Parliament in Peru sacks president

Peru's parliament voted on the night of 9-10 October to sack President Dina Boluarte Zegarra, citing her "permanent moral incapacity" to govern and perceived inability to get a grip on rampant crime and violence. One hundred and twenty one (or two) legislators attending the session (out of a total 130 members) all voted for her dismissal, which would have gone through with 87 votes. Parliament then appointed the Speaker José Jerí Oré as acting president ahead of the general elections scheduled for April 2026. Boluarte became president in late 2022 when parliament sacked her predecessor Pedro Castillo, and was Peru's first female president. Jerí would become the third president of Peru within Castillo's five-year presidential term, which began in 2021. In her last speech to the nation, Boluarte said she had performed her duties with "decency and honesty," and the constitution did not foresee the moral incapacity cited by parliament as a cause of impeachment. She called for transparent elections and urged voters to vote with discernment. "Think not once, not twice nor three times, think various times to whom you will give your vote," she said in her last public address.

Peru legislates to curb plastics

Parliament in Peru voted on 5 December to gradually curb the use and sale of plastic bags and disposable items to reduce plastic pollution, Agence France-Presse and local media reported. The Plastics Law, approved almost unanimously in Congress, would cut bag use by 35% in its first year, and targets other items like straws, to be banned within a year, packaging, thin plastic bags and wrappings for brochures. The law forbids the manufacture of non-degradable, plastic bags and packaging after 28 July, 2021, La República reported on 5 December. It cited the Environment Ministry as putting Peru's annual plastic consumption at 947,000 tonnes, 75% of which was dumped as trash, "with only 0.3% being recycled." Other sources gave different figures here but broadly speaking, most plastic used in Peru accumulates as trash. El Peruano reported on 28 December that the government wants shops to start charging 10 Peruvian cents (about 0.02 euros) per bag in 2019, with the fee rising to 50 cents in 2023 and more thereafter.

American trade block ends summit in Cali, Costa Rica to join

The Seventh Summit of the Pacific Alliance (Alianza del Pacífico) of four Latin American states ended in Cali, Colombia on 23 May, with leaders confirming their resolve to remove tariffs on 90 per cent of traded goods and introduce a single tourist visa for all members, media reported. The block also accepted Costa Rica as its fifth member, though its membership would not be formalised before June 2013. Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, the summit host, told the press in Cali that from 30 June when the Treaty would come into effect, tariffs would be removed from 90 per cent of goods traded between Colombia, Peru, Chile, Mexico and imminently Costa Rica, Spain's EFE agency reported. Tariffs he said would be removed on the remaining 10 per cent of goods, subject to a different timetable and conditions. Another of the summit's decision was to introduce a single visa for travellers visiting the five member states, the Visa Alianza del Pacífico. This Santos said, was the "fast and efficient" way to boost visits to member states' "many tourist attractions," CNNMéxico reported. The Alliance's new member in principle Costa Rica was to overcome certain legislative and administrative stages before becoming a full member, Costa Rica's La Nación reported on 24 May. Its President Laura Chinchilla was cited as saying that she was in a hurry to "leave this done," before she was to leave office in a year, for which reason she had asked members to hasten its adhesion. She signed on 22 May a free-trade treaty with Colombia, which the Costa Rican parliament was to debate and approve alongside an adhesion treaty to the Alliance, La Nación reported. The daily observed that Alliance nations currently represented "214 million potential customers," 55 per cent of the region's trade and about a third of Latin America's Gross Domestic Product or sum of goods and services produced in a given period.

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.

Venezuela recalls envoy from Lima over minister's "meddling" comments

President Nicolás Maduro recalled Venezuela's ambassador in Lima for consultations after Peru's Foreign Minister proposed the regional association UNASUR should ask Venezuela to talk with domestic opponents over the disputed results of the 14 April presidential elections, agencies reported on 3 May. Maduro described Foreign Minister Rafael Roncagliolo's proposal as "interventionist," adding he would phone President Ollanta Humala to check whether or not this was Peru's official position, Spain's EFE reported. This was one of several verbal exchanges Venezuela's socialist government was having with foreign states and personalities over elections whose results the opposition coalition has rejected. Roncagliolo "has not consulted with Venezuela over what he has just stated. Please, not like this. You cannot state opinions on Venezuela...I do not accept this lack of respect for Venezuela's political and democratic process," Maduro declared. He said Roncagliolo had with the comments made "the mistake of his life." Venezuela's opposition welcomed the proposal however and declared the government was "going the wrong way" in its foreign relations. The Table of Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition stated its support in a communiqué that described Maduro's as a "Crafty Government," El Universal reported on 4 May. The government's management of its foreign relations it stated, "is very much going the wrong way" and the aggressive language it was now using with foreign parties "is not giving any benefits to this government of precarious legitimacy." Roncagliolo's proposals were not a "lack of respect to Venezuela. This is the responsible attitude governments adopt when they believe in democracy as a space for dialogue, tolerance and respect for opponents." Peru's former president Alan García also wrote on the website Twitter on 4 May that the incident was a "great opportunity" for Peru to distance itself from "Maduro's dictatorship" and forget the example of the left-wing ideology led by the late Hugo Chávez," Peruvian dailies reported. The incident followed similar harsh words Maduro addressed to Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo on 2 May. García-Margallo proposed on 29 April that Spain could mediate between Maduro and the opposition to reduce tensions in Venezuela, Spain's El País reported; Maduro told him to "take his nose out" of Venezuela's affairs.

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.

Qatar's ruler brings delegation to Peru

The Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, arrived in Lima on 13 February, heading a senior delegation that would discuss trade and investment with senior officials including President Ollanta Humala, the website peru21 reported. The foreign ministry earlier described the visit as among the "auspicious results" of the summit of Arab and Latin American states held in Lima in October 2012. The government newspaper El Peruano stated in an opinion piece on 14 February that Peru signed in October 2012 a framework agreement on trade and cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council including oil-producing Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Qatar it observed had billions of dollars to invest in "safe markets with a stable and reliable economy like that of Peru" while Peru needed markets for exportations, particularly of food and farming products needed by Qatar, a state with little agriculture and much expendable income. This was reportedly the first state visit to Peru by a head of state from the Arabian peninsula, according to El Peruano. The Emir was also to visit Colombia and Ecuador.

Pacific block to lift tariffs on most goods

Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, member states of the Pacific Alliance trading block, were to agree before 31 March on removing tariffs on 90 per cent of their traded products and gradually reduce tariffs on remaining goods and services after that, Chile's President Sebastian Piñera announced in Santiago de Chile on 27 January. The four states' presidents were attending the summit of Latin American States and the EU (Cumbre Celac-EU) concluding that day. The states were also to set rules to define the origins of traded products and regulate access to their markets and investment flows. Piñera said the block was the "most important and profound integration process in Latin American history." The annual value of exportations was placed at USD 500 billion and the four countries currently provided a market of some 215 million people, the website peru21 reported. The Alliance formed in 2011, is to hold a summit in Cali in 2014. Beside the four members several states have the status of Observers; Costa Rica was reportedly to become the next member. Separately Colombia and Peru signed a free trade agreement with the European Union expected to enter into force in the first half of 2013, Peru21 reported. This has been ratified in Peru and is to be ratified in Colombia.

European officials visit Peru for business

Peru's President Ollanta Humala Tasso received European delegations in Lima on 24 January including Spain's Prime Minister, presenting his increasingly prosperous country as a stable setting for more investments, El Peruano reported. The newspaper noted that Spain is the premier foreign investor in Peru with investments worth some USD five billion, but was also a market in 2011 that received over USD two billion's worth of Peruvian exports. Spain was currently in recession with just under six million Spaniards unemployed. At a press conference Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged Peruvian businessmen to "explore" Spain for business opportunities, Europa Press reported. El Peruano cited a study by the Andean Parliament indicating that currently 40 per cent of Peruvians living in Madrid wished to return home and 36 per cent were unemployed, without specifying how many they were. The study estimated 130,000 Peruvians lived in Spain. The European Commission's Vice-President for Industry and Enterprise Antonio Tajani was also in Lima that day, heading a delegation of representatives of some 40 EU firms visiting Peru and Chile on 22-26 January. The trip was to help EU firms expand their activities into emerging markets like Peru. After a meeting at the foreign ministry, Tajani said the EU considered Peru as "one of the most important" of countries for its lack of protectionism and the legal security of investments.

Tourism, trade growing between Cuba and Peru

Cuba's ambassador in Peru put at 19,000 the number of Peruvians who visited her country in 2012, 34 per cent more she said than in 2011, Peru's official paper El Peruano reported on 16 January. Juana Martínez said she hoped some 25,000 Peruvians would visit in 2013. Bilateral trade however remained "reduced" she said, worth 16 million USD that year and consisting mostly of trade in pharmaceutical products, unspecified services and rhum. She added that the legal framework for increased exchanges and cooperation now existed within documents signed in Cuba during an undated but "recent" visit by President Ollanta Humala. She blamed the limited bilateral trade on sanctions the United States has imposed on Cuba. Peru's growing economy was increasingly creating a prosperous middle class with potentially the spending and travel habits of Europeans or North Americans. The economy was reportedly growing at a rate of six per cent or more; the investment firm BlackRock recently termed it the second Latin American country in terms of investment security, after Chile, El Peruano reported on 16 January.

Peruvian novelist to be given Mexico's Fuentes prize

Mario Vargas Llosa became on 15 October the first recipient of Mexico's Carlos Fuentes Prize for Literary Creation in Spanish, "for the contribution he has made from Spanish to enrich mankind's heritage," according to the head of the Spanish Royal Academy José Manuel Blecua Perdices, a member of the jury that voted him the prize. The prize, worth 250,000 USD, was created in memory of the Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes who died in May 2012. Vargas Llosa was given the Nobel prize for literature in 2010 and has received two literary awards from Spain. On 15 October the head of the National Council for Culture and the Arts of Mexico (Conaculta) Consuelo Sáizar Guerrero, informed Vargas Llosa by video-conference of the decision; he is to receive the prize in person on 11 November, the birthday of Carlos Fuentes, AFP reported. Vargas Llosa has written numerous novels and essays, many set in Peru where he was born in 1936. He has become, unexpectedly perhaps for many, a cultural figure associated with liberal conservatism, with a disdain for modern popular culture that has likely irritated some conformists. In 2012 he was among certain prominent supporters of Mexico's conservative presidential candidate Josefina Vázquez Mota, who lost the race to Enrique Peña Nieto of the "centrist" Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The PRI governed Mexico for most of the 20th century and imposed as Vargas Llosa said a "perfect dictatorship," hiding a clientelist and authoritarian regime behind a social-democratic appearance. It may have been no coincidence that Vargas Llosa "cancelled at the last minute" an invitation on 16 or 17 October to meet in Madrid with the visiting president-elect Peña Nieto.

Jordan's monarch in Peru for tourism, summit

King Abdullah II of Jordan arrived in Lima on 26 September and was to visit historic sites before attending the Third Summit of South American and Arab Countries (ASPA3) scheduled for 1 and 2 October. The summit aims to promote cultural, economic, education and scientific collaboration between the regions and is hosted by Peru this year. Heads of state expected to attend this summit were the King of Morocco, the Emir of Qatar, the Lebanese president and the head of the Palestinian Authority, Telesur reported on 27 September. Foreign ministers were to meet on 1 October and heads of states and governments the following day. Jordan's king was first to visit the historic city of Cuzco and the Inca citadel at Machu Picchu.

Peru opens Saudi embassy

Peru has opened an embassy in Saudi Arabia, with a view to boosting political and economic ties with the oil-producing kingdom; the mission's first official act was to receive on 3 July the visiting deputy-foreign minister of Peru José Beraún Araníbar. Eduardo Martinetti was to be Peru's first ambassador. Beraún was in the kingdom to extend an invitation for the third heads-of-state Summit of South American-Arab Countries, scheduled for 1-2 Octobre 2012, the foreign ministry stated.