations throughout Peru.

Well known musicians from Fastball, and The Fixx, will join Nick Harper, renowned director and producer Alex Colletti, and LHS co-founders Mike Peters of The Alarm and James Chippendale, along with 60 cancer survivors and supporters in a music-fueled pilgrimage devoted to providing cancer care to a country in need.

The journey will begin with a visit to the countries' largest cancer care center in Lima where trekkers will meet the courageous cancer patients their journey will support.

They will then head to Cusco for a four day, 30-mile hike up the Inca Trail to the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains. The musicians will perform in small villages and town centers each night, with a musical celebration atop the mystical eighth wonder of the world.

The journey will conclude with a special benefit concert on Peru's Green Coast overlooking the city of Lima.

The Peru Rocks experience will be documented by director/producer Alex Colletti (creator of MTV's Unplugged), who premiered the first LHS documentary, Everest Rocks, on MTV's HD channel Palladia in September of 2008.

As with Everest Rocks, when millions of people from around the globe watched footage from the day's journey and participated via a dedicated website, the LHS foundation has established an interactive trekker journal, www.perurocks.org as a way for cancer supporters around the world to join in this historic effort.

LHS will make podcasts available each day on the dedicated site as well as iTunes. All proceeds from this endeavor will provide much needed equipment to Peru's National Institute of Neoplastic Disease in conjunction with ALINEN.

Last year LHS raised money and awareness for the people of Nepal and purchased the country's first mammography and internal radiation machines. This year, in addition to providing equipment, LHS will use the money to establish a chapter in Peru that will initiate ongoing national awareness and cancer care campaigns.

One of the many survivors who are "climbing back from cancer" on this trip, Tracy Callahan, from Philadelphia, was given five years to live after being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer.

This October she will be celebrating five years of remission alongside many other cancer survivors with similar stories. Other trekkers are going on the journey to honor those that lost their battle with cancer.

Lee Williams and his family will be going to celebrate the life of Otto Schutt, co-founder of the Burning Man Festival, and inspiration behind the online video portal, www.givethanks.tv .

Otto, who passed away in May 2008 at age 40, was planning on taking the trip to Peru, and now his friends and family are going in his place to spread his ashes among the Andes Mountains.

"We are bringing on more musicians, cancer survivors and supporters to join us for Peru Rocks to help make this global event not only more far-reaching, but also to help raise the funds necessary to provide cancer screening and treatment equipment needs to the people of Peru," said James Chippendale, Co-Founder of the Love Hope Strength Foundation.

"Peru Rocks" is the latest charity climb and concert in the "Rocks" line-up in just over a year. There was "Empire Rocks" on the top of the Empire State Building, "Snowdon Rocks" at the summit of Mount Snowdon and most recently "Everest Rocks", where LHS broke the record for highest concert ever performed at the base camp of Mount Everest.

The Love Hope Strength Foundation started the "Rocks" events with the hope of bringing cancer care and support to the world. Their mission continues in Peru, one cancer center in every country, one concert at a time.

Brands and individuals are helping to make Peru Rocks possible and are an essential component to bringing change to Peru and the LHS mission. They include Epiphone, Marmot, Crocs, Eagle Creek, Irridium, MTV's Palladia, Gardiner AND Theobald, Smith Optics and Red Robot Entertainment as well as thousands of individual supporters.

Panoro Minerals Ltd. (the Company) is pleased to announce that it has started the first of four drill programs planned for 2008. The four projects to be drilled are El Rosal, Antilla, Cotabambas and Kusiorcco.

The contractor has arrived at the first project to be drilled, the El Rosal Project in Northern Peru, where all necessary permitting steps have been completed and a Water Use Permit has been obtained. Starting this drill program also ensures the availability of an additional drill rig earmarked to become a second drill rig for one of the other projects (most likely Antilla) in the Company's program for 2008.

The El Rosal project in Lambayeque and Cajamarca Departments, north-western Peru, is a porphyry Cu-Au prospect with related Cu-Zn-Ag and Cu-Au skarn mineralization. The Company has acquired a one hundred percent clear interest in the property. It consists of eleven mineral concessions that encompass an area of fifty-seven square kilometres. The property is seventy-five kilometres east of the major city of
Chiclayo.

The El Rosal -Project is characterized by two principal targets with associated large tonnage potential, the El Rosal and La Ramada Targets. The mineralized systems identified by Panoro's work represent a new discovery of this type of system in this area of northern Peru.

The El Rosal Target, with an overall footprint of 2 kilometres by 2.5 kilometres for the system, contains copper -zinc -silver mineralization of a type called "skarn" mineralization and, significant for its tonnage potential, porphyry style alteration/mineralization, as well as polymetallic veins. Geological mapping, trenching and sampling, detailed ground geophysical surveys and two prior drill campaigns (in 2000 and 2004) have focused the attention on a deep target of intrusiverock below a 50 -200m zone of thermal alteration and silicification with increasing rock geochemical values of zinc and copper.

The La Ramada Target is represented by a structurally more complex system with an overall footprint of 2.5 kilometres by 1 kilometer. The copper-skarn occurrences of the La Ramada system contain a gold component of 0.5 to 1.0 grams gold per tonne associated with copper values of 0.5 to 1.0% copper. A diatreme breccia zone of a type often associated with the lateral flanks of porphyry systems contains fragments of skarn and porphyry style mineralization observed in prior drill holes and surface trenches. The system is also characterized and defined by prior geophysical surveys, soil geochemical signatures and geological and assay information from drill holes of the 2004 program.

The Company intends this 2,500 metres drill program to be a decisive test of the two targets on this project.

Of the other projects scheduled for drill programs in 2008, the Antilla project is the most advanced in the permitting process, with the Community Agreement, the Water Use Permit and the acceptance of the Environmental Impact Study in hand. The final Class C permit from the Ministry of Mines is expected in time to allow commencement of the second drill program in the first quarter of this year.

Efforts to obtain the agreements with the affected rural communities in the areas of the Cotabambas and Kusiorcco project are under way. The Environmental Impact Study for the Cotabambas Project, where a Class-C Permit will also be required, has been completed for some time.

With $7 million in the treasury the Company is well funded to embark on this and the other drilling programs planned for 2008.

News Source: Panoro Minerals Ltd.

(LIP-do) -- Thousands of varieties of wild and cultivated potatoes and camotes (sweet potatoes) the genetic bank of the International Center of the Potato (CIP) holds, will be sent to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) in Svalbard, Norway. Other important food resources from around the world will be included.

SGSV is an international project to save the agriculture of humanity in case there is a disaster that will risk the food supply of the earth. The vault has been constructed by the Norwegian government as a service to the global community and will begin operating in a few days. The operation will be financed by the Global Funds for the Diversity of Crops, an International ONG like in Rome.

Located in the village of Longyearbyen, a remote island near the Arctic Circle, the project is several feet underground and in the permafrost of the Arctic. The vault will contain duplicated seeds coming from the international centers of the Consulting Group for International Agricultural Investigation (CGIAR), who has headquarters in Benin, Colombia, Ethiopia, Philippines, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru and Syria. They maintain 600 thousand varieties of plants in their genetic banks.

Regarding the potato and the camotes which will be sent, the most representatives of diverse parts of the world, and the ones able to adapt to diverse agricultural conditions, were chosen, informs sources from the CIP in Lima. "The material we are sending will be in botanical seed form, which is the best way to preserve for the longest time," said Charles Crissman, Deputy Director General for Research.

Aside from potatoes and camotes, other crops being held in the vault includes rice, yuca, wheat, corn and beans, it was informed during the press conference held this morning in the city of Mexico.

All the seeds in Svalbard will be available in case a human-inflicted or natural disaster should occur and destroy our agricultural systems.

For more information visit the Norwegian Government's website or the International Center of the Potato's website.

Source: Centro Internacional de la Papa

The Regional Government of the Callao, with the Asociación Amigos Peruanos de la Opera, in accordance with other institutions, have today signed an agreement to initiate The International Opera Festival Alejandro Granda. The first opera being featured will be "Rigoletto" and will be performed by none other than Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez.

The festival, the first of its kind established in the South Pacific, will turn the Callao into an international attraction, where each year they will offer caliber operas, as well as feature the best interpreters the genre has to offer. These shows will be directly broadcast to all of the districts of the Callao.

The first editions of the Festival will take place March 31 and April 3 at 7:30 pm in the Teatro Alejandro Granda del Callao and will feature the debut of Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto" by our own Juan Diego Florez. Internationally-recognized artists will join him, such as orchestra director Michele Mariotti, baritone Roberto Frontali, soprano Alessandra Marianelli, bass Carlo Malinverno and scene director Mássimo Gasparón, who visited Lima in 2004 during his successful production of the "Fille du régiment".

Also participating in the Festival are national artists, the National Choir and the Orchestra of the University of Lima.

For this event, important personalities will visit Lima, such as representatives of the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Covent Garden of London, the Teatro Real of Madrid, the National Opera of Washington, the Rossini Festival of Pesaro, the Sferisterio of Macearata, the San Carlo de Nápoles,the Royal Opera of Wallonie, the Opera of Puerto Rico, the President of the Decca and important critics from various countries, as well as an infinite number of opera aficionados.

Tickets will go on sale at teleticket.com after the 15th of January. For those who wish, tickets featuring transportation from Lima to the Callao will also be made available.

*Giuseppe Verdi is the composer of the opera, not The Duke of Mantua as erroneously posted. We apologize for the mistake.