/Peru

20070817
• Peru - Earthquake - Peoples - Homes - Medical - Water - "Toll nears 500 in Peru quake: More than 16,000 homes are lost in the 8.0 temblor. The mayor of coastal Pisco says, 'Our city is destroyed.'" ... "The death toll in a massive earthquake that battered Peru's Pacific coast soared toward 500 on Thursday as rescue workers struggled to reach scenes of devastation and stunned victims appealed for medical aid, water and coffins." ... "Teams dug beneath the rubble in the cities of Pisco and Ica and the nearby town of Chincha, all situated near the epicenter of the magnitude 8.0 quake south of the capital, Lima. The damage and casualties appeared to be concentrated in those three communities, which also lost power and telephone service." ... ""Our city is destroyed," Mayor Juan Mendoza of Pisco, a port city of about 130,000 people, said, sobbing in an interview with Peruvian news media. "The dead are scattered by the dozens on the streets."" ... "Mendoza estimated that 70% of the structures in his city had been leveled." (1, 2) -By Adriana León and Patrick J. McDonnell -LAtimes 

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20060605
• Peru - History - "Ex-President Wins in Peru in Stunning Comeback." ... "Sixteen years after his presidency ended in economic collapse and heightened guerrilla violence, Alan García was elected president again on Sunday, completing one of Latin America's most astonishing political resurrections." ... "With 77 percent of the vote tabulated, electoral authorities said Mr. García had captured more than 55 percent of the vote versus 44 percent for his opponent, Ollanta Humala, an upstart nationalist who promised to redistribute the country's wealth." ... "Mr. García's return is one of the most startling in a region where former presidents, even those who left in disgrace, have returned to power years later. His rule from 1985 to 1990 was characterized by four-digit inflation, food scarcity, rampant corruption and growing violence by the rebel group Shining Path." -By Juan Forero -NYTimes 

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20060517
• Peru - Military - History - "A Peruvian Woman Warrior of A.D. 450." ... "A woman buried with a golden bowl on her face was wrapped in mummy cloths and buried with military items, hinting at a role as a ruler." ... "She was surrounded by weaving materials and needles, befitting a woman, and 2 ceremonial war clubs and 28 spear throwers — sticks that propel spears with far greater force — items never found before in the burial of a woman of the Moche (pronounced MOH-chay)." ... ""Perhaps she was a female warrior, or maybe the war clubs and spear throwers were symbols of power that were funeral gifts from men," [Tulane University physical anthropologist] Dr. Verano said." -By John Noble Wilford -NYTimes 

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20050228
• - Peru - "Giant figures unearthed in Peru: Older than Nazca lines, archaeologists say." ... "About 50 giant figures were etched into the earth over an area of roughly 90 square miles (145 square kilometers) near the city of Palpa, El Comercio newspaper reported." ... "The drawings -- which include human figures as well as animals such as birds, monkeys, and felines -- are believed to have been created by members of the Paracas Culture sometime between 600 and 100 B.C., Johny Islas, the director of the Andean Institute of Archaeological Studies, told the newspaper." -AP via -CNN

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20020727
"Microsoft's Big Stick in Peru." ... "Afraid that Peru may adopt a bill decreeing the use of open-source software in all government systems, Microsoft apparently enlisted the American ambassador in Lima to help try and convince the Peruvians to kill the legislation." (1, 2) -By Agustin d'Empaire -Wired

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