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Friday, August 26, 2005

TANS CRASH: For updates on the TANS plane crash, see the end of today’s other news.

PPK Wins Vote: Dow Jones (Robert Kozak), Reuters, and Xinhua News Agency report that "Pedro Pablo Kuczynski won a confidence vote in parliament on Friday after he promised to fight poverty and improve security in the Latin American country. The vote was passed by 60 votes for and 6 against with 29 abstentions after a 7-hour debate." NOTE: Dow Jones reports that "during a speech to Congress before the vote, Kuczynski reiterated that the economy could expand by about 6.0% this year. But he pointed to high oil prices as a concern." Reuters (Jude Webber) focused on Kuczynski’s talk to the Congress leading up to the vote. "Kuczynski said Peru's economy was worth $75 billion, jobs were growing, wages had increased for teachers, judges, police and soldiers, and public finances were solid. But he added: ‘We must intensify our efforts to double the size of our economy in the next decade and increase income per person by 60%. Only then will we be able to reduce and eventually eliminate poverty’." NOTE: "Peru is seeking a free-trade pact with the United States and Kuczynski vowed to compensate corn, cotton and possibly wheat producers who fear a flood of cheap imports. He said Peru also wanted similar deals with the European Union, Chile, Singapore, Thailand, China, India and Japan in future."

Jurado vs. Kuczynski: The Associated Press and Reuters have several photographs of opposition Peruvian congressman Ronnie Jurado Adriazola putting a Chilean flag on the table in front of Kuczynski during the debates preceding the vote. Jurado accused "a shocked-looking Kuczynski of favoring companies from arch rival Chile in the upcoming sale of port facilities and presenting him with a Chilean flag, which Defense Minister Marciano Rengifo hurled to the ground." Jurado represents Tacna, on the border with Chile. In Spanish: Read the official Chilean reponse from their Ministry of Foreign Relations.

OTCA In Lima: Radio Brasil reports on the "1st Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities in Science and Technology of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization" which begins today in Lima. OTCA Representatives from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela will participate. NOTE: "This meeting will take up a series of issues raised at the VIII Foreign Ministers Meeting of the OTCA which was held last year, and follows on the heels of the 1st Meeting of Authorities in Intellectual Property and Industry." ALSO: "The meeting today in Lima will also deal with ways and means to strengthen science and technology in the Amazon so as to ensure sustainable development and protection of the region's biodiversity." SEE ALSO: ‘Trans-Amazon Cooperation, cont.’ in September 16, 2004’s Peruvia.

Rodriguez Cuadros with Nuclear Arms: The Pakistan Times reports on the United Nation’s Conference on Disarmament and on notes that "Pakistan assumed presidency of the 65-member conference on disarmament on July 11. Ambassador Masood Khan on August 26 will hand over the presidency to his successor Ambassador Manuel Rodriguez Cuadros of Peru."

Rumsfeld in Lima, cont: Knight Ridder (Jack Chang) and the Washington Post (Marcela Sanchez) follow up Rumsfeld’s visit to Peru and the reverbations in the Bush/Chavez relationship. KR: "During visits to Paraguay and Peru last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he had evidence that Chávez and Castro had aided the Bolivian protesters who were responsible for ousting two presidents in the past two years, including Carlos Mesa in June. NOTE: " ‘The U.S. doesn't like to have so much oil in someone like that's hands,’ said Peter Hakim, the president of the Inter-American Dialogue." The Washington Post’s online columnist Marcela Sanchez reviews the Bush/Chavez relationship and suggests that Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez "is the Robin Hood who supports the poor with the money of the rich, and he is the ideologue who pushes an anti-imperialist, socialist agenda." NOTE: "During Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Latin America last week, a Pentagon statement reiterated concerns over the "menace'' that the Cuba-Venezuela axis poses to the region. Rumsfeld, on his third visit to the region in 10 months, stopped in Paraguay and Peru to shore up support among U.S. allies for what amounts to a policy of Chavez containment."

Adventists Praised: A press release notes that Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Peru was presented with the Medalla de Honor by Marcial Ayaipoma Alvarado, president of the National Congress of Peru, for its years of service to the Peruvian people in "development and relief activities, highlighting ADRA's work with women and children." Said Doug Havens, country director for ADRA Peru, "The Medal of Honor is the highest award presented by the National Congress, and ADRA Peru accepts it with pride and gratitude."

Who Did the Moche Kill? Science Daily and the UPI report on a new study showing "new archaeological evidence regarding the identities of human sacrifice victims of the Moche society of Peru.. … The findings of this archaeological comparison indicate that the sacrificial victims were not local Moche elite. Instead they were likely warriors captured from nearby valleys." NOTE: The study is published in ‘The Origins and Role of the Moche (AD 1-750) Human Sacrificial Victims: A Bio-Archaeological Perspective’ by Richard Sutter and Rosa Cortez in the August/October issue of Current Anthropology (46:4).

Discovering Tiwanaku: Business Week reviews Charles C. Mann’s new book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus suggesting that "the real triumph of 1491 is to make a compelling case that Mesoamerica, much like the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, was a cradle of civilization." SEE ALSO: Mann’s cover article ‘1491’ in The Atlantic in March 2002; an interview with Mann in Time, August 17, 2005. Other reviews include The San Francisco Chronicle (August 14, 2005); The Washington Post (August 7, 2005). Mann will be at the University of Kansas on September 23.

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TANS CRASH
LATE UPDATE: Reuters (Mariana Bazo) is reporting that "a 28-year-old woman ... believed killed in Peru crash found alive: her name was not released, she was found by her husband in a hospital in Pucallpa. … The woman has been transferred to Lima, where she was in serious condition and on a ventilator. Her son, who was traveling with her, was reported to have undergone surgery in the capital." NOTE: "Only six of the dead, all Peruvians, have not been identified, said Belevan." UPDATE: "Peru has said it has had preliminary contacts about selling a stake in the airline to Air China, but a source at the Chinese airline stressed the talks were only informal and unlikely to lead to any deal as TANS is too small."

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