Tag: Peru

UNESCO announces 20 new biospheres in 21 countries

ABUJA, Nigeria (AFP) – UNESCO on Wednesday added 20 new sites in 21 countries to its global network of biosphere reserves, the UN agency’s designation for specially protected regions. New biosphere reserves are designated each year to promote sustainable development, protect terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems and encourage conservation. For the first time, Lesotho, Libya and Saudi Arabia joined the list. In Lesotho, the Matseng Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 112,033 hectares in the northern […]

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Thirty-two die as bus plunges off cliff in Peru

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Thirty-two passengers died, including two children, and more than 20 were injured when a bus plummeted from a cliff in Peru early Tuesday, officials said, in the country’s third multiple-victim transport accident in four days. The accident happened on a narrow stretch of the Carretera Central road some 37 miles (60 kilometers) east of the capital Lima. “Unfortunately, at the moment, there are 32 dead,” said police commander Cesar Cervantes. A […]

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Pedro Castillo, Peru’s ‘first poor president’

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Rural school teacher Pedro Castillo on Monday was declared Peru’s president-elect, making him the country’s first leader with no ties to the elites that have governed the Andean country for decades. The 51-year-old far-left trade unionist was largely unknown until he led a national strike four years ago that forced the then-government to agree to pay rise demands. He was born to peasants in the tiny village of Puna in the […]

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Strong earthquake shakes Peru’s capital

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — A strong earthquake shook Lima and regions of central coastal Peru late Tuesday, with no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Peru’s Seismological Center said it was magnitude 6, while the US Geological Survey which monitors earthquakes worldwide pegged it at magnitude 5.8. It struck at 9:54 pm local time (0254 GMT Wednesday), with an epicenter 33 kilometers southwest of Mala — some 100 kilometers south of Lima — and at […]

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Peru leads global mortality rate after adjusting Covid toll

  LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru on Monday more than doubled its official coronavirus death toll, becoming the country with the highest Covid-19 mortality per capita anywhere in the world. The government said it had raised the count from 69,342 to 180,764 on the advice of a panel of health experts, which found there had been an undercount. With the adjustment, Peru now has the highest coronavirus mortality per capita of any country, with 5,484 […]

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Peru elects president amid deadly coronavirus surge

by Francisco JARA and Christian SIERRA Agence France Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru voted for a new president Sunday, in its deadliest week yet of the Covid-19 pandemic, as polling queues vied with lines of people seeking oxygen supplies for infected loved ones. Some 25 million people were meant to vote — which is mandatory — the day after Peru reported its highest-ever daily toll in the Covid-19 pandemic. There was little enthusiasm for […]

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Peru foreign minister resigns over early vaccination scandal

  LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s foreign minister resigned Sunday, the second top official to step down amid a growing scandal over politicians receiving Covid-19 vaccinations well before the general public. The South American nation has been badly hit by the pandemic, with its hospitals overwhelmed and a targeted vaccination program for health workers rolling out only from February 8. Public resentment over officials receiving vaccinations — despite there being no date for a wider […]

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Peru gives first Covid vaccines, Argentina approves Indian jab

LIMA Peru (AFP) — Peru on Tuesday began its coronavirus immunization program just two days after receiving 300,000 vaccine doses from state-owned Chinese company Sinopharm. The country has been hard hit by a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping Latin America. It has recorded around 1.2 million cases and more than 42,000 deaths from Covid-19 among its population of 33 million. Hospitals are overrun with almost 13,800 Covid patients while they have also reported […]

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Oldest city in the Americas under threat from squatters

by Carlos MANDUJANO Agence France-Presse CARAL, Peru (AFP) — Having survived for 5,000 years, the oldest archeological site in the Americas is under threat from squatters claiming the coronavirus pandemic has left them with no other option but to occupy the sacred city. The situation has become so bad that archeologist Ruth Shady, who discovered the Caral site in Peru, has been threatened with death if she doesn’t abandon investigating its treasures. Archeologists told an […]

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Merino resigns as Peru president after five days in power

  by Luis Jaime CISNEROS Agence France Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s President Manuel Merino resigned Sunday, just five days after taking office, sparking celebrations in the capital Lima following street protests against him and the ousting of his popular predecessor. Merino, 59, stepped down shortly after a crisis session of Congress called on him to quit power before 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) or face censure. “I want to let the whole country know […]

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Peru’s President Vizcarra ousted in Congress impeachment vote

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s Congress voted Monday to impeach and oust President Martin Vizcarra over allegations he took kickbacks from developers while serving as a regional governor in 2014. After an impeachment trial that lasted nearly eight hours, the motion to remove the popular president was approved by 105 votes to 19, with four abstentions — far exceeding the 87 votes needed to impeach. “The resolution declaring the vacancy of the presidency of the […]

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Peru’s Congress to retry president for impeachment

  LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s Congress on Monday voted to try again to impeach President Martin Vizcarra for alleged “moral incapacity” after he survived a first attempt weeks ago, setting a date of November 9 for him to defend himself. “The motion to vacate the presidency of the republic has been admitted,” said the first vice president of Congress, Luis Valdez. The trial, for alleged acts of corruption in 2014 when Vizcarra was governor […]

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