The remnants of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), the maoist group who terrorised the Peruvian people in the 80’s and early 90’s, have demanded that the Peruvian Government initiate peace talks in which the group will be disbanded and it’s members given amnesty.
Category: "News"
Emergency declared for Chan Chan
The largest archaeological site and pre-Columbian city in the Americas, Chan Chan, has been placed under an emergency declaration.
Earthquakes, Temblores, Sismos
After the relatively strong earthquake that hit south of Lima last week and collapsed a church roof, the news programmes are talking about whether the city, and Peru in general, is ready for another big earthquake.
Peru and the pacific coast have been devastated by earthquakes in the past, my blog’s travel entries are littered by references of earthquakes that destroyed this town or that town. Often tens of thousands die. The last of these mega earthquakes happened in the 1960s and 1970s where the town of Yungay was wiped of the map. You can also read of accounts of earthquakes from my trip to Chile.
Alpaca farmers of Peru trying to compete
This article by the BBC shows the measures the poor Peruvian alpaca farmers of the Puno region are taking, with the help of charities and the French government, to compete with rich countries like Australia, New Zealand and the United States. These are just some of the countries who have purchased the Alpaca animals from the region and are using their greater resources and technology to farm better quality wool.
Avenida Miguel Grau
On leaving Lima to travel to Santiago I didn’t have time to mention the opening of the refurbished Avenida Miguel Grau. As this blog states the job cost $18.5 million. Read about this 3.5km street in the link above.
But why is this interesting?
¡Pisco es Perú! – That’s Pisco Peruano…
WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, charged with protecting intellectual property around the world, has handed over Peru’s intellectual property to the Chileans. They have again agreed that the 476 year old Peruvian grape brandy called Pisco was invented by, and all rights to the name are owned by, the 465 year old Chilean nation.
London police find Peru treasure
BBC News has reported that police in London have found a looted Moche culture headdress looted from the famous Sipán area of northern Peru in 1998.
Alan Presidente
At the end of the parade, the new President and Michelle Bachelet waved to the people. My only good photo of them both together was blurred.
Between smiling, Alan was aggressively barking orders at his incredibly incompetent security services. There was a flurry of activity from security at the end of the parade due to an event that happened when he was taking his seat…
Morning at the military parade
We arrived to our allocated stand on time, before 9am, but not early enough to be in the front row. Luckily I am tall enough for that not to matter too much.
Goodbye Huascaran
Today the World Heritage Body rejected a motion calling for cuts in carbon emissions after heavy lobbying from the Bush administration.
There are 125 Unesco World Heritage sites that are under threat from global warming, some of which are in Peru, including the area I visited a couple of weeks ago – Huascaran National Park.
Garcia is President
At the end of last night, an initial quick count was conducted that was almost exactly in line with the exit polls. The actual counting was started, and while waiting for the preliminary results, two other exit polls suggested a Garcia win.
Humala had briefly claimed victory, saying that hope had won over fear, and that a new beginning of nationalistic change was upon Peru. However, after the initial quick count he relented, with Garcia then claiming victory. He agreed… hope had won over fear.
Elections Update
A few more days until Sundays elections and the polls suggest Garcia is still leading by a about 5 points, which is slightly down from the 10 or so points a few weeks ago.
Ollanta Humala, the nationalist nutcase, has been telling people that Alan Garcia will be a pawn of the US, and the Peruvian national press has strongly criticised Humala’s status as a pawn of Hugo Chavez.
