Friday, August 13, 2004
Tragedy Near Cuzco: The Belfast Telegraph (with a story from the Irish Independent) updates the Cuzco bus accident story with an interview of David O'Grady, "friend and fellow UCD student [of] David Scollard [who] was killed instantly after the bus they were travelling on missed a bridge and plunged to a river bed." NOTE: "There were no seat belts so everyone was hurled to the front." ALSO: "The bus was the best one we had been on. It looked structurally sound," O'Grady said. See Also: 'Tragedy Near Cuzco' in yesterday's Peruvia.
Telefonica Jobs: The Union Network International editorial states that "the dispute between Peru's Telecom Regulator and Telefonica Peru can only harm economic development and job prospects in the country and job security for telecom workers." See Also: 'Macro/Micro Economics' in yesterday's Peruvia.
Banking Regulations: Reuters reports that "a controversial bank tax is scaring clients away from Peru's biggest bank and could hurt the country's financial system in the long term," according to Raimundo Morales, Chief Operating Officer of Credicorp, Peru's largest financial holding. NOTE: "Credicorp, which owns leading bank Banco de Credito, said its income from banking services fell by 3% in the first half of this year from the second half of last year, despite expectations of growth. He expected the bank tax to take $2.5 million out of Credicorp's profits this year." ALSO: "Morales said he feared the tax was only creating a larger informal economy. Only half of Peru's eight million active individuals have a bank account, according to Credicorp. Conducting financial transactions through banks accounts for some 25%vof such operations in Peru's $60 billion economy, compared with 60 percent in Chile."
Coca Production Up: The Cato Institute offers an editorial on John Walters, the head of the USA's Office of National Drug Control Policy, recent declarations that "the $3.3 billion Plan Colombia, now in its fourth year, has failed to make a significant dent in the amount of cocaine flowing out of that country. Walters added hastily, however, that he expected to see substantial progress in the next year or so." NOTE: "Although the acreage devoted to coca cultivation may have declined in Colombia, the acreage in Peru and Bolivia had risen sharply. That reversed the trend of the mid- and late 1990s when U.S.-funded anti-drug measures led to a crackdown that reduced cultivation in Peru and Bolivia-only to see it explode in Colombia and spread to new locales such as Ecuador and Brazil." SEE ALSO: 'Coca Production Down/Up' in August 11's Peruvia.
Peru In the Olympics: The Washington Post has a television column on "a problem that faced [USA television network] NBC in covering the parade of nations [which] was finding enough time to introduce all 202 nations. ... NBC decided to have co-hosts Bob Costas and Katie Couric talk about 40 to 50 countries, and have the others introduced graphically."It would have been tidbit pingpong," Costas said of trying to comment on all 202 countries. "You take Pakistan, I'll take Peru." The Los Angeles Daily News offers this: "Katie Couric, who'll be again involved in the Opening Ceremony coverage, [will be] trying to make Peru sound like a country that has a chance." In the Dallas Morning News, Costas continues his Peru obsession declaring, ""Know this: Peru and Poland don't enter the stadium anywhere near each other."
Good Music: The San Bernardino Sun reviews musician Kevin Johansen's latest effort with his band, the Nada, "Sur o no Sur" with claims that his teenage Argentine band's record "even went gold in Peru." His latest single is #12 on this Peruvian list. UPDATE: Reader VR emails to say that Joahansen's earlier band was Instruccion Cívica and their Peruvian hit in the mid-1980s was 'Obediencia Debida'.
Mad Music?: Pitchfork reviews the new album by 'The Bruces' called 'The Shining Path,' "presumably named for the Peruvian communist movement, although he makes no mention of it."
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