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Thursday, March 18, 2004

Free Trade? Michigan's Muskegon Chronicle runs a story on the USA Department of Agriculture set to purchase 6.9 milion pounds of asparagus "to help domestic asparagus growers again this year ... a welcomed sign to area farmers who face increased competition from Peru." The article demonstrates the political sensitivity over a crop that has produced an export boost for the Peruvian economy. "The culprit from the standpoint of domestic growers is the 1991 Andean Trade Agreement, which was meant to move South Americans from producing cocaine to producing food. The agreement removed a 22 percent duty on asparagus from the region."

Free Trade? II: Reuters offers a brief on the developments of the trade disputes "with U.S. companies that the government says could derail a much vaunted free-trade deal with the world's biggest economy." The article specifies several particular companies complaints including Big 3 Marine, Northrop Grumman Corp., 3M Co., and Engelhard Corp. It also notes that "a free trade agreement with the United States depends on the resolution of the conflicts, as does Peru's eligibility for the ATPDEA Andean duty-free accord, designed to promote trade and not drugs in the world's top cocaine-producing nations."

FZevallos is not an American: The Miami Herald (last item) reports that an USA Embassy spokesperson yesterday "announced the cancellation of U.S. permanent residency status" for Fernando Zevallos. "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a March 9 letter sent to airlines at Lima's international airport that Aero Continente founder Fernando Zevallos was banned from traveling to the United States."

Toledo's #s Up & P-PK is not an American? The Miami Herald reports on AToledo's rising approval rates "to 12 percent," almost doubling his percentages from a month ago. (Freelancer Lucien Chauvin does not say who ran the poll.) Part of the reasoning: "The economy has grown every month but one since Toledo took office in July 2001." Quotes come from Agustín Figueroa (a former Toledo communications aide) who says that "the economy is now so separate from politics that it proves that God is Peruvian." Other items noted: AToledo's $18,000/mo salary; Zaraí Toledo; Beatriz Merino; Martín Tanaka; and Raúl Diez Canseco "sex-and-tax scandal." ALSO: discussion of whether "Miami resident" Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski had "renounced his Peruvian citizenship for a U.S. passport. Kuczynski denies that he is no longer a Peruvian citizen." ''I think things are better right now than a few weeks ago. Toledo is surviving,'' said , a political scientist with the Institute for Peruvian Studies.

DC Exhibition on Peru: The Washington Times includes the 'Tradition and Entrepreneurship: Popular Arts and Crafts from Peru,' exhibition at the Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center Art Gallery "which examines the preservation and promotion of traditional cultural values and the best ways to help people use folk art to foster sustainable development" in an article on how embassies showcase their respective countries. The exhibit runs through April 30.

Drug Conference Cont.: China's Xinhua Net reports on the 22nd annual International Drug Enforcement Conference held in Lima and that the Peruvian government "has pushed forward a policy called 'substitution economy' in its coca growing regions in the past few years, encouraging farmers to grow cash crops to replace coca, the raw material for drug production."

WHermoza is a 'Super Reader': Connecticut's Greenwich Time reports that fifth-grader Wendy Hermoza was named a 'Super Reader' in the Greenwich Rotary Champion Readers. "She said she was surprised to find out she had won the reader award, and she plans to continue reading. 'It's fun and you don't need to go outside,' the Peruvian native said. 'You can read any time you want."

Lima's Taxi Drivers: Greece's Ekathimerini profiles Peruvian-born Heddy Honigmann, an award-winning film director, whose “Metal and Melancholy” depict "Peru’s cab drivers surviv[a]] in a most creative way. They belong to a middle class, which, due to the financial crisis, is forced to drive taxis in order to earn a living. They have a good sense of humor and sarcasm and are forced to deform reality in order to deal with it."

Florida Nanny Update: Several Florida newspapers, including the Boca Raton News and the Sun-Sentinel offers an update on the murder case of Monica Marina Rivera-Valdizan. The Palm Beach Post notes that the Fox television show "America's Most Wanted" profiled the case twice.

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