The Initiative for Integration and Infrastructure of South America, launched in 2000 by the governments of 12 of the region’s countries with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Andean Fomentation Corporation (CAF), includes the promotion of 10 integration axes that bring together 335 projects with a combined value of 37.5 billion dollars. These projects are principally concerned with transport, but they also include energy and communications initiatives, one of which is the Inter-Oceanic Highway between Brazil and Peru.
Category: "News"
New tourist protections no deterrent?
The new bills signed into law recently may not be the deterrent the government hoped as two foreigners were robbed last night. The separate incidents, likely related, involved kidnapping a Chilean and an Argentine from Lima’s Costa Verde.
La Hora Sin Demora
It was 12:00pm, midday, not 12:05 or 12:30. Nor was it close to 1pm. The Peruvian custom of being late, the Government hopes, is now banished forever.
Poor punctuality is commonplace in Peru. It’s not unusual for someone to be as much as an hour late for a social gathering or even a business appointment. Are you meeting a Peruvian at 1pm? Don’t expect them any time before 1:30pm. La Hora Peruana as it is called in Spanish, or Peruvian Time in English is a throwback to colonial times, from which this bad custom has continued.
Half the Peruvian Amazon covered with oil leases
When you think of Peru you think of mountains, but in fact the vast majority, 70% of the country, is Amazon rainforest and it emerges that half of it has been leased out to multinational oil companies.
The Amazon contains the majority of the worlds fresh water and is the largest carbon sink in the world, protecting us against global warming. Parts of the country contain some of the most pristine and biodiverse rainforests on Earth according to Dr. Matt Finer of Save America’s Forests, who has spent years working as an ecologist in the rainforests of Peru and Ecuador. He explains that over 97 million acres of the Peruvian Amazon, about the size of California, is now zoned for oil and gas exploration and exploitation, “That represents well over one-half of the remaining intact Peruvian rainforest.” he states.
Fighter Jets over Lima
Fighter Jets, notably US F-16s and Peruvian MiG-29s, have be roaring over the city all day for the past 3 days.
It’s all part of the joint USAF-FAP exercises that have been taking place over the past week. Falcon-Condor is designed to build relations and share strategies between the two countries.
New protections for Tourists
The Peruvian Congress yesterday approved a measure that will create new protections for international tourists visiting Peru, going as far as granting automatic life sentences if a tourist is murdered or suffers permanent harm.
El Comercio
El Comercio is the oldest surviving newspaper in Peru. It was founded in 1839 and its circulation is about 120,000.
The centre-right newspaper is said to be the most respected of the Peruvian newspapers and has had a long history to make it so. Independence and Truth was its motto through the late 1800’s and until challenged by the military Government of left-leaning Juan Velasco Alvarado who seized the newspaper, and the country, in the 1970s. Independence and Truth were put on hold as Velasco persecuted dissidents and political enemies. When the democratic Government re-took power after an economic collapse, the paper was given back to its private owners as its first act.
The man who kidnapped himself
There are plenty of strange and stupid crimes reported daily on the news here but this one caught my eye more than is usual. A man reportedly kidnapped days ago has resurfaced and has been arrested for faking the whole thing hoping to collect a large ransom from his family.
Rainy Season
Returning to Peru I discovered the rainy season has certainly arrived. Floods, tens of missing people and a handful of dead were reported as heavy rains from the Amazon slammed into the Andes. This regular event, known in some parts as the Bolivian Winter, happens each year and brings the high Andes its only source of rain. Further down however towns and their people are washed away in mudslides and floods as rivers break there banks. Bridges and roads, that took the entire year to rebuild from the same disaster the year before are again destroyed.
Ex-President Toledo Charged
It’s been a couple of years since the allegations that ex-President Alejandro Toledo (who I briefly bumped into at Las Palmas air force base) was involved in falsifying signatures necessary to register his Peru Posible party for the 2000 elections. From the day he left office there has been momentum building (initiated by the new Government) to charge and try him for these allegations that he calls an act of political persecution.
Peru Oil Find to make Peru an exporter
A massive discovery of oil has promise to make Peru a net-exporter of oil saving the country’s economy $2 Billion dollars annually. Petroperu, a state enterprise, confirmed that the find in the northern Amazon region of Loreto is the most important find in years. Geologists…
Peruvian Economy – Nothing but good news
The Peruvian economy is definitely on a role with good news almost every day.
To be honest, it’s been nothing but progress since Fujimori ended hyperinflation and Toledo passed a number of good bills. For years now, the Peruvian economy has been growing by almost 8% and shows no signs of slowing down. It’s been two years since my first visit to Peru and the differences are apparent in just this short time. Some examples of this are the fact that shops in Lima now have a readily available supply of small change and cash registers are filled with money – something that just wasn’t the case only two years ago as people and business went from hand-to-mouth. Another example is that street sellers are slightly less desperate for your S./1 and leave you alone when you say no. Yet another is the Plaza Vea now stocks dozens of Plasma TVs and expensive stereo systems.
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