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Tuesday, April 30

Yahoo / AP Peru Mummy Find Comes at a Price: "'That is blackmail, and it was done to very, very poor people,' charged Federico Kauffmann-Doig, an eminent Peruvian archaeologist. He accused the cash-strapped National Institute of Culture, which oversees Peru's archaeological heritage, of strong-arming the shantytown into funding the excavation.'The institute made a deal with the inhabitants: if you don't want to be evicted, then we're asking you to give money for the excavations. That is outrageous.'" Another version about the thousand mummies found under a shantytown outside Lima.

Sunday, April 28

Forbes / Reuters New management for embattled Peru TV station: "The channel's new administrator said there would be no changes to the channel's editorial line, and that changes would be administrative. 'We are going to restructure the company and push ahead,' Jaime Crosby told reporters.According to the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property, America TV has debts of $222.3 million. The government of President Alejandro Toledo, who took office last year vowing to respect press freedom, said it had no hand in the affair. Hundreds of millions of debt while taking bribes from Montesinos. Sounds like the Crousillat family was milking the company for all it could get.

Guardian / Observer Travel view: Turn on, tune in, pay up: "For it's time also to debunk the myth that backpackers reach parts of the local economy that other tourists don't. Many treat travelling as a kind of game: how to spend as much time as possible in one place while spending as little money as possible and growing the silliest beard. I recall being rooted to the spot with embarrassment while a bearded buddy haggled over the price of a bag of cocoa leaves in a market. The sum in question? 15p. 'Come here again and I'll cut your throat,' said the vendor in Spanish as his customer walked off congratulating himself on not being ripped off." As the Brits would say, Here, Here! An interesting look at the hubris of backpackers and penny-pinching.

Guardian Peru acts to protect Inca Trail: "Following inspections, the Unidad de Gestion de Machu Picchu (UGM), the organisation responsible for managing visitors to the site, has published a list of Cusco-based tour operators permitted to sell Inca Trail packages. Of the 93 tour operators which sold such packages, only 40 have been given permission to continue operating and a further 15 have been given two weeks to improve their standards. To qualify for a permit, tour operators must use only assigned camp sites with proper toilet facilities, carry all rubbish with them, use only certain types of fuel, provide two guides for groups of more than seven tourists, and limit the amount porters carry to 20kg." The Lima government rachets up control of the Machu Picchu trail.

Saturday, April 27

Sout Florida Sun-Sentinel / Houston Chronicle Shining Path guerrillas making a slow comeback: "Analysts have identified four Shining Path fronts. Three operate in rural areas. A fourth, based in Lima, is thought to have been responsible for the March 20 car bombing in front of the U.S. Embassy and appears to have infiltrated unions and grass-roots protest groups, said Peruvian Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi."

Wednesday, April 24

Yahoo / Reuters Mummies Past and Future Treasure for Poor Peruvians: "Scientists dug up streets, schoolyards and parks, saying they had to work urgently because sewage and water from the town -- with no water, phones, and until recently, electricity -- was seeping underground and decomposing the mummies. 'The situation was unbearable both for the people and for the remains. The remains didn't deserve this fate, nor did the people deserve to live in such conditions,' [archeologist Guillermo] Cock said."

Monday, April 22

Wired Peru Discovers Machu Penguin: "Indeed, the wording of Peru's bill -- which is making its way through the Peruvian legislature -- is spiced liberally with the word freedom: Freedom to use, freedom to modify, freedom to distribute and 'freedom to publish without restrictions for the benefit of all humanity.' The bill also posits that government use of proprietary software is a national security risk; that hidden code could contain 'back doors,' programs that allow remote control of computers and reveal sensitive state information open to prying eyes." Making Linux the semi-official operating system of the country seems attractive to a cash-strapped legislature.

Sunday, April 21

National Geographic How Geographic Re-Created Machu Picchu for New Map: "Based on photographs, close-up observations, and engineering calculations, the Wrights made a map showing the exact location of every building at the site and what type of roof it would have had. They identified five different styles, based on clues that came from details such as receptacles for beams in the walls, patterns of alignment, even drip channels cut into the rocks to collect water dripping off of roof overhangs." The map and illustrations will appear in the May issue of the magazine. Be sure to check the gallery of photos and drawings that explain the process.

Yahoo / AP State Dept. Warns Americans in Peru: "The State Department warned that Peru's Shining Path could be planning attacks against Americans around the May 17 anniversary of the guerrilla group's insurgency.insurgency." Sendero has always kept its name in the news by staging attacks or other activities on special dates.

Washington Post / AP Peruvian School Collapse Kills 13: "Local officials told reporters that the building was not authorized to operate as a school. Unlicensed schools are not uncommon in Peru and a recent report by a Lima newspaper found 10 out of 51 downtown pre-university academies lacking building permits." This incident happened in a three-floor building in Puno in south-eastern Peru.

Beware of Guests with a Past
"Mr. Fujimori is politically responsible for frustrating the development of democratic institutions in Peru, subverting the rule of law, violating civil liberties, stifling freedom of the press, and undermining the integrity of the electoral process." Peruvianists and other people concerned about ex-President Alberto Fujimori's high-profile activities in Tokyo and his backdoor entry into one of Japan's universities as a visiting professor sent this letter to the Japanese government and released it to the media. Fujimori has developed links to conservative figures in Japanese politics and launched a book about fighting terrorism in Peru.

NY Times Democracy and U.S. Credibility: "As it did two years ago in Peru, the O.A.S. might be the logical choice for taking the lead in brokering reconciliation between Venezuela's bitterly opposed groups. The Latin American states have gained credibility with Mr. Chávez because they quickly condemned his ouster and and helped restore him to power. But given Washington's enormous influence in hemispheric affairs, America's support could be vital for the success of any dialogue among Venezuelans and, more broadly, for safeguarding democracy in the region." Peter Hakim of the Inter-American Dialogue provides a critique of the U.S. response to the attempted coup in Venezuela.

Washington Post Democracy in Venezuela, Unsettling as Ever: "The Latin governments, through the OAS, should now take advantage of their unprecedented authority and legitimacy on the democracy question and engage constructively with the Chavez government to help advance reconciliation in Venezuela. This role, after all, is also essential to the spirit of the democratic charter. With Venezuela still so unsettled and sharply polarized, the OAS has an excellent opportunity to try to foster what is widely known throughout the region as concertacion, or building consensus among disparate political forces. The best way for the Bush administration to recover from this embarrassing episode and regain its credibility is to take an active part in supporting such an effort. President Bush himself should consult with his colleagues in the region and urge joint action through available mechanisms to help Venezuela heal itself." Another member of the Inter-American Dialogue, Mike Shifter, examines the Venezuelan crisis. In the print version, there is a useful timeline of recent Venezuelan political history. Let it be known that I work at the OAS.

Washington Post / AP Peru Cancels Joint Milita Exercise: "The joint exercise, known as New Horizons, was supposed to bring U.S. Army engineering and medical troops to Peru's jungle to build schools and medical clinics. It was scheduled to run from May 15 to Aug. 15 and had been planned since February 2001, the spokesman said. But Peru's Defense Minister Aurelio Loret and Foreign Minister Diego Garcia Sayan said Friday the exercise was canceled." According to some sources, this exercise was linked to setting up jungle bases.

Friday, April 19

Washington Post Mummies Offer Look At Culture of the Inca: "Until now, Cock noted, most archaeologists had regarded the Inca as an elite caste who imposed an imperial "superstructure" over local populations. But Puruchuco artifacts show a mixture of artistic traditions, he said, suggesting that the Inca were mingling their own culture with local styles, and may have been in the process of creating a unique synthesis when they were interrupted by conquest."

Thursday, April 18

LA Times Inca Mummies Discovered Under Lima Shantytown: "The discovery is particularly valuable because it includes a cross-section of Inca society, from crude peasant burials to the elaborate mummies of the elite. And unlike elite mummies from most previous excavations, these have not been pillaged by looters."

NY Times Thor Heyerdahl, Anthropologist and Adventurer, Is Dead at 87: "Fame came to Mr. Heyerdahl in 1947, at the age of 32. A tall, lean man in an appropriately Viking mold, he and five others crossed a broad stretch of the Pacific in the balsa-log raft Kon-Tiki, seeking to prove that the Polynesian islands could have been settled by prehistoric South American people. The 101-day, 4,300-mile drifting voyage on the 40-square-foot raft, a replica of pre-Inca vessels, took them safely from Peru to Raroia, a coral island near Tahiti. This demonstrated to Mr. Heyerdahl's satisfaction that his theory could be fact. He was convinced that Polynesia's first settlers had come from South America, and not from Asia by way of western Pacific islands, as nearly all scholars thought." Few people ever gave credence to his theories, but his adventures may for a good story. Hid perspective led to revaluing the achievementsof non-Western cultures.

Wednesday, April 17

news.com.au / AFP Kon Tiki explorer 'slipping away' "Thor Heyerdahl led a six-man expedition which left Callao, Peru, on April 28, 1947, and sailed on a balsa raft across the Pacific Ocean to Polynesia to prove to the world that the Pacific Islands were inhabited by migrants from South America and not only from South-East Asia." Heyerdahl's adventure caught the imagination of many people around the world.

BBC Toledo celebrates Inca roots: A graphic feature that goes back to Alejandro Toledo's inauguration at Machu Picchu. I guess today has been declared Inca Day.

Forbes / Reuters Peru puts hopes in juicy, spicy, sweet exports: "Paprika is another hot prospect. The spice is much in demand in Spain as a food coloring and flavoring. Peru's paprika exports rocketed to $16 million last year from $6 million in 2000, and producers hope the trend will last. 'Paprika exports will grow 47 percent this year against last year because of greater demand in a captive market like Spain and low production in other countries because of blight,' said Eliazar Lupaca, an exporter based in southern Peru." Another chapter in the underachieving agricultural sector in Peru. Promises that fail to mature because neither the state or private capital wants to invest in the countryside.

BBC Peru 'ignoring threat' to Inca site: "Dr Frederico Kauffmann is calling on the National Cultural Institute of Peru to urgently set up an inquiry into a recent survey by Japanese geologists who found the earth beneath Machu Picchu is moving. According to the Japanese, there are alarming signs that the mountainside beneath the 2,250-metre-high city could give way in a potentially catastrophic landslide within the next few years." This issue has been known for at least a year and not everyone is concerned about it. Any what are to the options? Ban tourism from the site? That's an expensive proposition.

BBC Mummy trove found in Peru: "The mummified corpses come from every part of Inca society - rich and poor, young and old. Some are still wearing head-dresses made of feathers which marked them out as high-ranking people. Many were buried in family groups - parents, babies and elders, wrapped together in protective cloth, often alongside prized possessions. Around 50,000 artefacts have also been discovered, including pottery, animal skins and food."

National Geographic Thousands of Inca Mummies Raised From Their Graves: "Archaeologists recovering the bodies found many of them in "mummy bundles," large cocoons that held up to seven individuals and weighed as much as 400 pounds (180 kilograms). Some of the bundles bound adults and children—perhaps entire families—together, wrapped in layers of raw cotton and exquisite textiles." Puruchuco is on the central highway, tucked up against the dry foothills of the Andes. The Rimac River runs nearby. Also see the website for the TV program, "Inca Mummies, Secrets of a Lost World."

Yahoo / AP Thousands of Inca Mummies Discovered

Yahoo / Reuters Thousands of Inca Mummies Found Near Lima

Tuesday, April 16

Susan Baca
Guardian Ghetto blaster: "In 1992 she [Susan Baca] and her husband Ricardo Pereira, a Bolivian musico-logist, founded the Instituto NegroContinuo, a cultural and archival centre dedicated to the preservation, research and development of popular Peruvian music. Her signing to David Byrne's label Luaka Bop, she says, has thrust Afro-Peruvian music on to the international stage. 'Music that previously went unrecognised in its own country is suddenly being listened to, experimented with and appreciated across the world.'"

I first met Susana when she was an assistant at La Republica. I contacted her in 1985 to sing at an evening get together when Ms. Katherine Graham visited Peru. Susan insisted on getting $2000 for the performance while other musicians accepted $500 for a set.

Aside from that, Susana is today the shining light of Peruvian music and this article looks indepth into her development.

Yahoo / Dow Jones Peru Privatizations Executive Director Resigns: "From 1991 to the end of January of this year, privatizations brought in $9.49 billion, mostly during the first few years of the process. In 2001, Peru was only able to bring in about $326 million as investors shied away from Peru."

Yahoo / Dow Jones Groups Launch 48-Hour Anti-Privatization Strike In Peru Privatizations are not very popular in Peru as many workers say the process leads to layoffs, higher tariffs and the creation of monopolies that work against the interests of their customers. A recent poll showed that more than 70% of those asked opposed further privatization. Peru 's government has pledged to use 50% of the privatization revenues to improve regional infrastructure, such as building new roads and providing basic rural electricity and sanitation."

Monday, April 15

Yahoo / Dow Jones Peru's Toledo Names Economist Sachs as Poverty Adviser: "Peru 's poverty rate inched up last year to 54.8% of the population, or 14.6 million people. In 2000 the poverty rate was 48.4%, the Peruvian government said last week." Toledo is looking for outside help.

NY Times A Coup by Any Other Name: "The Organization of American States, the most venerable alliance in the Americas, has a new Democracy Charter, signed by every one of its members, including the United States, on Sept. 11. It requires strong action against military coups. Yet, in all likelihood, it will be ignored in Venezuela's case, because Washington wanted Mr. Chávez gone." This intial analysis of the Venezuela situation was proven wrong. The OAS did pressure to reverse the coup, a highly unusually situation when you look back on Latin American history. Army generals do not like to be left with egg on their collective face. Washington was less than enthusiastic about protecting the rule of law. But other governments were worried abou the precedent. In the end, Chavez is back in the Venezuelan presidency. By the way, I worked at the OAS and was thrilled to see the NY Times refer to the OAS as a "venerable alliance".

NY Times Fear of Loss of Democracy Led Neighbors to Aid Return: "'I have been and am a critic of many of the characteristics of the government of Hugo Chávez,' said President Alejandro Toledo of Peru. But he added that 'we are not defending the democratic characteristics of a particular government, we are defending the principle of the rule of law.'" Apparently Peru was crucial is shifting the international stance about the coup in Venezuela. Washington had to backtrack from its initial acceptance of the break with democracy.

Sunday, April 14

Salt Lake Tribune / AP Seeking Truth: "Andean people listen to public hearings at a school in Huanta in the Ayacucho province of Peru on Thursday." The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was in Huanta. A photograh.

New Scientist Oceans swell towards new El Nińo: "Huge shoals of cold-water anchovies - one of the world's great fish stocks - have disappeared from the waters of Peru. This is a classic indication of the onset of the climatic aberration, which can bring chaos across the world." That means that the fishmeal industry goes bad, unless other species move in to replace the anchovies.

Christain Science Monitor Rebel group's presence growing near Peru's capital: "Since the beginning of the year, [Villa El Salvador Mayor Martin] Pumar has been receiving death threats, which he first dismissed as a hoax. Residents at town meetings say they hear antigovernment comments that sound like the Shining Path of old. Pumar has begun coordinating with federal antiterrorism police." Examing why Sendero has rasied its head again.

Businessweek Narrow Growth Won't Solve the Debt Problem "Peru's real gross domestic product is forecast to grow about 3.5% in 2002 following a recession in 2001. In January and February, the economy was up 3.6% from its year-ago levels. If the expectations are met, Peru's economy will post the fastest growth in Latin America this year. The stock market rose 10% in the first quarter, with a further, though smaller, advance seen for this quarter."

Boston Globe Peruvian criticizes Chavez record: '''He was never my cup of tea; he discredited democracy,' said Toledo, who spoke at a conference on international aid at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government before Chavez's successor, Pedro Carmona, quit amid heavy protests. Toledo, a Stanford-educated economist who took office in July after years of corruption during Alberto Fujimori's administration, has never been close to Chavez. The Venezuelan president supported Fujimori and gave sanctuary to his right-hand man, Vladimiro Montesinos, the previous president's spy chief who has been accused of overseeing the murder of political opponents. Still, Toledo said he wasn't celebrating the removal of Chavez. 'It can't be that every time you don't like a president, the military comes in,'' he said. ''One needs to be very careful that you don't replace one authoritarianism with another form of authoritarianism.'" Toledo speaks at Harvard about the troubles in Venezuela.

Saturday, April 13

Washington Post Peru and President Bush: "If American mining and oil and gas companies wish to contribute to Peru's development, they must do more to ensure that their activities contribute to sustainable poverty reduction. At a minimum, they should disclose all payments they make to the Peruvian government, so the populace can know where all the money invested in the country's 'development' goes." An Oxfam staffer writes a Letter to the Editor.

Friday, April 12

Chemonics International Projects Developing pathways from poverty in Peru: "Over the next 12 months, the restaurant supplier Quinoa Corporation of California will buy 160,000 lbs of the Pasancaya quinoa variety from growers in the Puno corridor. “This is the first-of-its-kind import of red quinoa into the United States and amounts to $80,000 to $100,000 in farm value,” said Jim Krigbaum, marketing specialist for the PASOS project managed by Chemonics International." I ran across this item on a U.S. AID project to support small business ventures in Peru. Quinoa has been one of my favorite dishes and a fascinating top to write about. I did a piece for Newsweek International 15 years.

Guardian / AP Justice Sought for Slain Journalists: "The three women who testified Thursday cast scorn on the Vargas Llosa commission. They charged that it had based its findings on the official police report and had never sought to investigate deeply what had occurred in Uchuraccay." Nearly two decades later, the Uchuraccay massacre still raises its head. The novelist Mario Vargas Llosa was just too intelligent for his -- and Peru's -- own good in his investigation. With sketchy information, partial cooperation of the military and outright fear from the peasants around Uchuraccay, he could not reach firms conclusions. But he wrote over and under all the holes in the evidence and testimony to try to make sense of the killings.

Thursday, April 11

CNN / ReutersFloods hit northern Peru, 5,000 affected, no dead: "More than 5,000 people were affected and hundreds were left homeless but there were no immediate reports of deaths in the departments of Piura and Tumbes near the border with Ecuador, some 650 and 1,000 miles (1,050 km and 1,660 km) respectively from Lima."

Wednesday, April 10

Hoover's / EFE Bolivia to evaluate Peruvian port for natural gas exports to U.S.: "The northern Chilean ports of Arica, Iquique and Mejillones are also vying for the gas liquefaction plant, which is expected to cost $2 billion to build. The meeting with Peruvian authorities is set for April 18-19, marking the beginning of the 'preparatory phase' for a decision, Fernandez said."

Hoover's / EFF Figures cast doubt on Peru's pact with IMF: "Radio RPP Noticias reported Thursday the study warns that the government's plan is deviating from the one agreed to with the IMF 'on three main points.'" I don't think I have ever seen Peru meet its IMF targets so what's new?

Newsday / AP Peru Peasants Recount Savage Attack: "On Monday, the first day of the first-ever hearings allowing victims to tell their own stories, testimony focused on torture, assassinations and disappearances at the hands of security forces battling the rebels. On Tuesday, commission members and Peruvians listening to the nationally broadcast testimony heard a different story." This testimony in Ayacucho is being telecast nationally. The Sendero attack at Paccha in this account was repeated all over Peru.

London Telegraph Writer killed by fireworks on Peruvian holiday: "David Masters, the Wiltshire coroner, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing. He said: 'Aimee did not die as a result of an accident. If this had happened in Britain there would have been a prosecution for manslaughter. It was a most dangerous and illegal act to transport these sort of manufactured fireworks in this way.'" You can get killed on Peruvian highways in more than one way.

Tuesday, April 9

Boston Globe / Reuters Peruvians tell of years of rape and torture: "It was the first time a Latin American truth commission has held public hearings. Peru created its truth board last year with a mandate to shed light on human rights atrocities committed under three governments between 1980 and 2000."

VOANews.com - Peruvian Truth Commission Opens Hearings

BBC Peru probes human rights abuses: "One of the blackest periods of violence that the commission will examine is the 1996 prison riots, in which 400 Shining Path rebels were killed by the military. 'If the wars are considered dirty, then this war is especially dirty and terrible,' head of the commission, Salomon Lerner, told the Reuters news agency. What is absolute, what is definitive is that people were unjustly killed and human rights were violated. We are not trying to open Pandora's box, we are trying to air things that have been forgotten and stink,' Mr Lerner said. The commission - which was set up last year and is expected to end its inquiry next year - has also a mandate to identify the missing people and compensate the victims." News coverage of the violence in the 1980s and early 1990s is picking up.

BBC Death squad arrests in Peru: "The generals, Juan Rivera and Julio Salazar, are accused of having links to the Colina group - a death squad formed to quash the Peruvian Shining Path guerrilla movement in the 1990s. In 1995 an amnesty law gave immunity to the Peruvian army in cases of human rights abuses, but last week the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled against this amnesty. The court, the legal arm of the Organisation of merican States (OAS), said the amnesty law was incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights." Who says international law does not accomplish anything? At least it provided the excuse to grab generals implicated in the dirty war.

Monday, April 8

iWon / Reuters Peru's econ minister sees possible tax hikes, spending cuts: "'The higher budget deficit in the first quarter is not the result of higher spending but a lack of income and that's a result of something we had expected -- a reduction in income tax,' Kuczynski told El Comercio. Peru has forecast a budget deficit of 1.6 percent of gross domestic product in the first quarter, and a full year deficit of up to 2.2 percent of GDP. He said tax authorities were chasing tardy payments." Money is scare in Peru.

nj.com / AP Son's disappearance haunts mother as Peruvians seek reconciliation over long war: "The scenes were so horrific she cannot erase them from her mind. Bodies with eyes, tongues, jaws, fingernails or fingers missing. Once she found 15 bodies without heads. Even if a mother or father recognized the body of a loved one, they were not permitted to remove it. Soldiers with assault rifles guarded the dumps, Mendoza says, 'until the dogs and pigs finished, until they left nothing but bones. When the animals finished, there were only bones. You could not recognize them. But we would pick up what bones we could and take them to the hospital to be buried in a common grave.'" This is a story about the old days, when the military and Sendero fought each other in Ayacucho and killed a lot of innocent peasants. My friend, Monty Hayes, knows all about it because he was in Peru back then and covered the events.

Sunday, April 7

Miami Herald Peruvian government says it can't commit to eliminating coca: The Peruvian government balks at any commitment to stamp out the plant entirely. 'Saying we would eradicate all crops would be as difficult as the United States saying it would eradicate drug consumption in four years. It's not possible,' said Fernando Rospigliosi, Peru's interior minister, who's in charge of domestic security." Why doesn't Peru ask the United States to eliminate its crop of marijuana?

Friday, April 5

MSNBC / Reuters What a difference a decade makes: "But Toledo still has a tough task ahead to steer this poor Andean nation until 2006. He can only dream of the heady ratings Fujimori basked in after the coup. Despite a recent rally in the polls, the man who vowed to create jobs and fight poverty when he took office last July commands the support of only one in three Peruvians." This story just does not do anything for me -- a dozen paragraphs setting up the scene and reciting history, and then closing with all the same old gripes about Toledo.

Thursday, April 4

Black World Today / Pacific News Service A Tale Of Two 'Terrorists' -- Bush Duplicity On Tribunals Must End: "To avoid embarrassing Toledo, Bush is relying on a mechanism he normally disapproves of -- an international tribunal. Berenson's case is under review by the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which could refer it to the OAS Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Peru has recognized the compulsory jurisdiction of the court, as have most Latin American countries. If the court finds that Berenson's human rights have been violated, Peru may be obligated to release her." Interesting op-ed article about the contradictions in U.S. policy.

Wednesday, April 3

iWon / Reuters Peru economist De Soto to econmin: Good luck!: "De Soto, who helped disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori implement a raft of liberal economic reforms in the early 1990s, was tipped as a favorite for last year's Nobel prize for economics for his ideas on capital, development and property rights." What a cherry! Two mentions in the article that Hernando was within a whisker of winning the Novel prize.
"'Kuczynski is a very good banker, but the economy is a little bigger (than that),' De Soto said." Hernando has not running anything bigger than his think tank. PPK has been a minister of energy and mining, dug deep in international finance and set up his own company. The article mentioned how unpopular PPK is, but Hernando could not round up enough signatures to run for the presidency last year.

Tuesday, April 2

nj.com / AP Peruvian economist denies involvement in Fujimori coup of 1992: "A congressional investigator said over the weekend that Fujimori's ex-spy chief and top adviser Vladimiro Montesinos, who is now jailed on dozens of corruption charges, had testified that [Hernando] de Soto helped devise the coup. De Soto told the Radioprogramas radio station that Fujimori's government had contacted him three weeks after the coup for help in dealing with the international rejection of the measure. He said he had tried to convince Fujimori 'that instead of continuing with the new government he had inaugurated,' he should restore democracy." Hernando would never support an autogolpe. Why should he cross the main sponsor of his institute, the U.S. government through AID.

Yahoo / dow Jones Peru Says Shining Path Wing Behind March 20 Bomb Blast: "'It is a radical faction, a Shining Path leftover from the 80s and 90s in the Apurimac and Ene Rivers, that we believe are the group responsible for the horrendous attack,' Deputy Interior Minister Gino Costa said on RRP radio." The radical wing of Sendero seems like the most credible candidate for the bombing attack.

Yahoo / Dow Jones Peru's Toledo Gets Boost From President Bush Visit: "The poll of 482 persons taken on the last two days of March in the Lima area showed Toledo with a 33% approval rating, up from 25% before the Bush visit. The latest poll, which has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points, showed 55% disapproved of Toledo , while another 12% had no opinion.
In mid-March, 65% thought Toledo wasn't doing a good job." Toledo reverses his decline in approval rating, thanks to Bush's visit and the reminder that political violence can return.

Monday, April 1

Nevada Appeal An American Terrorist In Peru: "President Bush had many important foreign policy issues to discuss when he went to Lima, Peru, last weekend, but you wouldn't have known it from watching NBC's weekend 'Today' show on Sunday. Because while Bush was talking about narcotics trafficking, trade and international terrorism with Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, 'Today' and other Sunday news shows led with the case of convicted American terrorist Lori Berenson." Lori gets hit by political whiplash within the U.S. Another writer who does not see her as a victim of Peruvian injustice.

NewOK.com / AP Peruvian pits cook up feasts at harvest time: "Jesus Gutarra and Mariano Valderrama, who co-wrote the book 'Pachamanca, The Earthly Feast,' have traced earth-cooking in Peru back to centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards in the 1500s. However, pachamanca, earth (pacha) and pot (manka) in Quechua, didn't take its present form until local techniques meshed with new ingredients brought by the Spaniards, such as pork, beef and Old World spices, the authors say." If you've never tried a pachamanca, you don't know what you're missing.

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