Ministers change in Peru, court orders Lima mayoress dismissed

Rafael Roncagliolo resigned on 15 May as Peru's foreign minister, ostensibly for health reasons, to be replaced by the outgoing justice minister Eda Rivas Franchini who became Peru's first female Foreign Relations Minister, media reported. Officials denied charges that the change was for Roncagliolo's badly-received observations about the results of the 14 April presidential elections in Venezuela. The Peruvian Prime Minister Juan Jiménez Mayor dismissed as calumny on 16 May allegations that Venezuela had pressured Peru to drop Roncagliolo, La República reported, citing news agencies. Eda Rivas, who was Minister of Justice since 23 July 2012, was in turn succeeded by her former deputy-minister Daniel Figallo Rivadeneyra. Both stressed no policy changes were presently envisaged in their ministries. Mr Figallo commented to Perú TV on 16 May about the issue he would soon have to handle: the decision on whether or not to pardon the jailed former president, Alberto Fujimori Fujimori. Fujimori was jailed in 2009 after being convicted of charges relating to killings and rights abuses while he was President in 1990-2000. The state waged war at that time on the Maoist Shining Path rebellion. Fujimori's children formally requested on 10 October 2012 that he be freed on health grounds, following several surgeries for cancer, most recently on 21 August 2012, Europa Press reported on 16 May. Figallo said a report on the dossier would be ready by the end of May. Separately, a Lima court ordered dismissed the Lima mayoress Susana Villarán de la Puente for thrice ignoring an order to remove obstacles placed before one of the city's markets, Europa Press reported on 17 May. The issuing judge Malzón Urbina told a radio interview that Ms Villarán must leave office immediately even if she appeals the decision. The municipality decided last October to shut the La Parada market, placing cement blocks to bar access to the premises. Urbina told Radio Programas del Perú that Villarán "was given three opportunities" to implement an "order to remove the cement blocks from La Parada...I have restricted myself to implementing the provisions of...Article 8 of the Procedural Code, which states that if there is failure to implement, the judge orders a dismissal," Europa Press reported.

Visits to Peruvian citadel fall after travel warning

Visits to the 15th century Inca citadel at Machu Picchu reportedly plummeted after the US embassy in Lima warned US nationals on 13 February not to travel there for a "potential kidnapping threat" in the area. Peruvian officials said the warning was baseless and the local mayor asked the embassy to retract its communiqué, as it was "killing" local livelihoods. The embassy's Security Message, accessible also on the US State Department website, cited the "credible" threat of a "criminal organization" kidnapping US tourists in the Cusco and Machu Picchu area; its warning was valid at least for February. The identity of the criminal organization was not immediately clear. President Ollanta Humala was reported as saying on 15 February that there was "no substance" to the claim, while his prime minister, Juan Jiménez Mayor, told the press on 14 or 15 February that the rumoured threat was not "corroborated by the security forces," Europa Press reported. The government he said strove to protect Peru's historical sites and "of course" tourists visiting them. The foreign trade and tourism minister, José Luis Silva Martinot also said "we have referred to our sources and there is no information in that sense, so we ask for calm and that tourism continue as normal." The district mayor of Machu Picchu Elvis La Torre said in turn that visits to the citadel were almost halved after the warning, Correo reported on 18 February. He said the citadel would usually receive 1,500-2,000 visits a day this time of the year but now receives 700-800 visits. "Almost half have cancelled their tour packages," he said. Peru was overall expecting a record number of tourists in 2013, perhaps more than three million. Tourism Minister Silva said Peru hoped tourism would become its second source of foreign exchange earnings by 2016, after mining; it was currently its third source of foreign exchange, El Peruano reported on 18 February. He said American Airlines would within weeks begin "seven flights" between Houston and Lima - presumably one a day - and become an air link to Peru for travellers from Japan and South Korea. These flights could bring in 70,000-80,000 more travellers to Peru annually, he said.