Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 21, 1993, Wednesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: CENTROMIN HOPES TO AUCTION COMPLEX BY DECEMBER
BYLINE: By Mary Powers
DATELINE: LIMA, JULY 21
Peru's largest state mining firm Centromin hopes to auction its refinery
complex, surrounding mines and accompanying infrastructure by
December, a company spokesman said.
"We are looking at a date somewhere around December 10," the
spokesman said, referring to the timetable for the bidding.
Privatization officials are awaiting answers to a questionnaire sent out to
more than 160 companies who may be interested in bidding for the
complex, he said.
A July 26 deadline has been set for receipt of the questionnaires.
"The orientation of the sale at this moment is to sell the whole complex -
La Oroya refineries, seven mines, four hydro- electric plants, the Antamina
deposit and the railway - to a single buyer or a group of investors," the
official said.
He added, however, that a different privatization strategy could be
decided upon depending on the response of potential investors.
"We could modify the privatization rules according to the proposals
received," he said.
Privatization officials have said that the investment required to
reactivate the complex could make it difficult to the sell the company as a
single unit. Centromin is Peru's largest producer of zinc, lead and silver.
Within 15 days of the July 26 cut-off date, Centromin will publish a
preliminary list of the firms pre-qualified to bidding, using criteria such as
technical and economic capacity and demonstrated interest in reactivating
the firm.
From August to November, these firms will have the opportunity to visit
the refineries and mines and seek additional information needed for the
bidding, the officials said.
He said it was too soon to determine how many firms or investors might
be interested in Centromin.
Centromin chief Hernan Barreto has traveled to Asia and the United
States in recent weeks to promote the firm. He is currently in Europe to
meet with potential investors.
London-based International Mining Consultants evaluated the firm's
assets last year. Chase Manhattan Bank <CMB.N> and Coopers and Lybrand
accountants are now promoting the firm.
Centromin registered sales of $404 million last year. It has dug its way
out of debt and last year made a small operating profit through a
rationalization program aimed at reducing costs and personnel, extracting
maximum mineral content out of ore mined and eliminating bottlenecks in
the refining process.
With a 12,500-strong workforce, it produced 659,006 fine tonnes of
minerals in 1991, according to company figures.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 21, 1993, Wednesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Financial Report.
HEADLINE: FOREIGN FIRMS SUBJECT TO PERU COURTS--CONSTITUTION
DATELINE: LIMA, JULY 21, REUTER
Foreigners who enter into contracts with the state will be subject to
Peruvian laws and courts and will have no diplomatic claim, according to
the text of constitution approved by Peru's congress.
The clause was added during debate of the proposed constitutional
articles pertaining to the economy.
"In all contracts between the state and foreigners, the latter will be
subject to the laws and the courts of Republic and renounce all diplomatic
claim," the text says.
Opposition congressman Manuel Moreyra had said it would be dangerous
to leave such a clause out of the constitution.
The text adds the state can submit economic controversies to tribunals
constituted in virture of exisiting contracts or submit them to national or
international arbitration.
The approved text also says foreign and national investment will operate
under the same conditions; commerce is free but if other states adopt
discriminatory measures the Peruvian government can adopt analagous
ones.
Another clause says the state guarantees the availability of foreign
exchange. Others in the proposed constitution defend free enterprise, free
competition, expressly prohibit monopolies and promulgation of any law
which modifies contractual obligations.
Congress president Jaime Yoshiyama told a business grouping that the
proposed constitution, which is expected to be submitted to a referendum,
will make the private sector the engine of the economy after years of state
intervention.
He said he expected congress to end debate on the constitution in time
for Independence Day on July 28.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 21, 1993, Wednesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Money Report. Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: LATAM BRADY BONDS DRIFT SOUTH, EXOTICS STAY FIRM
BYLINE: By Henry Tricks
DATELINE: NEW YORK, JULY 21
Latin American Brady bonds were dragged down partly by the falling
U.S. long bond, but "exotic" countries held firm and real rarities like
Nicaragua rose, traders said.
In the Eurobond market, Banco do Brazil launched a $200 million five-
year issue at 400 basis points over Treasuries, a price that an official from
co-lead manager Chemical Bank said would make this a benchmark five-
year issue. Several other market players described the price level as
aggressive.
"The exotics are obviously not tied to U.S. yields and are moving higher
in expectations of (eventual Brady-style debt restructuring) deals," the
head of one trading department said, noting that the rally had been
continuing for weeks.
He said the price of barely traded Nicaraguan loans had even inched up
to about 9-1/2 to 10 cents on the dollar from eight cents because of dealer
demand.
Peru Citi was steady at 36-1/8 percent of face value bid, Panama at 33-
1/2 and Ecuador MYRA at 32-1/2. Poland DDRAs and Bulgaria dollar paper
were both a bit weaker than Tuesday's close at 35-1/4 and 26-3/8 percent
respectively.
The full point drop in the U.S. 30-year Treasury bond pressured the
price of some fixed-rate Bradies, which are collateralized by U.S. securities.
Argentine pars were at 55-1/8 percent bid, down 3/8 from Tuesday's
close, Mexican pars slipped 3/8 to 73-3/8 and Venezuela pars fell 3/8 to
70-5/8. Brazil IDU's were down 1/4 at 74-3/4.
But some profit-taking was also seen, and floating-rate instruments also
declined. One trader said Argentine FRBs may outpace other assets in
hopes that their price will jump when they are released from escrow as
part of the Brady plan debt accord on September 1, but they too fell
Wednesday.
The trader also said some Venezuelan paper has been sold to make room
for a landmark $1 billion yankee deal led by Salomon Brothers for a unit of
Venezulan oil giant PDVSA that market sources expect to be launched
Thursday.
Juan Lacroze, managing director of global distibution for Latin American
Eurobonds at Chemical Bank in New York, said the deal it co-led
Wednesday for Banco do Brasil was 75 pct pre-sold before launch and that
the low 400 basis point spread was no hurdle.
"It is the new benchmark for five-year deals," he said. The deal was co-
lead by Paribas Capital Markets.
Traders at several other banks reserved judgement, however, saying the
deal may have been a bit tightly priced. Two traders compared the 400
basis point spread with IDU bonds of similar maturity, which offer about
double the yield and said it made the IDUs look a good buy. They noted
that the two bonds are completely different animals, however, chiefly
because of the huge amount of IDUs outstanding -- about $7 billion.
A trader said the entire deal looks to have been placed by late
Wednesday. It was trading at the re-offer price of 99.566 pct, he said.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 21, 1993, Wednesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Financial Report.
HEADLINE: SOUTHERN PERU COPPER UNIONS SET STRIKE
DATELINE: LIMA, July 21
Four unions at Southern Peru Copper Corp presented notice of a strike to
begin July 27 to protest the company's refusal to negotiate with blue-collar
unions as a single unit.
Andres Angulo, secretary of defense for the metallurgical workers union
at the llo smelter, said the strike notice was presented to labor authorities
in the port of Ilo, 1,000 kms south of Lima, earlier this week.
By law, the notice must be presented five working days before the start
of the strike.
Angulo said the company's intention was to negotiate a three-year
contract instead of the current one-year contract, with each of the four
blue-collar unions representing workers at the Cuajone and Toquepala
mines and Ilo smelter.
He said unions have met all legal requirements to call a strike, including
a secret vote by the majority of workers.
"Labor peace" accords signed by some workers in which they receive a
bonus in return for a pledge to ignore a strike are not binding, he said.
Southern Peru produces about two-thirds of Peru's copper.
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts/The Monitoring Report
July 21, 1993, Wednesday
SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; 4(D). LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
PAGE: ME/1746/III
HEADLINE: Peru: cabinet resigns for "routine reasons"
The 14 cabinet members had placed their posts "at President Alberto
Fujimori's disposal", Radioprogramas del Peru (Lima) reported Foreign
Minister Oscar de la Puente as saying on 19th July. According to the
German agency DPA, the cabinet had resigned "for protocol and routine
reasons, leaving the President free to make changes".
Copyright 1993 The Financial Times Limited;
Financial Times
July 20, 1993, Tuesday
SECTION: Commodities and Agriculture; Pg. 22
HEADLINE: State companies slip in non-fuel mine output league
BYLINE: By KENNETH GOODING, Mining Correspondent
THE SHARE OF western world non-fuels mineral production accounted
for by state-owned mining companies is falling - not via privatisation but
because of lack of investment.
This is one of the main conclusions reached by the Raw Material Group
of Sweden when compiling data for the latest edition of Who Owns Who in
the Mining Industry.
Although programmes to sell state-controlled mining companies have
started in, among others, Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Peru, these had
not seen any substantial capacity sold to the private sector by the end of
1992.
RMG says the few privatisations included the Canadian asbestos
producer, Societe Nationale de l'Amiante; Peru's Empresa Mineral del
Hierro Peru and the Condestable mine in that country.
'But even if the privatisation programmes had not yet had their full
impact, the state share of western world production fell in 1991. This was
primarily because of diminishing production levels in some state controlled
mining companies where there was a lack of replacement investments,'
says RMG. It points to Zaire as an example. Gecamines and other Zaire state
mining companies dropped from eighth to 15th place in the list of the
western world's top 50 mining groups.
Anglo American Corporation of South Africa is the world's most
important mining company, according to RMG, which drew up its league
table by reference to the value of non-fuels minerals production controlled
by each company in 1991.
By this measurement, Anglo is nearly twice as big as its closest rival,
RTZ Corporation of the UK. RMG admits, however: 'RTZ can claim to be the
world's largest mining company using many other criteria'. RMG's method
of assessment naturally gives most weight to production of high-value
metals and minerals such as gold and diamonds. Gold production controlled
by Anglo rose by 2 per cent to 410 tonnes between 1990 and 1991 while
RMG counts De Beers, one of the world's biggest diamond producers, as an
integral part of the Anglo group, not a separate mining company even
though it is quoted separately.
Similarly, RTZ's 49-per-cent-owned associate in Australia, CRA, is
considered by RMG as part of the UK group.
RGM points out that the fastest-growing big mining companies between
1990 and 1991 were Broken Hill Proprietary, Australia's biggest company,
MIM Holdings, another Australian group, and Freeport-McMoRan of the US.
BHP increased its share of western world non-fuels minerals output
from 1.5 per cent to 2.1 per cent, mainly because of the huge growth in
copper production from its partly-owned Escondida mine in Chile. MIM
moved from 13th to 8th in the league table after it doubled its
shareholding in Cominco, the Canadian zinc producer and because of
increased output from its joint-ventured Porgera gold mine in Papua New
Guinea. Freeport-McMoRan saw the value of its output rise by about one
quarter because of increased production from its Indonesian copper-gold
mine.
If the proposed merger between Cyprus Minerals and Amax of the US
goes through, the combined group would become one of the ten or 12
biggest western mining companies, depending on which of their core assets
are included in the deal.
Who Owns Who in Mining 1993, Pounds 140 or USDollars 310, and
Roskill's Metals Databook, Pounds 190 or USDollars 420: from Roskill
Information Services, 2 Clapham Road, London SW90JA, England. Raw
Materials Group data on 7,000 mining and refining companies and 35
metals and minerals are also available on computer disc at Dollars 1,850,
including a half-year update, from the same address.
---------------------------------------------------------------
TOP WESTERN WORLD MININING COMPANIES IN 1991
---------------------------------------------------------------
Ranked by approximate share of total value of production of non-
fuel minerals
---------------------------------------------------------------
Controlling company Country % share
or state of total
-------------------------------------------------------------
Anglo American South Africa 8.3
RTZ UK 4.6
State of Chile Chile 2.7
State of Brazil Brazil 2.3
Broken Hill Pty Australia 2.1
Inco Canada 1.7
Brascan/Noranda Canada 1.6
MIM Holdings Australia 1.5
Phelps Dodge US 1.3
Asarco US 1.3
State of France France 1.2
Gencor South Africa 1.2
Western Mining Australia 1.2
State of Zaire Zaire 1.1
Placer Dome Canada 1.1
IMCERA Group US 1.1
Freeport-McMoRan US 1.1
State of Malaysia Malaysia 1.0
State of Morocco Morocco 0.9
Trelleborg Sweden 0.9
Cyprus Minerals US 0.9
--------------------------------------------------------------
Controlling company Country % share
or state of total
-------------------------------------------------------------
General Oriental UK 0.8
State of India India 0.8
Metallgesellschaft Germany 0.7
Barlow Rand South Africa 0.7
State of Zambia Zambia 0.6
Anglovaal South Africa 0.6
State of Peru Peru 0.6
Rembrandt Group South Africa 0.6
Amax US 0.6
Magma Copper US 0.6
Hanson UK 0.6
CAEMI Brazil 0.6
IMM Mexico 0.5
North Broken Hill Peko Australia 0.5
Lac Minerals Canada 0.5
Homestake Mining US 0.5
Outokumpu Finland 0.5
Former Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 0.5
State of Botswana Botswana 0.5
State of Indonesia Indonesia 0.5
State of Venezuela Venezuela 0.5
-------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Who Owns Who in Mining 1993
-------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1993 Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service
July 20, 1993, Tuesday
HEADLINE: PERU: JOURNALISTS WANT GOVERNMENT TO STOP SQUEEZING
THE PRESS
BYLINE: by Ana Maria Lazo
DATELINE: LIMA, July 20
Peru's press association says it wants the government to stop harassing
the media and instead back a project which, they claim, would benefit both
journalists and the state.
The association has asked the government of President Alberto Fujimori
to allow it to operate radio stations closed down because they did not have
licenses.
It has also asked the administration to cede to it the installations of a
defunct state newspaper which it would use to publish an independent
daily that practices "honest journalism".
The association has proposed to contribute to the state some of the
money it would make from the project.
The newspaper would compensate for revenue the association has lost as
a result of the government's recent move to scrap an allowance that used
to be paid to professional organizations, says press association president
Miguel Calderon.
"That measure deprived the journalists association of annual earnings to
the sum of one million dollars which it used to obtain from advertisements
published in national dailies," Calderon said.
While Peru's government says press freedom has no bounds here,
journalists and media directors say they are subjected to pressures which
are not always subtle.
"How can you speak of freedom of expression in a country where the
government channels all state advertisements to media that are devoted to
President Alberto Fujimori?" asked Calderon.
The media are constantly harassed, parliamentarians publicly threaten
reporters, seven journalists have been detained for presumably being
linked to guerrilla groups and 12 have disappeared in the past three years,
he told IPS.
And the future looks anything but bright since "a sword of damocles
hangs over journalists with the promulgation soon of a new constitution
that congress is preparing," Calderon said.
The proposed constitution, which has the backing of the congressional
majority loyal to Fujimori, includes clauses that could make refusal to
reveal one's sources of information an offence, "something which does not
happen in any country," said the journalist.
It would also empower judges to ban the media from publishing
information if a person or institution requests such a prohibition on the
grounds that it would harm them, Calderon explained.
Citing examples of official pressure on the media, he said that since 1991,
two opposition magazines, "Caretas" and "Oiga" have been subjected to
veiled harassment by the government for publishing reports that it does
not like.
Two years ago, "Caretas" was hailed before a court for printing a
photograph of presidential adviser Vladimiro Montesinos with the caption
"Rasputin," a reference to the monk who exerted great influence in the
court of Russian Czar Nicholas II.
Montesinos sued Caretas director Enrique Zileri for libel and the court
ordered the journalist to refrain from any further mention of the
presidential adviser.
But the case did not end there. Two months ago, the Supreme Court
imposed a 30-day suspended prison sentence on Zileri, along with a
$50,000 fine and banned him from leaving the country without permission
from the justice authorities.
For journalist Maria Cornejo, "freedom of expression has never existed in
Peru and now less than ever, since opposition media are harassed in a very
subtle way."
Cutbacks on state advertisements, which were always a big source of
income for the non-daily press, is evidence of this, she said.
And according to Francisco Igartua, director of the weekly "Oiga," the
government has pressured magazines even further by slapping an 18-
percent tax on the paper they use.
However, some journalists, mainly those employed in the state media,
feel that freedom of expression does, in fact, exist.
In Peru "you can report on anything and anyone," IPS was toldby Jano
Echeverria of the state information agency.
The press association intends to put this to the test. Calderon said his
organization "aims to edit a national daily that would practice free, honest
journalism and defend freedom of expression and human rights."
With this in mind the association has asked the government to give it "La
Cronica," a state daily that went bankrupt in 1991.
The association has also asked the government to allow it to operate 100
radio stations located in various parts of the country, which were closed
down because they had no broadcasting licenses.
Calderon said that his organization had the physical capacity but not the
money to take over these media and generate jobs and create earnings for
itself and for the state.
He recalled that 65 percent of the almost 5,000 journalists affiliated to
the association were jobless or under-employed and that, in the past three
years, the country's prolonged economic crisis has forced eight dailies out
of business.
"We will finance these communications media with the advertisements
we publish. We already have offers from trading enterprises to sign one-
year advertisement contracts," Calderon said.
He added that 60 percent of the funds the association would generate
from advertising would be pumped back into the media and 30 percent
would go to a fund for social assistance for journalists.
The remaining 10 percent could go to the state, Calderon said.
Copyright 1993 The Press Association Limited
Press Association Newsfile
July 20, 1993, Tuesday
SECTION: QFF TV; Extra; Pick
BYLINE: David Richards
[deleted]
Thursday, July 29
WE AIN'T WINNIN': PERU, WASHINGTON AND THE WAR ON DRUGS: The
harsh reality of the US-sponsored war on Latin American drugs suppliers -
one that is becoming a real war in Peru, source of 60% of the world's coca
leaf crop, the raw material for cocaine. The US plan is to destroy drugs at
their source but Peru's internal politics means this is not happening. The
vicious insurgency movement, the Shining Path, has stepped into the
conflict between anti-narcotics forces and traffickers by protecting the
coca leaf growers and their plantations and taking a cut of the revenue in
the process. This has led to the US forces confronting Shining Path, a
movement that could soon be in power in Peru. (Channel 4, 11.10pm)
[deleted]
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 20, 1993, Tuesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Money Report. Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: LATIN AMERICAN DEBT PRICES TAKE A SLIGHT BREATHER
BYLINE: By Henry Tricks
DATELINE: NEW YORK, JULY 20
Prices of most Latin American sovereign debt ebbed Tuesday, but
traders said the market remains bouyant with investors casting far and
wide for rich-yielding paper.
"The market is fairly mixed at the moment -- it's neutral to mildly
positve," said Alan Boyle, a trader at Continental Bank. "Traders are looking
for the direction of institutional investment which has tended to dictate
the direction of the market."
Among Latin American credits, Venezuela and Argentina have led in
volatility and performance recently, analysts said. A $1 billion yankee
bond deal expected this week for a unit of Venezuela's PDVSA oil company
has caught a lot of people's attention. It is to be led by Salomon Brothers.
Bankers said the use of a so-called "enabling law" to press through
important economic legislation is also brightening the country's economic
prospects.
In Argentina, they said, a recent sovereign deal with a three-year and
seven-year maturity has helped tighten the spreads of other paper from
that country.
"When U.S. investors talk about Latin America you always hear
Argentina mentioned in the conversation," said a trader, explaining the
recent investor enthusiasm for its Brady bonds.
Argentine pars were quoted at 55-1/2 pct bid at Tuesday's close off
slightly higher levels earlier in the day. FRBs were up a fraction at 72-3/4.
Venezuelan pars were off 1/8 of a point at 71 pct and DCBs were flat at the
same price.
A large Argentine industrial group, Compania Naviera Perez Companc,
issued a $200 million five-year Eurobond Tuesday, yielding 340 basis
points over U.S. Treasuries.
Some of the most telling investor purchases recently have been in non-
Latin paper such as Nigeria, Morocco and Bulgaria, because of the rich
yields they are paying in comparison with rock bottom U.S. interest rates,
traders said.
Indeed, one of the reasons traders gave for the go-slow in LDC activity
Tuesday has been the lack of direction in the U.S. bond market.
Nigeria pars closed at 48-7/8 Tuesday, down from 49-1/2 early Monday.
Morocco was at 69-7/8 and Bulgaria at 26-3/8. "On a yield basis, this is the
only market left," said a trader, referring to the double-digit spreads in
many assets.
Mexico remained flat, with pars around 73-5/8 pct bid. NAFTA free
trade negotiations between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada resume
Wednesday in Ottawa and traders said these could help give some new
direction to Mexican paper.
Brazil IDUs were off the day's upper levels at 75, with the market stil
waiting the outcome of negotiations over a new wage policy that some fear
will have an inflationary impact.
Peru firmed, with Citi loans hitting 36-1/4, up 1/2 over morning levels.
One trader said there was a short squeeze in the paper, which may have
been brought on by hopes it will be valuable currency in the country's
privatization program.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 20, 1993, Tuesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Money Report. Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: PERU CABINET QUITS TO ALLOW FUJIMORI TO RESHUFFLE
DATELINE: LIMA, JULY 20, REUTER
The 14 ministers in Peru's cabinet have submitted their resignations, a
traditional practice in the run-up to the Independence Day celebrations
when Peruvian presidents often make ministerial changes.
Prime Minister Oscar de la Puente, whose announced the resignations,
said he did not know if there would be changes.
"In any case, the announcement will come from the president," de la
Puente said.
The last time the cabinet resigned en masse in December, Prseident
Alberto Fujimori decided to change Economy MInister Carlos Bolona and
Transport Minister Alfredo Ross.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 20, 1993, Tuesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Money Report. Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: PERU MONEY SUPPLY UP 13 PCT IN FIRST HALF OF 1993
DATELINE: LIMA, JULY 20, REUTER
Peru's money supply rose by 13 percent in the first half of 1993
compared with 20.1 percent in the same period of last year, the central
bank said.
Money supply increased by 175.6 million nuevos soles, or 13 percent, in
the first half of the year, the bank said in a report. Inflation in that period
reached 23.2 percent.
Monthly monetary supply rates in the same period (3.2 percent; 2.8
percent; 2.3 percent; 1.9 percent; 1.2 percent and 1.0 percent respectively)
decreased consecutively in a bid to bring inflation down, it added.
External factors were mainly responsible for the contraction in money
supply, including the purchase of $122 million in foreign exchange by the
Central Reserve Bank of Peru, the bank said.
Internal factors included the deposit of 39 million nuevos soles in
sterling bank certificates and the withdrawl of 23.4 million nuevos soles
by the central government, it added.
In the first six months of 1993, liquidity in local currency in the
monetary system increased by 14.1 percent, representing a decrease of 7.4
percent in real terms, the report said.
Peru's monetary system saw an increased liquidity in foreign currency
(principally the U.S. dollar) of $658 million, or 23.1 percent, in the first half
of 1993, the bank said.
Of the total liquidity, participation of foreign exchange in the first half of
the year reached 71.2 percent, up 5.9 percent from last December, the
report added.
Credit by banks to the private sector expanded in nominal terms by 43.6
pct, according to the report. Of this, credit in foreign exchange represented
23.3 percent. In real terms, credit to the private sector increased by 16.5
percent.
Figures in the report were based on the M1 measure of money supply,
the bank said.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 20, 1993, Tuesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Money Report. Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: PERU NET RESERVES FELL $53 MILLION IN JUNE
DATELINE: LIMA, JULY 20
International net reserves in Peru's central bank fell $53 million in June
compared with May, bringing the total to $2,469 million, a bank report
said.
The main factor in the decrease was the withdrawl of deposits by
financial institutions ($84 million), offset by the net purchase of dollars
($26 million), it said.
Net international reserves the first semester of the year grew by $468
million, the report said.
In June 1992, net reserves in the Central Reserve Bank of Peru were at
$1,578 million.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 20, 1993, Tuesday, BC cycle
SECTION: Energy News. Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: SEPT 8 AUCTION SET FOR PERU OIL SHIPPING UNIT
DATELINE: LIMA, JULY 20
Petrolera Transoceanica, the shipping subsidiary of the state-owned oil
company Petroperu, will hold a second bid offering for 100 pct of the
firm's shares on September 8, a privatization committee official said.
The base price of the firm, which owns four tankers of 25,000 DWT each,
has been reduced to $21,250,000 after no bids were presented in the first
offering, he said.
The New York-based shipping firm Jack Perot Jr and Sons has been
contracted to promote the sale, the official added. He said Greek and U.S.
shipping firms had shown interest.
"The auction is for the entire company but we have not ruled out the
receipt of offers for the tanker fleet or for individual ships," the official
told Reuters.
He added that the Petrolera Transoceanica would guarantee a 3-year
contract with Petroperu, representing some $15 million a year for the
buyer.
The contract would not be affected by the expected privatization of
Petroperu's refineries, he said.
Petrolera Transoceanica transports crude to refineries around the
country and ships refined crude to Peruvian ports.
Copyright 1993 Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
July 19, 1993, Monday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 3; ZONE: N
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Peru hopes for peace: Vanessa Quiroga, 6, whose leg was
blown off last year by a car bomb in Lima, Peru, releases a dove and
watches it take flight Sunday. A symbol of Peru's long guerrilla war, she
was in a parade by 20,000 people commemorating the bombing that killed
25. AP photo.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 19, 1993, Monday, BC cycle
SECTION: Financial Report.
HEADLINE: PERU STOCKS ROSE 1.49 PCT IN LAST WEEK OF TRADING
DATELINE: LIMA, JULY 19
Shares on the Lima stock exchange (BVL) showed modest gains in the
last week, boosted mainly by sharp rises in certain non-blue chip shares,
stock market figures showed.
The stock index closed on Friday at 672.59, up 9.87 points or 1.49 pct
over the previous week, when shares rose 2.46 pct.
The selective blue chip index, which registers 15 of the most actively-
traded shares, fell 2.57 pct in the last week.
Daily volume in the last week averaged $4,721,408, down some $1.5
million from the previous week's daily average.
Sharpest gains were seen in shares of the Molinera Santa Rosa (41.2 pct)
food company, the Lima Caucho tire firm (36.9 pct), the Vencedor paint
company (34.4 pct), La Fenix Peruana insurance company (33.6 pct), the
Industria de Cobre Peruana copper firm (31.9 pct) and the Arturo Field y
La Estrella S.A. cookie company (24.5 pct).
Brokers said the sharp rises in these stocks showed investors had taken
notice of undervalued shares and were seeking to diversify their
portfolios.
By sector, industrial stocks showed the highest gains in the last week,
rising 6.47 pct, followed by banking stocks with 5 pct and insurance stocks
with 4.1 pct.
Since June 14, Lima's stock market index has risen 130.75 points, or 22.2
pct, BVL figures showed.
Brokers and stock market officials said the rise is due to increased
foreign investment since the start-up of the pension fund system on June
21.
The Lima stock market has showed gains of 80.34 pct since the
beginning of the year, according to the BVL.
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts/The Monitoring Report
July 19, 1993, Monday
SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; 4(D). LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
PAGE: ME/1744/III
HEADLINE: Peru: government extends state of emergency in various
regions
(ME/1738 iii) The government had extended the state of emergency for
60 days in the department of Lima; the constitutional province of El Callao;
the provinces of Coronel Portillo and Padre Abad in Ucayali, Puerto Inca in
Huanuco and Ucayali in Loreto, Radioprogramas del Peru (Lima) reported
on 17th July.
Copyright 1993 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
July 18, 1993
SECTION: News
HEADLINE: 13 die in violence in Peru
DATELINE: LIMA
LIMA, July 18 (AFP) - An antiterrorist police patrol killed at least 10
members of the Shining Path guerrilla organization in a clash in northern
Peru, officials said Sunday.
In the incident Friday near the community of San Marcos, the so-called
"Sinchis" patroll also captured eight members of the rebel group and
wounded 10, said Colonel Eduardo Mendoza.
Police seized a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives
following the clash. There was no information about casualties among
security forces.
In a separate incident Saturday, police said three members of a family
were slain in an attack by a Shining Path death squad in the southeastern
Peruvian community of Carmen Alto, near Ayacucho.
Police said one of the victims was the mother who was shot and killed
while breastfeeding her one-year-old child, who survived the attack.
Copyright 1993 Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
July 18, 1993, Sunday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 17; ZONE: C
HEADLINE: Bargain technology allows Chile to harvest fog for thirsty
village
BYLINE: By Gary Marx, Tribune Staff Writer
DATELINE: CHUNGUNGO, Chile
The landscape around this poor fishing village is rocky and bone dry.
But Daisy Sasmayo's garden is in full bloom, with flowers, vegetables and a
young apple tree.
This once-parched community now has its first fresh water in decades,
thanks to an ingenious system of plastic nets fixed on a nearby mountain
to capture fog as it rolls in from the ocean.
"When the water first started flowing last year, we went crazy," Sasmayo
said as she gently watered her garden. "We had a huge party and were
dousing each other with water. It has changed our lives 100 percent."
In a village where 350 residents had survived on a limited supply of
often-contaminated water trucked in from distant wells, townsfolk are
building crude showers and their first flush toilets.
They're washing their clothes more than once a week, planning a
communal vegetable garden and allocating more water to their donkeys,
chickens and other animals - and to soothe their own parched throats.
Scientists say the new system, bankrolled by Canada and a handful of
international aid agencies, will not solve the problem of providing fresh
drinking water to the world's rapidly growing population.
But the new technology - which is cheap to build, easy to maintain and
requires no power - could alleviate water shortages in hundreds of rural
communities in arid and semi-arid climates.
At least 20 countries, including China, India, Mexico and Kenya, have
been identified as places where the fog harvesting technology could be
used.
In 1990, Chilean and Canadian scientists set up a pilot project in Oman
that captures fog to replenish underground aquifers. In a project just
starting in Peru, fog-water captured in the nets is being used to grow
cactus fruit and improve the diets of the poor. In Ecuador, nets on a 6,000-
foot volcano near the capital, Quito, collect fog for drinking water.
In Chile, scientists are building a fog-water collection system in Paposa,
600 miles north of Chungungo. They hope one day to use the technology to
settle much of the nation's 1,000-mile northern coast, which is rich in
marine life and minerals like copper and iron but is one of the driest
places on Earth.
"If there was a cheap, dependable way to get water, people would move
to the coast," said Pilar Cereceda, a geographer at Chile's Catholic University
who helped develop Chungungo's fog-harvesting system. "The problem is
convincing people the technology will work."
Harvesting fog droplets is not new. Ancient mariners often collected fog-
borne water from large-leafed plants on distant islands, and Middle
Eastern nomads are thought to have built small stone reservoirs under
large trees to collect fog droplets.
Chilean scientists began studying fog harvesting in the 1950s. But the
research didn't take off until about five years ago when the International
Development Research Center, a non-profit organization backed by the
Canadian government, kicked in more than $350,000 to purchase
equipment for a pilot project at Chungungo.
The town has had a chronic water shortage since the 1970s when
Bethlehem Steel Co. shut a nearby iron mine and dismantled its water
system, which also supplied the village.
Cereceda and other scientists say three conditions are needed for the
fog-collection system to work: fog, wind and a town that is less than 12
miles from a mountain at least 1,500 feet tall.
Two-thirds of the year, Chungungo is covered by a thick fog produced by
the frigid Humboldt current that sweeps along Chile's coast. It is four miles
from a 2,600-foot mountain, El Tofo, where winds at the peak average 12
m.p.h.
The concept is simple. When the fog rolls in, individual droplets hit the
nets, where they form larger water drops.
These flow slowly down the nets into pipes that carry it by gravity to a
tank outside the village. The water then is distributed through pipes to
individual homes.
Cereceda and other scientists spent several years determining the size,
shape and thickness of the nets - the same type of nets used to shade
crops - and the right altitude to place them.
El Tofo now has 75 collectors, each 40 by 13 feet, stacked side-by-side
and anchored by wooden poles and steel cables along a ridge that runs 200
to 500 feet below the peak. Each net captures an average of 38 gallons of
water a day - or 8.2 gallons for each of Chungungo's residents.
Per capita water consumption in Chungungo - where most residents earn
about $250 a year - has increased from about 3.7 gallons a day to 8 gallons
a day since the system began operating in March 1992.
Each household pays an average of $2.25 a month for water.
"The project now pays for itself," said Claudio Masson, Chungungo's
project director, who works for the Chilean forestry service. To duplicate
the system in another village would cost about $130,000.
But the system is not without problems. Some nets have blown down
during storms, and scientists installed filters in January after discovering
insects, leaves and dirt snagged in the nets were contaminating the water.
Chungungo's 26,000-gallon water tank has bottomed out three times
since last year and a committee has been set up to fine villagers for
overconsumption. It shuts off their water and charges $12.50 to resume
service.
Some offenders have used fog water to wash their automobiles; others
have left water taps running all night. A red flag over the water tank
warns villagers there is sufficient water stored only for drinking and
cooking.
"It's difficult to teach people to be more conscientious," said Patricio
Pinones, head of Chungungo's water works. "This is all new for us."
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Claudio Masson, project director, shows the netting that
captures droplets of fog used for fresh water in Chungungo, Chile. The nets
are set about 2,000 feet up a 2,600-foot mountain. Tribune photo by Gary
Marx.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
The Reuter Library Report
July 18, 1993, Sunday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: BUS ACCIDENT KILLS AT LEAST 25 IN PERU
DATELINE: LIMA, July 18
At least 25 people died when a bus carrying about 60 passengers to a
religious festival in northern Peru tumbled down a 300-metre (yard) cliff,
police sources said.
Police rescue teams on Sunday were working to clear debris and bodies
from the site about 400 km (250 miles) north of Lima, the sources said.
The cause of the accident, which took place on Saturday when the bus
was travelling towards the northern province of Pallasca, has not yet been
determined.
Copyright 1993 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
July 18, 1993, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section 1; Page 18; Column 1; National Desk
HEADLINE: Built for Cold War, Bunker Shifts Its Weaponry to Drug Battle
BYLINE: By ERIC SCHMITT, Special to The New York Times
DATELINE: CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN, Colo.
In a bunker deep inside this granite peak, a small cadre of military
analysts are fighting a threat that caused them to scramble a waiting fleet
of jet fighters more than 100 times last year.
But the targets they trace in multi-hued flight paths on glowing consoles
and computer screens here at the nerve center of the North American
Aerospace Defense Command, better known as Norad, are not Soviet
bombers or nuclear-tipped missiles. They are pesky Cessnas and
Beechcrafts ferrying cocaine from Latin America.
With the cold war over, commanders throughout the military are
scrambling to preserve their shrinking budgets by finding new missions.
In this durable fortress just outside Colorado Springs, generals are training
their formidable weaponry against a new villain: drug smugglers.
The trouble is that the air defenses that Canada and the United States
built in the 1960's and 1970's to protect North America's borders from
airborne intruders may not be nimble enough to foil drug lords today.
Planes flying low along the border with Mexico can often slip through
Norad's radars, which were designed to spot high-flying bombers.
Like Missiles at Mosquitoes
Stormy weather grounds radar-carrying balloons. And the American
fighter jets that outgunned Iraq's Air Force in the Persian Gulf war fly too
fast, even at subsonic speeds, for pilots to see tail numbers on suspicious
aircraft.
Using Norad's weaponry against drug smugglers, many Administration
officials and independent experts say, is like firing Stinger missiles to kill
mosquitoes.
"We want to do things more efficiently, but Norad uses very high
technology that has much greater capability than law enforcement really
needs," said Gary F. Crosby, an acting deputy director at the Office of
National Drug Control Policy in Washington.
The Pentagon spends more than $1.1 billion a year to fight drug
smuggling, but only about 5 percent of the illegal narcotics enter the
country by air.
Norad officials say that small amount is proof that their anti-drug efforts,
which cost more than $80 million a year, force smugglers to use sea or land
routes. But law-enforcement agencies say other Federal efforts are more
responsible for grounding drug flights than Norad's sometimes leaky
defenses.
White House officials plan to review the military's anti-drug assistance
next year, and costly missions like Norad's could be casualties. "With most
of the cocaine coming in by land, we'll be looking at Norad and other
military commands," Mr. Crosby said. "Whether Norad has as great a role
as it does now is open to question."
Missile-Launching Monitor
As Pentagon budget-cutting pressures grow, even Norad commanders
note ruefully that their anti-drug mission could shrink. "One thing that's a
downer is the realization that very small amounts of total drugs come by
air," Gen. Charles A. Horner of the Air Force, who heads Norad and the
United States Space Command, said in a recent interview here.
Norad's main job is still to watch North America's borders for airborne
intruders, and to monitor ballistic missile launchings around the world.
>From its spy satellites, Norad alerted commanders in Saudi Arabia to Iraqi
Scud missile launchings during the gulf war.
Norad's anti-drug role was tacked on four years ago by Congress at little
additional cost or effort, given that planes and radars were operating
anyway. Since then, however, the number of missile launchings has
dropped to 200 a year from 600, and the threat of attack from the former
Soviet Union has diminished greatly.
Suddenly, the anti-drug mission has assumed a higher profile here,
accounting for 50 percent of Norad's air defense mission.
Norad commanders direct their anti-drug effort from inside the cave-like
complex bored 1,700 feet into the side of this mountain. When the complex
was built in the 1960's, it was designed to withstand any Soviet nuclear
strike. American commanders acknowledge that the far more destructive
weapons now available would level the entire mountain.
But commanders persist in keeping up appearances. A huge three-foot
thick steel door swings open to allow a visitor to enter a 6.5-acre city of 15
three-story buildings erected on a metal base sitting atop giant metal coils.
Designers figured if the Big One ever hit, the command post could sway on
its giant shock absorbers and direct a retaliatory attack.
The complex has food and water supplies for 30 days, and operates an
air-purification system. Every so often, commanders shut up the mountain,
and rehearse for the apocalypse.
Revised Role Since '89
Since 1989, the Pentagon has worked closely with Federal law-
enforcement agencies like the Customs Service and the Coast Guard to nab
drug smugglers. Anti-drug aircraft at the military's Southern Command in
Panama fly surveillance missions over Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. Long-
range radars and ships assigned to the Atlantic Command in Norfolk, Va.,
scan the Caribbean.
Norad's military radar and jets track and intercept suspicious aircraft,
and join with law-enforcement aircraft to follow the planes until they land.
"Norad is not going to shoot down a suspected drug-runner," said General
Horner. "It's beyond the scope of our charter."
Norad keeps 44 American and Canadian fighter jets on alert. The 40
American F-15's and F-16's at bases around the country can roar off in
pursuit of possible smugglers on five minutes' notice, a service that costs
the Air Force $22 million a year. Last year, the jets scrambled 104 times to
intercept drug smugglers. There is just one problem:
"Against slow, low-flying aircraft, it's difficult to maintain surveillance,"
said Lieut. Col. David Watt, a former chief of the air defense operations
division here. "Two fighters have to work as a team. Normally, they can't
even get a tail number."
Slower, twin-engine Coast Guard Falcon or Customs Service Citation
aircraft follow suspicious planes closer to the United States border. "Norad
is a very good backstop for our efforts, but we're pretty self-sustaining,"
said a senior Customs Service official in Washington, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity.
Balloons Vulnerable to Weather
Norad also points 40 fixed and mobile ground radars, some of which it
shares with the Federal Aviation Administration, south toward the
Mexican border. But the radars were designed to spot high-flying Soviet
bombers, and are blind to aircraft flying below 10,000 feet.
Perhaps the most debated arrow in Norad's anti-drug quiver is a fleet of
16 radar-carrying balloons, which watch for suspicious aircraft flying
below 10,000 feet. The balloons, which this year will cost $58 million to
operate, must be lowered in bad weather, limiting their deterrence.
Inside the air defense operations center, a small, dimly lit office, military
analysts watch computer screens and wall monitors that display maps of
the southern United States and the Caribbean. Arcs on the screens that
once tracked Soviet aircraft now plot courses of planes flying north from
Latin America.
"Norad is not taking the world as an unchanging place," said Lieut. Col.
David Tillotson 3d, a senior air defense specialist here. "We're not
pretending that the cold war threats still exist, but rather than reinvent
the wheel, we should adapt to new missions."
GRAPHIC: Photos: The entrance to the headquarters of the North American
Aerospace Defense Command, known as Norad, outside Colorado Springs;
At Norad's Space Command Center, generals are trying to preserve their
shrinking budgets by training some of their formidable weapons against
new villains: drug smugglers. Brig. Gen. Don Peterson, center, worked with
Lieut. Col. Dale Goodell, left, and Capt. Stephen B. Cichocki. (Photographs by
Jim Wilson/The New York Times)
Copyright 1993 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
July 18, 1993, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section 1; Page 15; Column 1; Foreign Desk
HEADLINE: Vargas Llosa Disparages Peru, and Vice Versa
BYLINE: By NATHANIEL C. NASH, Special to The New York Times
DATELINE: BUENOS AIRES
Ask Peruvians about Mario Vargas Llosa and more often than not the
reaction is surprisingly bitter.
"He hasn't lived here for three years," said Luis San Martin, a cabdriver
who used to run a steel fabricating business. "How does he know what we
need, what we are going through? It's easy to talk from Spain or London.
But he doesn't live with the reality of the country, people getting killed
every day, misery and poverty."
The writer, who almost became Peru's President three years ago, is now
among the country's most disliked figures.
President Alberto K. Fujimori, who edged out Mr. Vargas Llosa in June
1990, has more than 60 percent popular support in polls. Mr. Vargas
Llosa's ratings hover around 10 percent.
In his latest book, "El Pez en el Agua, Memorias," or "The Fish in the
Water, Memories," he tries to shake off feelings of betrayal by Peru and to
unveil the perpetual dirtiness of politics there, but he only succeeded in
fueling his countrymen's anger.
The book devotes 10 chapters to his youth, particularly his troubled
relationship with an autocratic and brutal father, interspersed with 10
chapters about his political career, which ended when he left Lima in 1990
for Europe, promising never to re-enter politics.
What angers Peruvians most is that Mr. Vargas Llosa spares no one,
including former supporters of his Libertad movement.
He describes as "cheap intellectuals" those leftists who denounced
American expansionism, then sought lucrative positions at American
universities. And he excoriates a number of former conservative allies who
have supported President Fujimori since he seized near-dictatorial power
on April 5, 1992.
Hernando de Soto, one of Peru's most noted political and economic
thinkers, was described as "pompous and ridiculous" by Mr. Vargas Llosa.
Sitting in the comfortable Plaza Hotel here, in the middle of a book tour,
Mr. Vargas Llosa said the attacks against him did not sting that much.
"There is nothing that they can say to me that they didn't say during the
campaign," he said. "I had to be specific and use names, otherwise the book
would have no real weight."
He says unequivocably that he is done with politics, was a bad politician
-- being too honest with the public -- and will never run for office again.
"I am returning to the ranks of the intellectuals and from there I plan, as
I have always done, to be critical and express opinions and engage in
polemics," he said.
Perhaps the most explosive pronouncement was his call for the United
States to impose the same economic sanctions on Peru as on Haiti, after Mr.
Fujimori closed Congress and the courts.
Peruvians, beaten down by poverty, guerrilla violence and economic
recession, took great offense, since in large measure they saw Mr.
Fujimori's actions as the only way to combat terrorism.
"The attitude here is that Vargas Llosa looks upon Peru as a Haitian
dictatorship, and according to the polls the people do not think that way,"
said Alfredo Torres, president of the Apoyo polling group. "He is seen as
elitist, an aloof intellectual who is against the country. I don't think he
could ever come back to Peru. He would be insulted in the streets."
Mr. Vargas Llosa, apparently recognizing that fact, talks almost as a man
without a country. "I am a Peruvian by geographical accident," he said,
adding that he felt the current outcry was an attempt by enemies in the
military "to use me as a scapegoat."
He concedes there could be some connection between his bitterness
toward his autocratic father and his harsh pronouncements on the troubles
of his country and his preference for living outside its borders.
"One thing my father instilled in me was an intense desire for liberty, to
be free and not bound by anything," he said. "They criticize me for not
living in Peru, but I am going to live where I please, wherever I write
best."
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts
July 17, 1993, Saturday
SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; D. LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
PAGE: ME/1743/D
HEADLINE: IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT IN BRAZIL; PERUVIAN PRESIDENT
SAYS CHANGES IN PERU'S POLITICAL SYSTEM HAVE BEEN ESSENTIAL
SOURCE: Radioprogramas del Peru, Lima 1929 gmt 15 Jul 93
Text of relay of speech by Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori at the
third Ibero-American Summit in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; monitored in
progress
- one of the richest countries on the continent is plunged into
underdevelopment and backwardness. Why have we not been able to
build a more just society, a better society for the majority? Common
citizens are asking these questions with increasing insistence. They are
citizens who, living in a system they do not trust because of its existing
inequalities, have always viewed themselves as silent witnesses.
I have no doubt that the main cause behind this situation in my country
has been the prevailing political system. It is an ambivalent political
system that would become a dictatorship or a pseudo-democracy, but in
either case it would wind up forgetting the main national interests. An
opposition party was victorious because the ruling party failed, and so on.
That is how a wealthy country like ours was running the serious risk of not
surviving.
What would have happened in Peru, the most difficult country to rule in
the region, if drastic measures had not been taken to avoid total anarchy
caused by the criminal violence of two terrorist groups? As in other times
and other countries, the political system was collapsing, thus threatening
Peruvian society with the abyss of a Pol Pot-style or fascist totalitarianism.
My view of my country's political reality and democracy is completely
opposed to a myopic conformity devoid of real and practical solutions. Can
we call it a democracy and defend the system knowing that it is based on a
permanent balance between the [word indistinct] and top classes that have
always held power at various levels? Of course not. However, that reality
has generated violence, corruption and a lack of attention to the basic
needs of the country's majorities. If institutions and power groups are
governing for their own interests, is it too bold to say that the system is
outdated and that the concept of true democracy needs to be revisited and,
consequently, the ruling political system redesigned? In Peru, the ill-
named democratic institutions were incapable of resolving the enormous
social problems or closing the gap that separates us from the developed
world.
As part of this Ibero-American community that has converged upon this
warm and friendly country, allow me to make my contribution by telling
you a little about our efforts, which are directed at laying the foundations
for development with equality. These efforts are having undeniable
results. We can now reaffirm our conviction that recovery in Peru is
completely feasible.
Much has been achieved during these three years of government. We are
controlling the inflation rate. We have brought it down from the 50% we
received to the current 2%, thanks to strict fiscal discipline. We have also
exchanged the negative reserves we inherited for reserves of more than
2.5 billion dollars, again thanks to fiscal discipline. We have re-entered the
international financial community. We are now eligible for credit, and
foreign capital has begun to flow into the country after many years. During
this time we have begun a moralisation process within the judicial
administration system so the people will have access to its benefits.
Beyond all this, we are defeating terrorism within an unconditional
framework of human rights. This means that we are managing the
recovery of a country whose primary asset is to be able to [word indistinct]
again.
To manage this, we made the firm decision to govern; to overcome the
unsurpassable barrier between the impossibility of governing and the
right to live in peace. Of course we still have a long way to go, but we
cherish the hope that by the end of my administration, Peru will be a
totally different country from the one we inherited.
Of all the challenges we face, achieving national peace is the most
important. Once terrorism is defeated there will be no more killing. It will
benefit not only our country but the whole region as it will eliminate the
possibility of this plague spreading to neighbouring countries, thus
preventing the terror and violence we Peruvians have suffered from
touching others.
As a significant part of this unique government experience, I must
highlight the enormous determination of the Peruvian people, both civilian
and military; their understanding and sacrifice in withstanding radical
changes with the conviction that it will be worth all their efforts to create a
truly democratic country with opportunities for all. That would be the
fulfilment of the historic aspiration of all Peruvians. Thank you.
Copyright 1993 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
July 17, 1993
SECTION: News
HEADLINE: Latin American Parliament dedicates headquarters
DATELINE: SAO PAULO
SAO PAULO, July 17 (AFP) - Latin American countries inaugurated the
permanent headquarters of the Latin American Parliament here Saturday.
Brazilian President Itamar Franco, host of the opening ceremonies, said
the Parliament's headquarters would be "the house of Latin American
democracy, which will be a privileged forum for dialogue and
understanding."
Ten 10 Latin American presidents, the president of Portugal and
representatives of 22 Latin American countries attended the inaugural
ceremonies, which were marked by a walkout during a speech and a street
demonstration.
Peru's foreign minister, Oscar de la Puente-Rayagada, stormed out after
Parliament President Humberto Celli criticized power grabs by elected
presidents.
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori seized nearly dictatorial powers in
an April 1992 self-coup.
Outside the building, demonstrators gathered in the streets to protest
the [sic]
In his speech to the assembly, Celli criticized "neo-liberal" proposals to
reduce the roles of the member states, defending accelerated regional
economic integration and underscoring the need for continental
integration.
Celli warned that without resolving "terrible social problems" brought on
by unorganized economic growth, democracy would be incomplete.
Celli also called for the International Court in The Hague to rule on the
morality of banks that in the 1980s lent money to Latin America, raising
its debt to more than 450 million dollars.
Leaders of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Portugal attended the ceremony
dedicating the the modernistic, cylindrical cement-and-glass building
designed by architect Oscar Niemayer.
Niemayer was one of the designers of the city of Brasilia, Brazil's capital
and seat of government.
The parliament, which is holding its 14th assembly, is to meet through
Sunday.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 17, 1993, Saturday, AM cycle
HEADLINE: PERUVIAN FAMILY MEMBERS KILLED BY SUSPECTED
GUERRILLAS
DATELINE: AYACUCHO, Peru
Three members of a family of Peruvian merchants were gunned down
by a hooded group of suspected Maoist Shining Path guerrillas in this
Andean city, police sources said Saturday.
The murder of a father, mother and one of their sons, gunned down in
their Ayacucho home, broke four months of peace in the mountainous
region which is the cradle of the leftist guerrilla movement.
Police, however, said the killings were an isolated incident, adding that
they did expect a resurgence of guerrilla violence in the region.
The Shining Path, whose 13-year war to install a peasant state in Peru
has cost some 26,000 lives, has been badly crippled since the capture of its
legendary leader and founder Abimael Guzman, now serving a life in jail
term.
Increasing government pressure against the leftist guerrillas has also
insured the capture of other leaders and thousands of militants since
Guzman's fall.
Copyright 1993 The Daily Telegraph plc
The Daily Telegraph
July 17, 1993, Saturday
HEADLINE: The Telegraph Magazine: The Warlords
ABIMAEL GUZMAN Leader of Peruvian Maoist terrorists Sendero
Luminoso (Shining Path), former professor of philosophy. Base: El Fronton
island penitentiary, near Lima. Territory: one third of Peru, including
Huallaga valley. Forces: estimated core of 200, with possibly 30,000
supporters WHEN Abimael Guzman was arrested last September, in a room
above a ballet studio in a smart suburb of Lima, he been living
underground for 12 years and was advertised as the most dangerous man
in South America. He probably still is. It matters not that President
Gonzalo, as he prefers to style himself, is now in prison; nor that the rigid
brand of Maoism he champions has been superseded in other parts of the
world - even in backward Albania. By his uncompromising example
Guzman has shown that an indigenous population, without any external aid
or finance, can challenge the ideologies of any superpower. Guzman, now a
bearded, overweight psoriasis sufferer, was born illegitimate on December
4, 1934 - an anniversary which is regularly commemorated by Sendero
with an electrical blackout. He was educated at San Agustin University, in
Arequipa, where he studied philosophy and law and was known as a quiet
and studious pupil. Following an earthquake in 1960, Guzman led a
damage assessment team through the barrios of Arequipa and the misery
he witnessed was to have a profound effect. In 1962 he joined the staff of
Ayacucho University, where an ethnologist colleague determined Guzman's
political development by pointing out a potent similarity between Peru's
pre-conquest society and Chairman Mao's China. In 1965, Guzman made
the first of three visits there. He learned a lot from Peru's catastrophic
Castro-inspired rebellion of the same year, in which only a handful of
revolutionaries spoke the language of the people they were trying to
liberate. By contrast, his own revolution would be meticulously planned.
For the next 15 years Guzman used Ayacucho University as a base from
which to recruit and infiltrate the local community. On March 17, 1980, he
launched the 'armed struggle' and disappeared. Since then it is estimated
that 27,000 people have lost their lives, many victims being executed with
ritualistic brutality. Damage amounting to more than @10 billion has
reduced Peru to a state of emergency with a suspended constitution. His
arrest and subsequent sentencing to life imprisonment have done little to
staunch the violence. Among the mysteries which cling to Guzman are the
circumstances surrounding the death of his fanatical wife, Augusta de la
Torre, one theory being that he killed her. Also not proved are the links,
much publicised by army officers, between Sendero Luminoso and drug
traffickers. But Sendero has demonstrated pretty efficiently that it does
not need coca-dollars to effect its revolution - it can make do with beer-
can bombs and stolen weapons.
Copyright 1993 The Economist Newspaper, Ltd.
The Economist
July 17, 1993
SECTION: World politics and current affairs;
INTERNATIONAL; Pg. 38 (U.K. Edition Pg. 50)
HEADLINE: Infrastructure in Latin America; Public services, private pesos
IN MONTEVIDEO and Mexico city, businessmen fed up with inefficient
public telephones have embraced cellular technology. In Buenos Aires and
Caracas, private courier services compete vigorously with the state-run
postal system. In Cartagena and Lima many put their faith not in the
national energy system but in private power generators. Across Latin
America, consumers and businesses have been turning to private suppliers
for services that had long been available only from the state.
The reason is the crumbling of state-run services. Debt crises and
budget crunches in the 1980s led many governments to neglect their
infrastructure. Politics made things worse. In many countries, politicians
keen on re-election have not allowed state firms to charge enough for the
public services they run, leaving them short of cash for new investment or
even for the maintenance of what they have. Politicians have also often
picked their friends to run these state firms, and they in turn have let
facilities crumble and then handed out contracts for replacement at
swollen prices to their cronies.
The result generally hits the poor hardest. Bad roads and public
transport cost farmers undue time and money getting their crops to
market or children to school. Often the roads are so bad that neither the
produce nor the children make it. The Pan-American Health Organisation
estimates that nearly a third of the region's population does not have
decent sewerage systems or permanent access to medical care; over a
quarter lack access to safe drinking water.
Business suffers too. The region's ports are one example. While most of
the world has moved to modern methods of handling cargo, most of Latin
America's state-run ports -- except in Chile, which modernised its ports a
decade ago -- have retained their labour-intensive ways. Imports and
exports alike are hit. In Brazil, port handling costs for steel were until
recently about $ 20 a tonne, five times the cost of Rotterdam.
Roads too have been neglected. From the 1950s to the 1970s,
governments spent heavily to build extensive road systems. But, as a
recent UN report points out, during the 1980s they then failed to maintain
the new roads or to adapt them to users' needs. The World Bank reckons
past bad maintenance will cost some $ 25 billion to put right, three times
what proper and timely maintenance would have cost. And each dollar
skimped on maintenance has cost road users three dollars in operating
costs, adds the UN.
Not everyone agrees that these burdens have slowed down economic
growth, however. Some economists think last year's severe power
shortages in Colombia hit growth by as much as 1% of GDP. No, say some
government officials. They admit the shortages were undesirable, but
argue that they unleased private-sector creativity which let businesses
carry on, using their own generators and flexible work schedules.
The ordinary citizen has undoubtedly suffered from neglected public
services. But some enterprising firms have flourished in recent years by
setting up industrial complexes with their own energy supply, port
services and satellite communications. Lincoln Rathman, of Scudder,
Stevens & Clark, a New York investment-management company, believes
such "islands of ultra-modernity" show that ropey infrastructure will not
hinder future growth decisively. His firm, along with the International
Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the World Bank, and two
American energy firms, recently launched the first fund for private
investment in smaller-scale power-generation projects in the region.
Private-sector infrastructure has drawbacks. Many small power
suppliers have used outdated technology, more polluting than that of
centrally provided services. They are not necessarily efficient; privately
generated power often goes to waste, as operators usually cannot sell their
excess power to others through a national grid.
Yet the power is there. And the rapid growth of such private suppliers
in various sectors of infrastructure has made the failure of public
providers painfully obvious. It has helped to spur central planners, and
the international agencies that finance their projects, to consider what was
once unthinkable; bringing in private capital and reducing the role of the
state in providing and maintaining infrastructure.
Attracting the investor
This change of philosophy, along with the need for large sums to fix up
the region's services, has led to a spurt of experiments designed to attract
private investment. In Mexico some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) of
four-lane toll roads are being built and financed by the private sector.
Peru, Brazil and mexico, following Chile's lead, have all started to reform
their inefficient ports. The toll collection on the main road connecting
Caracas to its airport (and -- more important to sun-loving caraquenos --
to its beaches) was long notorious for inefficiency and pilferage. Now a
private firm does the job, properly; revenues are up and the firm is even
contributing towards maintenance of the road.
One daring scheme is the Tiete-Parana waterway project is Sao Paulo
state, in Brazil, which will cost over $ 13 billion to complete. This is a
public-private partnership, and its decentralised decision-making gives the
leading role to private partners. The IFC estimates that over $ 35 billion is
currently invested in such public-private projects in Latin America. There
could be plenty more: Salomon Brothers, an American investment bank,
reckons that Argentina alone will need that much investment in
infrastructure by the end of the decade. On July 13th American and
Mexican officials announced a new programme of infrastructure
investment along their 2,000-mile border, for which they hope to win $ 15
billion-$ 20 billion in private capital.
Not all these experiments will succeed. Investors, domestic and foreign,
remain wary of putting money into long-term projects in countries known
for economic and political instability. Money for the Brazilian waterway
project may prove hard or impossible to find. Mexico's toll-road project
has already run into financing problems. Road-users have balked at the
high tolls on the first roads completed. Combined with cost overruns and
poor government planning, this has made Mexican investors reluctant to
finance more.
There is reason for optimism, however. The Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) reckons that some $ 50 billion of net capital
flowed into Latin America last year alone, three times the 1990 figure;
Citibank says $ 57 billion. More should be on its way. Continued
macroeconomic stability combined with legal and regulatory reforms in
many countries, notably Mexico, have provided investors with clearer
rules about repatriation of profits and greater protection for long-term
investments. Formerly state-owned services will get their share. Last
month saw the successful sale of 45 of YPF, Argentina's oil company, for $
3 billion.
Multilateral lending institutions are looking about for ways to aid long-
term financing. Shahid Husain, vice-president for Latin America at the
World Bank, believes that decentralising the financing and management of
infrastructure by increasing private participation is essential to the
region's future. His bank and the IDB are planning a new fund which
would guarantee longer-term private investments in infrastructure.
Insiders say the launch -- planned first for Argentina, with other countries
to follow -- will probably happen early next year.
Domestic investors will play their part. The privatisation of pensions,
which as just begun in Peru and Mexico and is under consideration in
several other countries, should open up new sources of capital and much
strengthen local capital markets. Chile reformed its pensions in this way a
decade ago, with remarkable results. Chilean electric-power companies
can now do what many thought unthinkable a few years ago: raise long-
term money at competitive rates.
Despite these promising changes, some signs of the old order remain.
Confidence in the region's commitment to modernity and the welcome
foreign investors hardly received a boost when an executive of Edenor, a
newly privatised energy firm in Argentina, was thrown in jail last month.
He had turned off the power to hundreds of thousands of slum dwellers
who were siphoning off electricity without paying. Plenty of potholes still
lie ahead on Latin America's road to the private-service future.
GRAPHIC: Picture, The superstructure looks pretty ropey too
Copyright 1993 The Economist Newspaper, Ltd.
The Economist
July 17, 1993
SECTION: Leaders; Pg. 16 (U.K. Edition Pg. 18)
HEADLINE: Reforming Latin America
HIGHLIGHT: Don't let a fiesta become a fiasco
LATIN Americans are usually quick to explain how much they differ
from one another, and seldom dwell on anything they have in common
with Spaniards or Portuguese. Yet, when the leaders of the Spanish- and
Portuguese-speaking world met this week in Brazil for their annual fiesta,
they were not just celebrating a shared cultural heritage, but were also
recognising a common commitment to reform. That commitment, always
fragile, now faces new threats, from both within and without. It would be
a tragedy if the chance to transform the whole of Latin America were lost
for want of proper guidance at home and necessary support from abroad.
The theme of this year's meeting was social development, a tacit
acknowledgment by the Latin Americans that the course of reform is in
trouble. In the past few years almost all of them have renounced
authoritarian governments and closed economies, and espoused instead
democracy and free markets. Admittedly, some countries -- notably Brazil
-- have been discarding old habits and acquiring new ones with much less
enthusiasm than others. And one, Cuba, has yet to start reform at all. But
it is not just the laggards that are causing concern. The wider problem is
that several years of austerity have begun to give way to impatience and a
feeling that it is time to hit the tequila. Hence the search for social
development.
For most Latin Americans the past ten years have indeed been hard.
Whereas one in four lived in absolute poverty in 1980, by the end of the
decade it was the lot of nearly one in three. At the same time the
distribution of income, already hideously skewed, grew even less equal.
Some countries have recently seen spectacular economic growth (7.3% in
Venezuela last year, 9% in Argentina, 10.4% in Chile), but others have fared
less well (Brazil's and Peru's economies both shrank in 1992). This year
the region as a whole may grow little more than 2%.
Against this background, politicians are beginning to notice the poor.
Their minds are being concentrated by a round of elections. Bolivia and
Paraguay have recently voted; Argentina, Chile and Venezuela go to the
polls later this year, and Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico next year.
The difficulty is that in general Latin Americans already spend quite a
high proportion of their national incomes on social welfare. Spending more
risks adding to budget deficits, inflation and the nervousness of investors,
all of which would in turn jeopardise the successes of the past few years.
In some countries -- such as Chile, which has travelled farthest down the
road to economic reform -- it might be safe to spend a higher share of the
budget on, say, education, especially if cuts were made in defence.
Education brings benefits to health and even income distribution, as well
as to economic prosperity. But most countries would be wise just to make
better use of the money already spent: fewer new schools to please
politicians' contractor cronies; less money for universities that benefit the
middle class, more for basic education.
The effort to spend more wisely should not stop there, if politicians want
to head off riots in the streets -- or even coups. Latin Americans are
becoming ever less tolerant of the corruption that use to be such a feature
of the old days. In the past year popular impatience with corruption has
helped to bring down two presidents, in Brazil and Venezuela; and it was
cited by another, in Peru, when with military backing he suspended
democracy. If Latin America's leaders want to win support for measures
such as privatisation (often seen by the poor as legalised theft for the
benefit of the rich, see page 38), they must open up the activities of the
state to inspection, bring in regulation and give up the old practice of
suborning judges.
Their best course, however, is the least glamorous: to continue the fight
against inflation. Unless they are outside the money economy, the poor
gain more than anyone from stable prices; unlike the rich, they cannot
insulate themselves from inflation, either by sending their capital abroad
or through systems of indexation like the one that enables Brazil to survive
with inflation of around 30% a month. A record of honest government and
victory against inflation will provide a formidable combination for any
reformer worried about re-election.
Stable prices, stable friendships
Formidable but perhaps not sufficient. Latin America's delicate reforms
could yet be shrivelled by the indifference of the outside world, especially
by the rich countries' reluctance to accept Latin America's exports (see
page 63). Obstructionism in the GATT talks is bad enough. Even worse
would be a failure by the United States to ratify NAFTA, the North
American Free Trade Agreement. That would be a blow not so much to the
Mexican economy as to the entire political edifice on which that country's
reform is built: an understanding that the United States will use trade to
underwrite economic reform, democratisation and stability in its southern
neighbour.
In August 1982 Latin America went into a decade of misery when
Mexico announced it could not pay its debts. A rebuff to Mexico on NAFTA
would be a rebuff to all of Latin America. Perhaps only Chile's reforms
would survive. The United States should not under-estimate what is at
stake.
GRAPHIC: Illustration, no caption
Copyright 1993 The Financial Times Limited;
Financial Times
July 16, 1993, Friday
SECTION: Commodities and Agriculture; Pg. 24
HEADLINE: Sale date set for Cerro Verde mine
BYLINE: By REUTER
DATELINE: LIMA
STATE-OWNED Minero Peru has set September 10 as the date for the
sale of its Cerro Verde copper mine, a 'world-class deposit' that has
attracted keen interest among top international companies, according to Mr
Raul Otero, the company's president, Reuter reports from Lima.
Distribution of the privatisation rules to the 19 mining companies
prequalified to bid for Peru's fourth most important copper mine was to
begin this week, he said.
The minimum price and minimum investment requirement for Cerro
Verde, 1,000km south of Lima in the southern region of Arequipa, would
be announced a month before the sale, Mr Otero added.
'We have yet to fix the minimum price and we still have to determine
how we'll fix the minimum investment because we need to look at the
alternatives and what is acceptable for us,' he said.
Copyright 1993 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
July 16, 1993
SECTION: LOCAL NEWS; Section A; Page 2
HEADLINE: Q&A ON THE NEWS
BYLINE: Betty Parham and Gerrie Ferris
Do you have a question about the news - local, national or international?
Betty Parham and Gerrie Ferris will try to get an anaswer for you. Call
222-2002 on a touch-tone phone and follow the instructions.
Q: Calvin Trillin's column mentioned a State Department document listing
the 50 countries most important to the United States. He said Canada was
No. 9. I'm interested in knowing what the other countries are. Can you find
out?
Glenn Kramer, Atlanta
A: An as yet unreleased State Department report called "State 2000" was
commissioned during the Bush administration to "re-evaluate and
overhaul" the manner in which our foreign policy is formulated and
executed.
Results were to reflect the changing dynamics of international relations,
with less emphasis on the threat of war and more on global economics,
technology and trade. The 50 countries ranked "most important according
to an evaluation of U.S. interests" are, in descending order:
Germany, France, Britain, China, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Israel, Canada and
Iraq. The next 40, in order, are Italy, Nigeria, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, Australia, Pakistan, Cuba, Libya, Argentina, Spain, El
Salvador, South Korea, Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand, Ethiopia, Syria, Peru,
Greece, Zaire, Jordan, Kenya, Venezuela, Brazil, Sudan, Iran, Chile, Jamaica,
Lebanon, Senegal, Singapore, Malaysia, Sweden, Netherlands, Colombia,
Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and Bolivia. The report says Iraq's importance will
diminish and Ukraine's will increase.
Copyright 1993 Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service
July 16, 1993, Friday
HEADLINE: ENVIRONMENT: BIODIVERSITY PACT CHANGE "THREATENS
ECOLOGY"
BYLINE: by Pratap Chatterjee
DATELINE: AMSTERDAM, July 16
European and U.S. plans to protect drug industry copyrights threaten to
gut an international convention on biodiversity of its most important
elements, say activists and parliamentarians.
They say governments from the European Community and the U.S. plan
to add legal language to the convention to protect the "intellectual
property" (patents and copyrights) of Northern corporations -- instead of
the millions of species the convention was originally designed to protect.
A total of 167 countries signed the convention that was drawn up for the
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro last June.
The convention requires them to catalogue all the species in their
countries, meet safety regulations when experimenting with new species,
and share the rewards of any research on species with the communities
that have protected the species for centuries.
For example, over half of the commercially marketed medicines today
are derived from the world's forests. Many of these species that provide
cures for diseases such as cancer have been used for centuries by local
communities and the knowledge about the properties of plants come from
these communities.
Furthermore the communities have painstakingly protected thousands of
varieties of each plant for their different properties. The same is true of
vegetables such as the potato which comes from the high mountains of
Peru where peasants have looked after 3,000 varieties of potatoes for
centuries.
But profits for the multi-billion dollar trade in these medicines and
agricultural products such as seeds go to large multinational companies
like Merck and Cargill who market them internationally.
The changes that the European Community (EC) and the U.S. are
suggesting will ensure that the companies retain the right to these profits
and not have to share them with the communities.
Yet according to activists like Vandana Shiva of Third World Network in
India, it is these very companies that are threatening this diversity that
the communities have nurtured.
Shiva says that the companies have selected certain species and grown
them in large quantities that have wiped out the smaller varieties.
In addition activists complain that corporations are harvesting many
species at such a rate that they will not be able to regenerate before they
are wiped out completely.
The biodiversity convention was supposed to change this by ensuring
that the communities that had protected the species would be able to
continue their work and derive some benefits from it.
To ensure that this convention enters into force a minimum of 30
countries must ratify that they will implement it. So far 21 countries have
taken that measure and the 12 countries of the EC together with the U.S.
hope to join their ranks later this year, which will give the convention the
necessary extra ratification to become legally binding.
When the convention was first drawn up for last year's Earth Summit,
then President George Bush created considerable controversyby refusing to
sign it on the grounds that it would not protect the "intellectual property
rights" (patents and copyrights) of U.S. corporations such as patents on
chemicals or medicines derived from natural plant and animal species.
This year the new president Bill Clinton announced he would sign the
biodiversity convention but activists soon discovered that there was a
catch.
The new administration had negotiated with several companies and
environmental groups to draw a special legal text (officially called an
"interpretative statement") to add to the convention that would allow them
to protect patents and ignore the safety regulations.
Shiva raised the alarm among groups around the world on the new legal
text and after numerous protests letters and faxes, the U.S. government
agreed to drop the additional text when it signed the convention in June.
But now, according to Gareth Porter, of the U.S.-based Environmental and
Energy Study Institute who worked on the special text, the U.S. is planning
to re-introduce a modified version of the text when it ratifies the
convention in September.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic, a similar text is being examinedby the EC
that says for example that "compliance with intellectual property rights
constitutes an essential pre-condition for the implementation of policies for
technology transfer and co-investment."
EC Development Commissioner Manuel Marin says that the text offers
"the best possible guarantee that the private sector will play a role" in
implementing the convention.
Earlier this month the environmental ministers of the 12 countries met
in Belgium to consider the text and 11 of them approved it. The single
exception was Dutch Environment Minister Hans Alders.
Because the EC countries want to ratify the convention together, this has
presented them with a problem and they don't expect to come up with a
consensus until December.
Just before the ministers voted, the members of the European Parliament
took a look at the additional text, and decided that it was "unsatisfactory
and premature."
Leading the complaint against the EC text was Hemmo Muntingh, a Dutch
member of the Strasbourg-based European Parliament and rapporteur for
the parliamentary environment committee, who said that the text suggests
that "the rights to patents and the like are more important than countries'
sovereign rights over their natural resources."
Unfortunately for him, the ministers can choose to ignore his plea for
such sovereignty because they are not bound by decisions of the European
Parliament. But he does have other powerful allies -- the environmental
movement.
Backing Muntingh's position are groups like Greenpeace. Its chief forests
campaigner, Patrick Anderson, says: "The EC apparently thinks the rights
of corporations are more important that the rights of groups such as
indigenous people."
And others like Shiva say that the activists must not allow the
governments to destroy the spirit of the biodiversity convention.
"The issue is not just a matter of interpretation. It is a matter of rights.
The U.S. interpretation is seriously weighted in favor of Northern
corporations and against Southern communities," she says.
Yet time is running short for them to protect the language of the
convention. This September the countries that have signed the convention
will meet in Nairobi to examine how to implement and pay for the
convention and the ratification process is expected to be completed by
December.
Copyright 1993 Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service
July 16, 1993, Friday
HEADLINE: PERU: FUJIMORI ADMITS POSSIBLE EXISTENCE OF DEATH
SQUADS
BYLINE: by Abraham Lama
DATELINE: LIMA, July 16
President Alberto Fujimori's acknowledgement that death squads may
exist in Peru brought calls from politicians and the civil sector that the
government end its dirty war against the insurgency.
Opposition representatives in Peru's constituent congress said it was not
enough to admit to the probable existence of the death squads, but that the
government must investigate and eliminate these groups.
Fujimori, in Salvador, Brazil. for the Ibero-American Summit, responded
cautiously when questioned by the press about denunciations made by
General Rodolfo Robles concerning the presence of death squads in the
military.
"Robles has given no proof nor revealed any sources. He has only
mentioned names . . . I can't deny that perhaps they are doing things, but
if they exist, I imagine they are left over from previous regimes because
my government has ordered the armed forces to respect human rights,"
Fujimori said.
Fujimori reiterated claims made in Lima that his government has
implemented stricter laws and wants to institute the death penalty against
the insurgents, who are currently tried by anonymous judges.
Peru's civil war, which began in 1980, has left over 29,000 dead or
disappeared. Both the Maoist Sendero Luminoso guerrillas and the armed
forces have been responsible for massive human rights violations against
the civilian population.
"The first reaction of governments against the subversives was to use
violence against violence and terror against terror, and this resulted in
some things that I am trying to avoid," Fujimori said.
Since Fujimori took power in July 1990, there have been two actions in
Lima that appeared to be the work of military death squads and left a total
of 25 people dead.
The first occurred in Nov. 1991, when a group of masked men assaulted
a house in central Lima, killing everyone attending a party. Witnesses said
the killers appeared to be from the military.
According to some testimonies, the victims were members of the Sendero
Luminoso and the party was held to raise funds for the organization.
The second incident occurred in July 1992, at the National Teachers
University, which at the time was closely guarded by the army. Two days
before, 40 people were killed and more than 200 injured by car bombs set
off by Sendero Luminoso in a residential neighborhood in Lima.
Nine students and a professor, suspected of being members of the
guerrilla, were kidnapped by masked men who appeared to be members
of the military.
In April, an anonymous source approached leftist congressman Henry
Pease with the claim that both crimes were committed by members of a
military intelligence unit.
A similar accusation was made by General Rodolfo Robles, who sought
asylum and said he would later reveal proof of the existence of death
squads within the military.
Robles' denunciation, made from Buenos Aires, was given further
credibility last week, when four clandestine graves were discovered
outside of Lima, apparently containing the corpses of the nine students and
professor who disappeared in 1992.
The graves were discovered after another anonymous tip was given to
the weekly "Si," along with a document claiming to prove the existence of
the death squads.
An investigative commission appointed by congress has been unable to
indict officers named in the anonymous denunciations because they were
already under investigation by the military justice system.
Representatives from all of the opposition parties, as well as some from
the ruling "Cambio 90" party, said that Fujimori's comments in Salvador
commit him to initiating an investigation into and purging of the death
squads.
Nevertheless, popular Christian Congresswoman Antero Flores Araoz and
ruling party member Carlos Ferrero Costa petitioned the Justice
Department to begin an investigation immediately in response to the
admission by Fujimori.
However, Pease and Social Democratic Congressman Jose Barba Caballero
said that Fujimori could be risking his presidency if he were to demand
that the army hand over those responsible for death squad activity.
Copyright 1993 The Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles Times
July 16, 1993, Friday, Home Edition
SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 7; Column 1; Metro Desk
HEADLINE: GLOOMY PROSPECTS FROM LATIN AMERICA'S SUMMIT;
HEMISPHERE: DEMOCRACY IS HOLDING, BUT THE ECONOMIC MIRACLE
REMAINS ELUSIVE.
BYLINE: By JORGE G. CASTANEDA, Jorge G. Castaneda is a graduate
professor of political science at the National Autonomous University of
Mexico in Mexico City.
The 30-odd Latin American and Iberian heads of state and government
gathered today in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, are quite a different group
than those who met in Madrid last year and in Guadalajara in 1991. This is
a summit of far less confident leaders, a reflection of how the so-called
Latin American miracle has lost its luster.
Some of the heads of state who preened at the last two summits are no
longer heads of anything. Brazil's Fernando Collor de Mello has been
impeached for corruption and faces criminal charges; he may be reading
about the next summit in jail. Carlos Andres Perez of Venezuela, one of the
sponsors of the summit idea, has been removed from office too, also on
charges of corruption. Jorge Serrano Elias of Guatemala, who manipulated
last year's meeting into endorsing his "intellectual" summit of the Americas
in Guatemala last April, was caught with his hand in the till also; he is now
in exile in Panama.
This year, the longevity award goes again to Fidel Castro. He has
outlasted every other leader in the Americas -- and survived the
unrelenting hostility of nine U.S. presidents -- proving the durability that a
legitimate revolution confers upon its jefe, aged and authoritarian as he
might be.
The Bahia summit comes at a time when the optimism and heady
expectations of the past few years are sputtering out. The expectations
were understandable. After a decade of economic stagnation, Latin
America seemed to be emerging as a hot prospect, doing what everyone
said should be done: Open up to trade and investment; privatize state-
owned industries; be friendly with the United States; embrace democratic
rule. In the glorious aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall, this was the
land of the future.
Today, three broad traits characterize the region's lackluster situation
(Chile, which is increasingly a case apart, being the exception).
After a smattering of economic growth in a few of the larger nations,
recession has set in, partly as a product of world trends, partly for local
reasons. Regardless of previous situations, regardless even of whether the
"right" policies were fully implemented, in Mexico, Colombia and Peru (to
name but three countries), economic stagnation is now the rule. Low or
negative per-capita growth, rising unemployment, cutbacks in government
spending and the growing presence and consequences of drug trafficking
are all the byproducts of this sorry state of affairs. In Central America and
the Caribbean, the situation is different only by degree.
In those countries where there is growth -- Argentina, Venezuela -- it
has been accompanied by a dramatic widening of social disparities.
Aggregate statistics, while impressive, mask severely deteriorating living
standards for what is probably the majority of the population. In an
impoverished middle-class Argentina, or in an oil-rich but typically Third
World Venezuela, the implementation of trickle-down policies has ushered
in results not unlike those they delivered in the United States: growth and
prosperity for some, deprivation and injustice for most. Except that in
Latin America all of this takes place without a safety net, and in societies
that were already grossly unequal.
Finally, Latin America is rediscovering that, whatever it does, certain
internal and international realities cannot be modified easily, if at all. The
huge inflow of speculative foreign investment into Latin America, for
example, hailed as part of the "miracle," has been attributed to economic
reforms. But recent studies are showing that the in-rush of resources is
much less policy- and country-specific and much more a result of the
conjunction of low yields in the industrialized nations and high ones in the
stock exchanges of Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. The best proof
lies in the fact that Brazil, which is generally considered a laggard in the
rush toward liberalization and privatization, is as much a magnet for
speculative investment as are "model pupils" such as Mexico or Argentina.
In fact, the host country of the Bahia summit is the sleeper of the
hemisphere. In another of the region's endless paradoxes, this year Brazil,
the supposed basket case of Latin America's economies, will grow more
than Mexico and Argentina, the presumed success stories. Mexico, the
jewel in the neo-liberal crown, will run a trade deficit of around $20
billion; Brazil, the plodder, will enjoy a trade surplus of around $20 billion,
one of the highest in the world after Japan. And it will have built up
reserves higher than Mexico's or Argentina's despite having privatized less
-- and making less of a fuss about it.
The picture painted at the Bahia summit is not a pretty one, although the
staying power of democracy in the hemisphere, despite all its
shortcomings, is encouraging. That picture has a moral to it: It takes more
than free markets and fair elections to make a miracle.
Copyright 1993 Latin America Institute,
University of New Mexico
NotiSur - Latin American Political Affairs
July 16, 1993
SECTION: Political violence & peace initiatives
HEADLINE: COLOMBIA & PERU: 2.5 MILLION PERSONS DISPLACED BY
POLITICAL VIOLENCE
On June 29, Mohammed Benamar, an official from the UN Office of the
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters that
approximately 2.5 million people have been uprooted from their homes in
Peru and Colombia due to political violence. Benamar said that the
situation faced by these internally displaced persons is often more difficult
and complicated than that faced by refugees who leave their homeland.
At present, most of the funds from the UNHCR's annual budget of US$1.3
billion goes for refugee assistance efforts in the former Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan and Somalia. "The degree to which these conflicts are
resolved will determine whether or not more assistance will be available
for other countries," such as Colombia and Peru, he said. (Source: Agence
France-Presse, 06/29/93)
Copyright 1993 Latin America Institute,
University of New Mexico
NotiSur - Latin American Political Affairs
July 16, 1993
SECTION: Political violence & peace initiatives
HEADLINE: PERU: GOVERNMENT CLAIMS TO HAVE KILLED OR CAPTURED
VIRTUALLY ALL LEADERS FROM REBEL GROUPS
In a July 6 communique released by the National Anti- Terrorism Police
(Direccion Nacional Contra el Terrorismo, DINCOTE), the government claims
that operations conducted over the last 15 months have essentially
"decapitated" the country's two rebel groups, Sendero Luminoso (Shining
Path) and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento
Revolucionario Tupac Amaru, MRTA). The statement affirms that Sendero
Luminoso no longer represents a threat regarding the seizure of state
power.
The communique indicates that during the past 15 months, DINCOTE
agents have captured a total of 832 members of the two rebel groups.
Captured leaders include Sendero's four central directorate members--
Abimael Guzman, Elena Iparraguirre, Laura Zambrano and Walter Zenon
Cardenas--as well as nearly all members from the Sendero political
bureau, central committee, and metropolitan committee.
MRTA leader Victor Polay and MRTA national executive committee
members Peter Cardenas, Lucero Cumpa and Americo Gilbonio have also
been captured.
According to federal public prosecutor for terrorist crimes Daniel
Espichan, a total of 194 rebels have been sentenced to life in prison on
terrorism charges since September 1992 when the life sentence was
instituted by presidential decree. During the same period, an additional
312 rebels have received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years on
similar charges.
Many observers of the Peruvian insurgency say the government's
dismissal of Sendero as a significant fighting force is premature. However,
the assessment is considered relatively accurate in the case of the MRTA,
as demonstrated in comments made on July 12 by captured MRTA
commander Andres Mendoza. According to Mendoza, the MRTA has only a
few bands of guerrillas left and the organization will probably disappear
altogether over the next few months. Mendoza and 30 other MRTA rebels
recently surrendered following mediation by Church officials between the
rebels and government prosecutors.
Four top MRTA commanders surrendered in early July. Under the
government's "repentance law," rebels who turn themselves in and
cooperate with military authorities are eligible for reduced sentences.
After his recent surrender, MRTA leader Jose del Aguila Valles declared: "I
didn't turn myself in out of cowardice, but because in war there are
winners and losers, and I realize we've lost." (Sources: Spanish news
service EFE, 06/27/93, 07/06/93; Agence France- Presse, 07/06/93,
07/07/93; Associated Press, 07/12/93)
Copyright 1993 Latin America Institute,
University of New Mexico
NotiSur - Latin American Political Affairs
July 16, 1993
SECTION: Human rights
HEADLINE: PERU: UPDATE ON LA CANTUTA DISAPPEARANCE CASE
Following months of tense deliberations, the five members of the
congressional commission charged with investigating the July 1992 forced
disappearance of nine students and a professor from the Enrique Guzman y
Valle University (La Cantuta) were unable to come to a consensus
regarding the events. Given the impasse, on June 23 the commission issued
two separate reports.
The majority report--signed by the three commission members
affiliated with opposition parties in congress (Congreso Constituyente
Democratico, CCD)--accused members of the military of responsibility for
the forced disappearance and probable execution of the La Cantuta victims.
Among those named in the majority report were Army commander Gen.
Nicolas de Bari Hermoza; Vladimiro Montesinos, a powerful advisor to
President Alberto Fujimori; National Intelligence Service (SIN) director
Gen. Salazar Monroe; Special Forces Division (DIFE) chief Gen. Luis Perez
Documet; Army Intelligence (DINTE) chief Gen. Juan Rivero Lazo; and Maj.
Luis Martin Rivas.
The majority report recommended judicial proceedings in the civilian
courts against all those implicated. The report also recommended that
Hermoza be dismissed from his post.
The two commission members from the pro-government New Majority-
Cambio 90 alliance released a separate report with a completely different
set of conclusions. The pro- government report absolved the military of
responsibility for the case, instead accusing the Cantuta victims of having
staged their own disappearances. The report suggested that the victims
could have been members of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) rebel
organization who chose to go into hiding, and recommended that the case
be turned over to the military courts.
Three days later, on June 26, the issue was put to a floor vote by the full
CCD. As expected, given that pro- government legislators control the
majority of seats in the CCD, the report signed by the three opposition
deputies was rejected.
After a brief respite, the case was back in the headlines following the
July 8 discovery of skeletal remains of an undetermined number of
individuals believed to be the Cantuta victims. The four mass graves
containing the remains were found in the La Cieneguilla district of eastern
Lima.
Discovery of the remains came after Ricardo Uceda, director of the
weekly magazine Si, received a map of the site, some charred bones--
including a complete human pelvis- -and a message indicating that the
bodies of the disappeared Cantuta victims had been burned in a military
barracks and then buried. In addition to a group of journalists, those
present during the exhumation included Peter Archard-- Amnesty
International's director for Latin America--and Francisco Soberon, director
of the National Human Rights Coordinator.
According to human rights prosecutor Clodomiro Chavez, identification
of the remains will take at least a month. However, since teeth were found
among the remains, experts have expressed confidence that it will be
possible to reach positive identification of at least one of the victims.
Shortly after discovery of the remains, opposition legislators in the CCD
requested that a team of investigators from the Inter-American Human
Rights Commission of the Organization of American States (OAS) be brought
in to supervise the investigation. They fear that local forensic experts
might be coaxed or threatened to file false reports regarding the identities
of the victims as part of a coverup. Meanwhile, several legislators also
called for the special CCD commission to reopen its investigations into the
case.
Ironically, the existence of mass graves in Cieneguilla had previously
been reported in leaflets which had appeared in Lima in recent months.
The leaflets stated that "those who were disappeared from La Cantuta
were assassinated, then burned, and then buried in Cieneguilla." The
leaflets were signed by a group calling itself "Leon Dormido" (Sleeping
Lion), the same name used by the group of military officers which
provided documents regarding the La Cantuta case to opposition
congressperson Henry Pease. In turn, it was on the basis of those
documents that Pease first went public with the case. (Sources: Notimex,
06/17/93; Deutsche Press Agentur, 06/25/93; Reuter, 06/26/93;
Washington Office on Latin America (congressional briefing), 07/06/93;
Associated Press, 07/10/93; Spanish news service EFE, 06/20/93,
06/23/93, 06/27/93, 06/28/93, 07/03/93, 07/09/93, 07/13/93; Agence
France-Presse, 06/23/93, 06/27/93, 07/08/93, 07/09/93, 07/14/93)
Copyright 1993 Latin America Institute,
University of New Mexico
NotiSur - Latin American Political Affairs
July 16, 1993
SECTION: Military issues
HEADLINE: PERU: UPDATE ON INVESTIGATIONS INTO NAVAL
EMBEZZLEMENT SCANDAL
Three concurrent investigations into the alleged embezzlement of about
US$40 million from the Peruvian Naval Attache office in Washington D.C.
between 1984 and 1992 have begun to bear fruit. One investigation is
being conducted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations, another by
Peruvian military officials, and a third by the Peruvian civil justice system.
The principal suspect in the fraud, former Attache Office administrative
director Ret. Capt. Enrique Villagarcia Martinez, was arrested by US
authorities earlier this year. On June 23, in a US federal district court,
Villagarcia was sentenced to eight years in prison on 112 counts of
embezzlement, communications fraud, interstate transport of stolen goods,
and money laundering. Peruvian authorities, who are still hoping to
recover some of the money, are considering filing a request to have
Villagarcia extradited in order to stand trial in Peru.
Meanwhile, the civilian investigation in Peru has led to the arrest of
Rear Adm. Guillermo Tirado Villena, former head of the Military Attache
Office in Washington and currently a member of the National Defense
Secretariat. Officials in the military courts are currently engaged in a legal
battle with the civilian judge assigned to the case, Moises Ayra Pena,
regarding jurisdiction over Tirado Villena's case.
Three others have also been arrested as a result of the military
investigation: Rear Adm. Augusto Perez del Solar, and retired Rear Adms.
Guillermo Simpson Villagarcia and Enrique Brian Valencia. (Sources:
Notimex, 06/05/93; Agence France-Presse, 05/21/93, 06/24/93)
Copyright 1993 Latin America Institute,
University of New Mexico
NotiSur - Latin American Political Affairs
July 16, 1993
SECTION: Summaries & analysis
HEADLINE: MENEM'S VISIT UNDERSCORES DISCORDANT U.S. POLICIES: FREE
TRADE OVERSHADOWS FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
(The following article is reproduced with permission from the author,
Mary Rose Kubal. The article originally appeared in the July 9, 1993 issue
of "Washington Report on the Hemisphere," a biweekly publication of the
Council on Hemispheric Affairs.)
The White House's first official visit from a Latin American president
last week pulled regional issues, if only briefly, off the back burner where,
aside from Haiti and Peru, they have been cooling. Argentina's ebullient
Peronist President, Carlos Saul Menem, was in Washington June 28-30 to
push his economic integration agenda and to receive the all-important
imprimatur of White House approval prior to his country's crucial October
mid-term elections. Taking in an earful of praise for his economic record
on top of broad suggestions concerning future free trade access, Menem
left the US with his wish list largely fulfilled.
The visit suggests that Secretary of State Warren Christopher's spirited
rhetoric concerning a new foreign policy focus on democracy and human
rights may be that and nothing more. Still unclear is the Clinton team's
objective in honoring Menem, whose presidency has been overshadowed
by a series of as-yet unresolved corruption charges, when it could have
backed up its heady language by inviting a more deserving--and needy--
candidate like Ramiro de Leon Carpio, former human rights ombudsman
and Guatemala's new chief executive.
One suspects US Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, the first official to
meet with Menem, is emerging as a major architect of Clinton's Latin
American policy--Christopher only deigned to see him at a quick White
House luncheon following the presidential meeting. The picture of the
accommodating regional leader willing to mount an aggressive pro-US
foreign policy while fully supporting IMF mandates at home, Menem
appears to have all the credentials that the administration's trade-oriented
officials cherish.
His government recently initiated the largest privatization effort in
Latin American history, selling off over US$3 billion in shares of the state-
owned oil company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF). Although
favored by business-oriented groups, these qualifications hardly justify
Clinton's apparent enthusiasm to do business with a leader best known for
his authoritarian tendencies, flagrant disregard for mounting social
problems and his role in a series of well-documented corruption charges
involving members of his family and close advisors.
Christopher's support at the Vienna summit for expanding the definition
of human rights to include economic guarantees would seem to clash with
the President's uncritical embrace of Menem and his neoliberal agenda. In
a joint press conference on June 29, Clinton's praise of Menem's economic
record and suggestion that "once Congress successfully ratifies the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and with Canada,
we will want to reduce trade barriers with other countries in this
hemisphere," sounded eerily reminiscent of George Bush peddling his
Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (EAI). Menem's visit indicates that
Clinton is as dedicated as his predecessor to extending free trade beyond
North America to the rest of the hemisphere.
In addition, Clinton remained quiet on the US$125 million sale of 36 A-4
fighter jets currently being worked out by the Pentagon and the Argentine
government. Although the meeting scheduled between Secretary of
Defense Les Aspin and Menem never took place, the deal, initiated by
Buenos Aires in April, is in the final negotiation stages. The horrendous
human rights record of the Argentine military, as well as Menem's pardon
of 280 of the armed forces' worst offenders, has been overlooked by
Washington in its zeal to cultivate good relations with a potential
hemispheric trading partner.
In ignoring Menem's failings, Clinton is sidestepping the uncomfortable
possibility that the stated objectives of fostering human rights and
democracy, while encouraging neoliberal reforms, are not always
compatible. Although it has girded macroeconomic stability, the massive
privatization of government-owned industries--conducted outside of a
regulatory framework--has contributed to lower standards of living for
millions of Argentines.
Steady transference and concentration of income has significantly
damaged the middle and lower-middle classes, much like the situation
Clinton has vowed to redress in the United States. Salaries have remained
stagnant while prices have steadily increased, and, due to Economy
Minister Domingo Cavallo's policy of maintaining dollar/peso parity, the
middle class faces constantly diminishing buying power. In the land of
cattle and grain, people are now literally starving, and a country which
boasted the highest levels of schooling in all of Latin America now spends
only 1.5% of its GNP on education--one of the lowest figures in the
hemisphere. Social services have deteriorated almost to the point of non-
existence for those who cannot afford basic needs, including medical care.
Cavallo has accepted the social costs of neoliberal reforms--an irony not
lost upon those who remember his statist financial policies while serving
the military dictatorship. The desire to return Argentina to its "proper
place" in the world is driving a model of development unconducive to
political and economic democratization. In 1991, Menem pushed through
legislation which increased the size of the Supreme Court and gave him the
authority to appoint over half of the justices. He has since used emergency
decree powers granted to him by that now-compliant body to implement
controversial policies which otherwise had dim legislative prospects, as
well as to block investigations of alleged corruption within his inner circle.
All of this appears to have been lost upon the White House, which seems
easily swayed by smooth-talking, free-spending Latin American statesmen
like Menem or his Mexican counterpart, Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
Hopefully, the US President and his Trade Representative will not be so
dazzled by Argentina's putative free market successes that they will
become apologists for yet another regime with questionable democratic
bona fides.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 16, 1993, Friday, PM cycle
HEADLINE: LATIN LEADERS TARGET U.S. TRADE EMBARGO ON CUBA
BYLINE: By Katherine Molinski
DATELINE: SALVADOR, Brazil
Latin leaders criticize the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and call for
greater support from rich nations in a final draft of the Ibero-American
summit declaration to be released Friday.
A copy of the draft obtained by Reuters develops the summit's theme of
"An Agenda for Development" by calling for freer, fairer trade and better
"north-south dialogue."
"We take note of the recent resolutions in international forums on the
need to eliminate the unilateral application by any state for political ends
of commercial or economic measures against another state," the document
says.
Called the Salvador Declaration, the document is to be signed by the 23
heads of state from Spain, Portugal and Latin America and presented
officially Friday at the close of this third annual gathering.
Participants said the reference to "unilateral measures" refers
specifically to the 30-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, put in
place by Washington to try to pressure Fidel Castro's communist
government to make political and economic openings.
Latin leaders here and even Cuban opposition activists said they felt the
embargo was hurting the people of Cuba more than the Cuban government.
Colombia President Cesar Gaviria, who met Castro Thursday, said he felt
the Cuban leader had begun to enact some changes in the island nation,
which has been under extreme economic pressure since collapse of its
trade ties with the former Soviet Union.
"There have been political and economic changes in Cuba and, if they
continue, it may be possible for the embargo that has been imposed on the
country could be lifted," Gaviria said.
Carlos Alberto Montaner, president of the Madrid-based anti-Castro
Liberal Cuban Union party, said his group would announce Friday its own
proposal to end the embargo.
"I think that the concern of the Latin leaders is legitimate, it is a concern
with the economic condition of the Cuban people," Montaner said in an
interview.
The embargo issue is seen as a victory for Castro, who has been trying to
get it on the Ibero-American agenda for the last three years. In his speech
before the gathered heads of state, Cuba's veteran leader hammered away
at the issue.
"I cannot forget that Cuba (is) under a brutal embargo, provoked and
threatened because it is small, because it sought social justice, because it
doesn't surrender," Castro said.
In the document the Latin leaders call for "greater access to the markets
of industrialized nations, adequate means of financing and technological
exchange" to overcome obstacles to development.
The document says including developing nations in the "international
arena" would benefit both poor and rich countries by increasing trade and
commerce.
"Prosperity in the South represents greater commercial opportunities in
the North," it says.
Participants from Spain's King Juan Carlos to Peru's Alberto Fujimori
emphasized the summit's call to promote development in order to end
widespread poverty in the region.
"Can we really term as democracy a system that is based on the
permanent balance of elites and power bosses that have always been in
charge?" said Fujimori, who was suspended from last year's summit after
he dismissed congress and gave himself extraordinary powers.
Fujimori was reinstated as an Ibero-American member after holding
municipal and constitutional assembly elections last year.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 16, 1993, Friday, BC cycle
SECTION: Financial Report. Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: TRADING ON LIMA EXCHANGE UP SHARPLY IN JUNE
DATELINE: LIMA, JULY 16, REUTER
Trading on the Lima Stock Exchange (BVL) rose sharply in June with
volume and number of transactions nearly doubling over the previous
month, stock exchange figures showed.
Stock trading on the BVL reached 259,569,298 nuevos soles
($129,427,955) last month compared with 172,053,745 nuevos soles
($87,675,737) in May, a 48.2 pct increase after inflation, the BVL said.
Number of stock transactions increased 18,059 in June from 12,666 in
May, an increase of 42.6 pct, it said.
Overall, profits were up 19.2 pct after inflation.
Sharpest gains were seen in preferred mining stocks (41 pct), followed
by banking stocks (29.7 pct) and public service stocks (22.4 pct), the
figures showed.
A BVL official said the June gains were due to the growing interest of
foreign and local investors in stocks running up to and following the launch
of the private pension fund system.
He added that last month's pledges of loans and donations by the
international community in Paris for Peru poverty programs, totalling
$900 million, helped boost investor confidence.
"They (investors) are taking notice of stocks which are still undervalued,"
the official said, adding investors were diversifying their portfolios.
The most heavily traded stocks were the Backus and Johnson brewery,
Southern Peru Copper Corp., Compania Peruana de Telefonos, Type "B" and
Banco de Credito, the BVL said.
The stocks of some 270 companies are traded on the BVL, the majority of
which are Peruvian-owned.
Copyright 1993 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times
July 16, 1993, Friday
SECTION: Overseas news
HEADLINE: Latin America's fragile young democracies on trial
BYLINE: By David Adams and Our Foreign Staff
DEMOCRATIC rule in Latin America has lately undergone a series of
important tests in a region where civilian governments only recently have
become the norm.
When Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected President of Haiti in December
1990, only Cuba remained as the odd man out as democracy finally
appeared to be taking hold. But Father Aristide lasted barely seven months
before he was ousted by a military coup. Under a United Nations peace
plan agreed at the weekend, Father Aristide will be returned to power on
October 30.
In April last year, President Fujimori dissolved the Peru congress and
suspended constitutional guarantees. In February and November last year,
President Perez of Venezuela survived two attempted military coups, only
to be ousted by constitutional means in May, following in the footsteps of
President Collor de Mello of Brazil.
On May 25, President Serrano of Guatemala, apparently inspired by
Senor Fujimori, also chose to rule by decree. A week later he, too, was
gone, to be replaced by Ramiro de Leon Carpio, the country's highly
respected state human rights prosecutor.
Observers are trying to evaluate whether these shifts are to be taken as
positive or negative signs. Most have no trouble placing Haiti, Cuba and
Peru on the debit side of the democracy balance sheet. The developments
in Venezuela and Brazil are seen as positive.
Political developments in Paraguay have seen the traditional coalition of
the Colorado party and military being voted out of power in May in the
country's first democratic elections in its 182-year history.
Guatemala is tottering on a knife edge and could fall either way. It
remains to be seen how the divided but powerful military will conduct
itself now that it must take orders from a man who dared to investigate
some of its sinister abuses.
''The history of Guatemala does not encourage a generous analysis of
military intentions,'' Eduardo Gamarra, a political scientist at Florida
International University, said. Civilian rule was restored in Guatemala in
1986 after a period of repression.
Mr Gamarra said he was encouraged by the way Venezuelan democratic
institutions survived the past turbulent year. ''The institutions did not
collapse; democratic procedures worked,'' he said. ''Democracy is not just
about elections, it requires strong institutions which are generally lacking
in Latin America.''
While the military still wields enormous power in Peru, Haiti and Cuba,
elsewhere armies are shrinking in the face of state-imposed
demilitarisation. Officers say they are happy to take a back seat as
democracy takes hold. Latin American forces have little to be cheerful
about, however, as budgets are slashed.
As countries seek to redirect military spending to neglected social needs
in a region of widespread poverty and illiteracy, the focus is slowly turning
towards the fundamental problems of ''hyper-corruption'', both judicial
and financial.
Charges of state-tolerated corruption were the root cause in the
challenges to democracy in Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, and Guatemala. Public
anger over corruption was also a factor in the Bolivian elections last month,
where illicit enrichment by public officials has traditionally been part of
the political culture.
Efforts at judicial reform and to impose mechanisms to control state
corruption throughout the region are still in their infancy. ''What
politicians lack is a culture of democratic behaviour,'' Mr Gamarra said.
Copyright 1993 The Financial Times Limited;
Financial Times
July 16, 1993, Friday
SECTION: Commodities and Agriculture; Pg. 24
HEADLINE: Sale date set for Cerro Verde mine
BYLINE: By REUTER
DATELINE: LIMA
STATE-OWNED Minero Peru has set September 10 as the date for the
sale of its Cerro Verde copper mine, a 'world-class deposit' that has
attracted keen interest among top international companies, according to Mr
Raul Otero, the company's president, Reuter reports from Lima.
Distribution of the privatisation rules to the 19 mining companies
prequalified to bid for Peru's fourth most important copper mine was to
begin this week, he said.
The minimum price and minimum investment requirement for Cerro
Verde, 1,000km south of Lima in the southern region of Arequipa, would
be announced a month before the sale, Mr Otero added.
'We have yet to fix the minimum price and we still have to determine
how we'll fix the minimum investment because we need to look at the
alternatives and what is acceptable for us,' he said.
Copyright 1993 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
July 15, 1993, Thursday, 2 STAR Edition
SECTION: A; Pg. 14
HEADLINE: Latin nations step out on world stage
BYLINE: JEB BLOUNT; Special to the Chronicle
DATELINE: SALVADOR, Brazil
SALVADOR, Brazil -- A summit meeting of the leaders of 19 Latin
American nations and their former colonial rulers is probably one of the
strongest signs yet of the changes sweeping the world.
With the third Ibero-American Conference that begins today and runs
through Saturday, the once troubled countries of Central and South
America and their European cousins, Spain and Portugal, will mark their
re-emergence as nations that the world must take seriously, analysts say.
""This conference is designed to define exactly what development means
and put it on the world agenda,'' said Marco Farani, spokesman for the host
Brazilians. ""This is the most substantive of all the meetings coming out of
our common cultural and historical roots. ''
A decade ago, it would have been almost impossible to get these nations
to sit at the same table, much less agree on a communique. Much of
Central America was in the midst of revolutions pitting Soviet and Cuban-
backed forces against U.S.-sponsored groups. Brazil, Chile and most of the
Andean nations were under stern right-wing military rule. Argentina was
in the grips of economic chaos, and the whole region was crippled by
foreign debt.
Spain and Portugal, having just tossed off the world's last vestiges of
Mussolini-style fascism, were trying to re-integrate themselves into
Europe. The United States, still smarting from Latin American anger over
the backing of Britain in the Falklands War, was loathe to permit any
further breaches of the Monroe Doctrine, committing the United States to
oppose any foreign involvement in the affairs of the Americas.
Today, however, only Cuba and Peru are outright dictatorships, and
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori won a referendum for his decision to
suspend the country's Congress in April 1992.
Most Latin American countries have embarked on a program of free-
market economic reform, and Spain and Portugal, in decline for 350 years,
clearly have rejoined the club of the leading developed nations.
For the first time in memory, says a U.S. State Department spokesman,
""Latin America and the United States broadly share common economic
goals and a commitment to democracy. ''
The main work of the conference will be to write a development
proposal to be presented to the United Nations. Despite economic growth
in most of the countries represented, all still suffer from a lack of
investment and access to the best technology the world has to offer.
According to the United Nations Commission on Latin America and the
Caribbean, the region grew 2.4 percent last year despite a world-wide
recession and depressed prices for its traditional agricultural and natural
resource exports. The figure almost doubles to 4.2 percent if Brazil is not
included. The largest and most industrialized nation in the region, Brazil is
hobbled by 1,200 percent annual inflation and zero growth.
On the economic front, the conference coincides with the arrival of
common needs and strengths. Latin America, with cultural and language
ties, is seeking new markets for its expanding production, and sees Spain
and Portugal as its doorway to Europe.
As Europe has united, the European Community as a whole has
supplanted the United States as many Latin American nations' largest
trading partner.
Spain and Portugal, for their part, are looking for new horizons. Before
the end of the Cold War, they were a favored destination for investment
from their richer EC neighbors to the north. With the fall of the Berlin
Wall, much of that interest has shifted to Eastern Europe.
""These countries need to show that they have a strong foreign base to
boost their influence in Europe,'' said Theotonio Dos Santos, a Brazilian
political scientist.
Spanish interests also have been investing heavily in Latin America.
Cuba, opening up in the wake of declining Russian aid, has been the
destination of nearly $ 1 billion in Spanish money. Iberia, a Spanish
airline, has bought formerly government-owned carriers in Venezuela and
Argentina. And Spanish businesses have taken advantage of other
privatization opportunities in Argentina, buying the state-owned telephone
system.
But while all this good will has made the United States' relations easier
with its southern neighbors, Dos Santos also said it shows the decline of
U.S. influence.
""Since the 1950s people in Latin America have been talking about Latin
American integration as a bulwark against traditional U.S. dominance, but
nothing was ever done about it,'' he said.
""The creation of this system of meetings was the first united and
independent expression of this. ''
Conference facts.
Facts and figures on the Ibero-American Conference nations:
Countries: 21 (19 Latin American nations plus Spain and Portugal).
Total population: 477.1 million.
Richest country: Spain (per capita income $ 12,644 and GDP $ 493.1
billion in 1992).
Poorest country: Nicaragua (per capita income $ 240 and GDP $ 897
million in 1992; inflation 13,670 percent per year).
Largest country: Guatemala, 9.5 million.
Languages: Spanish, Portugese.
Copyright 1993 The Financial Times Limited;
Financial Times
July 15, 1993, Thursday
SECTION: Pg. 3
HEADLINE: City seethes in summit shadow: Prospects and problems for the
Ibero-American conference, opening in Brazil today
BYLINE: By VERONICA BARUFFATI
LEADERS began gathering in north-eastern Brazil yesterday for the third
Ibero-American conference, which will focus on economic development
and social justice.
The two-day summit, which starts today in the city of Salvador, brings
together Latin American heads of state and those of the region's former
colonial powers, Spain and Portugal.
Much of the two days will be spent drafting a document - An Agenda
for Development, with emphasis on social development - to be presented
to Mr Boutros Boutros Ghali, UN secretary general, for further discussion at
the UN.
Most of the participating countries share urgent problems, such as high
infant mortality, poor access to basic health and education services,
illiteracy, malnutrition and endemic disease. Since May, ministerial
meetings have been drawing up working papers aimed at tackling some of
the issues.
Away from the conference's main agenda, President Alberto Fujimori of
Peru is expected to use the gathering to further his international
rehabilitation following criticism of his dissolution of Congress and seizure
of wide powers in April last year.
Admiring Brazilian press articles on Peru's economic progress under Mr
Fujimori pushed Brazil's President Itamar Franco to pledge this week that
there would be no 'Fujimorisation' of Brazilian society.
Citizens of the habitually languorous city of Salvador, Brazil's first
capital, have been sharply critical of preparations for the conference and
the accompanying facelift.
Many claim the meeting will do little to solve everyday problems.
In recent weeks the city has seen feverish activity to spruce up areas
between the airport, the convention centre and the hotels where 21
leaders, including Cuba's President Fidel Castro, will be staying.
Armies of otherwise unemployed men have donned bright yellow
uniforms to resurface and paint the city's two main arteries and to clear up
years of rubbish dumped alongside the roads and washed up on the city's
beaches.
Hotels have rebuilt suites, and restaurants near the conference area
have been subjected to weeks of rigorous inspection.
In recent years parts of the historical centre, Pelourinho, with its
magnificent churches and colonial architecture, have been restored,
becoming one of Brazil's main tourist attractions.
Copyright (c) 1993 Latin American Newsletters, Ltd.
Latin America Weekly Report
July 15, 1993
SECTION: EXCHANGE RATES; WR-93-27; Pg. 318
Local currency per US$ 1
Year ago Previous Current
COUNTRY CURRENCY 03.07.92 25.06.93 02.07.93
Argentina peso 0.99 fr 0.9996 fr 0.999 fr
Boliva boliviano 3.88 o 4.26 o 4.27 o
3.89 p 4.27 p 4.28 p
Brazil cruzerio 3,536.0 o 52,370.00 c 56,361.00 c
3,820.0 p 57,200.00 p 60,500.00 p
Chile peso 356.2 b n.a. b 404.29 b
358.0 p 414.00 p 414.00 p
Colombia peso 693.7 o 788.82 m 787.51 m
650.0 p 785.00 p 760.00 p
Costa Rica colon 135.0 o 141.17 o 141.30 o
135.0 p 141.80 p 143.00 p
Domincan Rep. peso 13.0 fr 13.0 fr 13.0 fr
Ecuador sucre 1,444.3 o 2,000.00 o 2,000.00 o
1,520.0 p 1,935.00 p 1,935.00 p
El Salvador colon 8.39 i 8.80 i 8.79 i
Guatemala quetzal 5.15 p 5.70 p p
Honduras lempira 5.48 p 6.50 p 6.70 fr
Mexico nuevo * 3.12 b 3.06 o 3.26 o
peso * 3.13 p 3.11 p 3.12 p
Nicaragua cordoba 6.13 o 6.14 o
oro 5.45 p 6.27 p 6.27 p
Paraguay guarani 1,490.0 fr 1,745.00 fr 1,745.00 fr
Peru nuevo sol 1.20 fr 2.01 fr 2.03 fr
Uruguay nuevo peso * 3.12 fr 3.97 i 4.01 i
Venezuela bolivar 66.78 fr 89.70 fr 90.20 fr
* new peso equivalent
c commercial
p parallel
o official
b banking
t tourist
i inter-banks
e exchange houses
m market rate
fr free
Barbados (dollar) 2.0 -- Belize (dollar) 2.0 -- Cuba (peso) 0.8 --
East Caribbean (dollar) 2.7 Guyana (dollar) 126.0 -- Haiti
(gourde) 12.0 -- Jamaica (dollar) 22.50 -- Panama (balboa) 1.0
Suriname (guilder) 1.8 -- Trinidad & Tobago (dollar) 5.7
Copyright (c) 1993 Latin American Newsletters, Ltd.
Latin America Weekly Report
July 15, 1993
A warning sign on the political front: legislatures seem to be losing the
confidence of the voters. Recent opinion surveys show the approval rating
of congresses at a dangerous low (13% in Argentina, 16% in Venezuela, 23%
in Brazil, 23% in Ecuador) and disapproval ratings very high (48% in
Ecuador, 48.6% in Argentina, 50.8% in Panama, 54% in Costa Rica, 77% in
Venezuela, Honduras and Guatemala). The exception: Fujimori's Peru, with
a 50.3% approval rating.
Copyright (c) 1993 Latin American Newsletters, Ltd.
Latin America Weekly Report
July 15, 1993
SECTION: PERU; Politics; WR-93-27; Pg. 322
HEADLINE: Debate begins on new constitution; OPPOSITION FOCUS ON 'NO'
CAMPAIGN FOR REFERENDUM
Debate on the new draft constitution began in the Congreso Constituyente
Democratico (CCD) plenum on 1 July, with the pro-government majority
making clear that approval of its text by 28 July, Independence Day, was
the objective, come what may.
Forced flexibility
There is no doubt that the draft presented by the Nueva Mayoria-Cambio
90 coalition will be approved -- the coalitions' majority in the 80-seat CCD
will see to that -- but the government's undertaking to submit the draft to
a referendum (whether whole or in part is not yet clear) means that, in
some cases, the majority will have to be more flexible that it would,
perhaps, like.
An early indication of this came on 4 July, when a proposal to refer all
human rights cases involving the security forces in the emergency zones to
the military courts was dropped after objections by the Left-Right
opposition. Even some members of the majority objected, fearing that such
a provision would remove all civilian control over the military. The
initiative came, as ever, from the hardline fujimoristas Gilberto Siura and
Martha Chavez.
Radical departures
The majority's text provides for a laissezfaire economy and a strong
presidency, both radical departures from the current 1979 constitution. It
attributes the leading role in the economy to the private sector, including
the provision of pensions and the privatisation of state companies. The
other two drafts submitted, by the right-wing Partido Popular Cristiano
and the left-wing Movimiento Democratico de Izquierda, stress the
separation of powers and the social obligations of the state.
Both argue that the majority's draft would lead to an autocratic regime
dominated by the President, and have said it will not survive after Alberto
Fujimori's departure. They propose a series of checks and balances which
they say are missing from the text under debate.
Provisions that would allow the President to dissolve congress without
cause, to veto laws, to issue an unlimited number of emergency decrees
and to be re-elected immediately are particularly objectionable to the
opposition. Henry Pease (MDI) has described the draft as 'autocratic,
unpopular, neo-conservative and centralising'.
PPC's proposals
The PPC's version strengthens the role of the legislature, sets out the
state's role in health and education, establlishing the obligation to provide
social security and free schooling, and establishes the legal framework for
a social market economy, including collective bargaining rights.
The main features of the MDI text are parliamentary control over
budgetary priorities, a 'popular veto' on laws and additional powers for
local government. It also emphasises the state's obligation to defend job
security, which is absent from the majority text.
Whittled-down text
The majority's text has 226 articles, 66 fewer than in an earlier version,
and it proposes to reduce this even further during the debate, to less than
200, according to Carlos Torres y Torres Lara, chairman of the committee
that drafted it. He says the new constitution will introduce more modern
concepts, including citizens' rights to introduce bills and to make the
authorities answerable for their actions, and will strike a balance between
the presidential and parliamentary systems.
The debate on referendums and plebiscites, which are key features of
Fujimori's brand of 'direct democracy', is likely to be contentious. The
opposition would like a 'yes' or 'no' referendum on the complete
constitutional draft, hoping to capitalise on the perceived unpopularity of a
number of Fujimori's policies.
The majority, on the other hand, would prefer a popular vote only on the
'big' issues, such as presidential re-election and the death penalty, and the
sooner the better.
Copyright (c) 1993 Latin American Newsletters, Ltd.
Latin America Weekly Report
July 15, 1993
SECTION: PERU; Violence; WR-93-27; Pg. 322
HEADLINE: Fujimori claims Sendero is beaten; MAOISTS 'ARE NO LONGER A
THREAT TO DEMOCRACY'
A flurry of reports in recent weeks have driven home the message that
the war against the 'subversives' of Sendero Luminoso and the Movimiento
Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (MRTA) is being won. In the case of the
MRTA, President Fujimori has announced that it will be defeated before
the end of the year, and that 95% of its leaders are already under lock and
key. On 30 June he declared that Sendero was no longer a threat.
Note of caution
Independent observers agree that Sendero is on the run. But some
experts sound a note of caution. Enrique Bernales, a former senator and
chairman of the congressional committee on political violence, thinks
Sendero might be lying low while it recovers from the psychological blow
of Guzman's capture, and the main regional commanders are still free.
Another expert, Enrique Obando, thinks Sendero could become an endemic
problem, like the IRA.
But the military believe Sendero and the MRTA are being defeated in the
main areas of operations: Cajamarca in the north, Junin in the central
Andes and Puno in the south. Massive raids, such as an operation
involving 5,000 troops and 200 special police in the Chorrillos district of
Lima on 23 June, are designed to crush Sendero's organisation in the
shantytowns.
Thousands of arrests
Fujimori claims that 80% of the leadership of Sendero's urban
organisation, Socorro Popular, has been captured. The Coordinadora
Nacional de Derechos Humanos calculates that 12,000 people have been
arrested as suspected terrorists in the first six months of this year.
The alleged MRTA commander in San Martin, in the north-east, Andres
Mendoza (Camarada Grillo), surrendered towards the end of June, with 30
followers, under the terms of the 'repentance' law.
Copyright (c) 1993 Latin American Newsletters, Ltd.
Latin America Weekly Report
July 15, 1993
The writer and former presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa has
become a Spanish citizen.
Copyright (c) 1993 Latin American Newsletters, Ltd.;
Latin American Regional Reports: Mexico & NAFTA
July 15, 1993
SECTION: EDUCATION & HEALTH; RM-93-07; Pg. 4
HEADLINE: Cholera growing fast; Over 2,500 cases this year
The cholera epidemic is growing twice as fast in 1993 as it did in 1992.
The Direccion General de Epidemiologia of the Secretaria de Salud has
issued a report indicating that 2,577 cases had been registered in Mexico
by 11 June this year. During the same period of 1992, the official reports
show 1,225 cases of cholera.
The number of deaths, though rising, is growing at a slower pace. From 1
January to 11 June 1993 a total of 54 Mexicans died of cholera, while there
were 47 deaths registered during the same period of 1992.
The bulk of the cases have been concentrated in the states of Puebla
(581), Morelos (444), the federal district (348), the state of Mexico (313)
and Tamaulipas.
When the present cholera epidemic first made its appearance in Peru in
1991, Mexican officials claimed that the illness could not reach Mexico.
Then health authorities said, after the first few cases were discovered, that
these were isolated cases that would not lead to an epidemic. Then it was
argued that Mexico city, which has the best health facilities in the country,
would be safe from the epidemic. All these forecasts have been wrong.
Health secretary Jesus Kumate has now taken to arguing that the threat
of cholera has been exaggerated, since other diarrhoeic illnesses claim a
greater number of deaths. Critics of the government, though, claim that
the threat is real and growing, and they argue that the spread of the
disease is a consequence of the administration's negligent attitude towards
the country's health infrastructure.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 15, 1993, Thursday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: A YEAR SINCE BOMBING, PERU BREATHES SIGH OF RELIEF
BYLINE: By Mary Powers
DATELINE: LIMA
Jorge Orderique was packing groceries in an all-night supermarket when,
a block away, he heard an explosion that came to symbolize the horror
endured by Peruvians in 13 years of Maoist guerrilla war.
"When I felt the first detonation I fell to the floor," Orderique said. "It all
happened so quickly there was nothing I could do, I only felt I was
covered in blood." He recovered from head wounds but a cement block
crushed a fellow worker.
The van bomb a year ago Friday turned the Tarata street apartment
building in Miraflores into an inferno, sparking a sort of collective
psychosis that Shining Path guerrillas might achieve their goal of bringing
the Peruvian state to its knees.
Twenty-five died and hundreds were injured or left homeless.
A year later, with Shining Path chief Abimael Guzman behind bars, the
tide has turned and the armed movement he launched in 1980 in the
Andean town of Ayacucho has been severely weakened, said guerrilla
experts gathered for a seminar here this week.
"The turnaround is the product of a counter-offensive which began in
1989 and led to the spectacular results, like Guzman's capture, we have
seen in recent months," said Carlos Tapia, a university colleague of Guzman
who has studied the movement.
Last September's capture punctured the "balloon of invincibility" created
around Guzman through his clever management of a psychological war,
said David Scott Palmer, professor of international studies at Boston
University.
He and other experts spoke of how the Shining Path, forging a strategy
based on Mao Tse Tung's peasant revolution in China, had failed to win the
support of Peru's peasants and which led the guerrillas to impose their
ideas through terror.
During the 1980s, massacres in Andean highland communities were
commonplace as peasants were caught in the middle of guerrilla attacks
and the government's often brutal counter-insurgency strategy.
Self-defense militias begun in 1989, now numbering about 3,500-
comprising up to 250,000 peasants in a loose alliance with local military
commanders, have become an increasingly effective mechanism to repel
the guerrillas, Tapia said.
"As a result of its own policies the Shining Path was forced to prioritize
the city over the countryside," said Palmer, editor of the anthology "The
Shining Path of Peru. "
But an urban campaign of car bombs and murders of shantytown leaders
turned Lima residents, with more political clout than their peasant
counterparts, against the Shining Path, Tapia said. The guerrillas also
earned the scorn of foreign governments after attacks on aid workers and
the religious.
The experts warned, however, it was too soon to perform an autopsy on
the Shining Path despite the capture of thousands of guerrillas and
President Alberto Fujimori's promise to crush the insurgency by 1995.
In the first half of 1993, 1,106 people died in political violence, according
to Constitution and Society, a specialized publication. The Shining Path
carried out 549 attacks while some 415 guerrillas died at the hands of
security forces.
Still, if that rate continues it could mean up to a third less people will die
in 1993 than last year, it said. More than 29,000 people have died in
Peru's political violence since 1980.
"What remains to be done now is to provide support to the peasant
population with works of infrastructure, not just the civic action programs
by the military," said Enrique Obando of the Peruvian Center for
International Studies.
Palmer said evidence exists that moderate guerrilla elements, once
isolated by Guzman, are working anonymously with shantytown residents
to combat grinding poverty and racism, factors often cited as the seed of
Peru's armed rebellions.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
The Reuter Business Report
July 14, 1993, Wednesday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: MINERO PERU SETS DATE FOR SALE OF COPPER MINE
BYLINE: By Mary Powers
DATELINE: LIMA, Peru
State-owned Minero Peru has set a Sept. 10 sale date for its Cerro Verde
copper mine that has attracted strong interest from abroad, company
president Raul Otero said Wednesday.
Minero Peru was due to begin distributing the privatization rules to the
19 companies that qualified to bid for Peru's fourth most important copper
mine, he said.
"There is a lot of interest because this is what they call a world-class
deposit," Otero said in an interview.
The minimum price and minimum investment requirement for Cerro
Verde, located some 600 miles south of Lima in the southern region of
Arequipa, would be set in the coming days and announced a month prior
to the sale, he added.
"We have yet to set the minimum price, and we still have to determine
how we'll fix the minimum investment because we need to look at the
alternatives and what is acceptable for us," he said.
The investment commitment is key because it would demonstrate the
bidders' long-term plans for the mine, the second phase of which is waiting
to be developed, he added.
He did not know how many of the qualifying companies, from the United
States, Canada, Japan, Finland, South Africa, Chile, Mexico and Peru, would
present bids.
An official decree published last weekend said the Economy and Finance
Ministry would assume the debt of Minero Peru, estimated at some $ 425
million.
Cerro Verde, which latest studies show has 380 million metric tons in
reserve and the potential to produce 40,000 tons of copper ore a day, is
Minero Peru's second privatization.
Late last year, Mantos Blancos, a Chilean subsidiary of Anglo American
Corp., acquired the Quellaveco copper deposit for $ 12 million, agreeing to
invest up to $ 560 million.
Next up after Cerro Verde will be a gold deposit at San Antonio de Poto
and the copper refinery at Ilo where Southern Peru Copper Corp. refines
its copper into cathodes. Otero said he expected both sales to be completed
by year's end.
Copyright 1993 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday
July 14, 1993, Wednesday, CITY EDITION
SECTION: VIEWPOINTS; ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT; Pg. 48
HEADLINE: New Diseases Endanger World Health
BYLINE: By Paul R. Epstein. Paul R. Epstein is a doctor at Harvard Medical
School and a member of the Harvard School of Public Health Working
Group on New and Resurgent Disease.
AN EMERGING VIRUS, an obscure toxin and a novel bacterium: Three new
diseases are cause for alarm and demand pause for analysis. As if this
summer's contaminated water and heatand flood-related deaths were not
enough, an altered climate may already be having an impact on the
pattern and proliferation of disease.
In the Four Corners area of the southwest United States, an unusual viral
infection has been confirmed in 12 persons, nine of whom died. It is the
likely agent afflicting a total of 32 persons, killing 17 as of June 21, and
now its spread into Texas is feared. This family of viruses was first
identified in the 1950s, when one strain infected thousands of United
Nations military personnel, causing Korean hemmorhagic fever and many
fatalities. In the 1980s, this kind of virus was isolated in rodents and in
human blood samples in the U.S., but this is the first outbreak of acute
illness here.
A likely scenario is that when heavy rains followed six years of drought,
pine nuts flourished, nourishing rodents. Driven by flooding from their
underground burrows, a swollen population of natural hosts enhanced the
chance for the virus to thrive and pass on. Whatever the route of entry,
changes in the environment and in the balance of predators with deer
mouse prey have apparently led to the emergence of a new viral strain.
One Navaho chief reflected: "We suffer for our people have lost balance
with nature." The Navajo once garnered rainwater from rocky outcroppings
to irrigate their fields below; but the landscape has declined from
overgrazing, deforestation and desiccation. Large climatological swings and
a year of epic storms (remember December, when cars were afloat on the
F.D.R. Drive?) may reflect even greater disturbances in earth's natural
systems.
In Cuba, an epidemic of optic and peripheral neuropathy has affected
over 46,000 people. The syndrome is reminscent of previous cases of toxic
nerve damage. Some affecting motor function, others the senses, they were
first reported in the Caribbean a century ago; arose among malnourished
POWs in the Far East during World War II; appeared in Nigeria in the
1960s during a famine; and, in 1981, in droughtand war-stricken
Mozambique, where cassava containing cyanide (a natural plant pesticide)
was harvested prematurely and cured improperly by malnourished
peasants with diminished defenses. In Cuba, where there are growing
reports of scurvy and beri-beri, food toxins are the chief suspects, with
underlying nutritional deficiencies that retard detoxification.
In India and Bangladesh, a new strain of cholera erupted in January. By
mid-April this vigorous form of Vibrio cholerae had invaded Calcutta
(15,000 cases, leaving 230 dead), and permeated Dhaka (600 new cases
per day at its peak). Sea weeds, marine plants and algae harbor cholera
bacteria. Nourished by nitrogen-rich wastewater, fertilizers, run-off soil
and acid rain, and deprived of effluent cleansing by the development of
coastal wetlands ("nature's kidneys"), algal blooms are increasing in
magnitude and duration worldwide. In some regions, elevated sea-surface
temperatures are shifting the community of organisms toward more toxic
species, causing "red tides" and shellfish poisoning. More antibiotic-
resistant forms of cholera have emerged, and a chlorine-defiant variant
has surfaced in Peru, penetrating poor populations who enjoy little potable
water. (Having hitchhiked in the hulls of arriving vessels, another, more
familiar form or cholera is now present along the Gulf Coast of the U.S.)
Changes in coastal ecology have generated "hot systems," in which
mutations are being selected for under new environmental pressures. The
new cholera strain has the potential to spread across the globe, and to
mature into the agent of a world pandemic.
"Epidemics," wrote Dr. Rudolph Virchow, a pathologist and public health
activist, in 1948, "are like sign-posts from which the statesman of stature
can detect a disturbance in the development of his nation . . . " These three
new diseases reflect accelerating climate changes, dietary deterioration in
a dwindling economy, and alterations in the world's large marine
ecosystems. Our forms of development and terms of trade lie at the core.
As felled forests and paper mills foul fisheries, and factories keep fossil
fuels inflamed, we fall vulnerable to insults. The intricate web of species
threatens to unravel. Financial incentives can redirect our course;
removing financial disincentives - the debts owed 'round the world - gets
closer to the source.
We must not wait for proof of global warming to deduce that ecological
changes and economic disparities threaten to cost us our health. The only
remedy is to reform our energy, industrial and forestry policies to curb
climatic change.
GRAPHIC: Photo - Paul R. Epstein
Copyright 1993 Reuters Limited
The Reuter European Community Report
July 13, 1993, Tuesday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: EP DEBATES RELATIONS WITH LATAM COUNTRIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SESSION NEWS PRESS RELEASE
DOCUMENT DATE: JULY 13, 1993
Relations with countries of Central and Latin America
Tuesday, 13 July - Ana Miranda de Lage (S, PES) reported on the
proposal to step up relations between the Community and the countries of
the Andean Pact, namely Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela
through what is known as a Framework Cooperation Agreement. This
envisages wide ranging cooperation in areas such as trade, economic
development, agriculture, the environment, energy and science and
technology.
According to Mrs Miranda de Lage, the countries concerned were rich in
natural resources and committed to improving their economies, but she
feared that the overall debt burden of $ 88bn, representing 56% of GDP,
provided a major obstacle to development. She hoped that the new
agreement would improve confidence and give a new impulse to
commercial relations and political dialogue. She stressed the importance of
the human rights clause, although she feared that the agreement would
simply be another piece of paper if adequate funding was not provided.
A similar type of agreement with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama was examined by Karin Junker (G, PES),
who also noted the importance of the clause on human rights and
democracy. She felt that the agreement could make a contribution to
tackling the problems of war, poverty, terrorism and homelessness which
had beset the region. Mrs Junker also streessed the importance of opening
up EC markets.
For Jessica Larive (Nl, LDR) the priorities included improving health,
fighting the drugs trade, introducing technology, protecting rain forests,
stopping desertification and preserving water resources, while Jan Bertens
(Nl, LDR) felt more could be done to tackle the debt problem.
Fernando Suarez Gonzalez (S, EPP) feared there would not be peace in
these regions unless there was a serious effort to reduce social and
economic differences. He felt the financial resources to implement the
agreements were not adequate. On the other hand, Rolf Linkohr (G, PES)
called for a stabilisation of prices for tropical products to allow these
countries to earn hard currency.
Replying for the Commission, Padraig Flynn explained that these two
agreements were the latest in a series of what are known as third
generation agreements which now link the Community with all countries in
Central and Latin America with the exception of Cuba. Their main
objectives, he said, were to foster economic and social development and to
consolidate peace and democracy.
The value of EC aid, which reached 145m ECU for each of the two regions
last year, was three times the level of aid in the mid 1980s, he added.
Among the areas being assisted were refugees, the development of
democracy, the fight against drugs and the promotion of trade, said Mr
Flynn.
Mr Flynn went on to stress the importance of the clauses requiring
respect for democratic principles and human rights which would allow the
EC to take appropriate action in the event of breaches. The interruption of
aid following the recent coup in Guatemala was a case in point, he said. On
the question of trade, Mr Flynn said the EC was committed to promoting
exports and he mentioned the possibility of the Community extending the
current special trade concessions beyond next year.
Copyright 1993 Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service
July 13, 1993, Tuesday
HEADLINE: PERU: LIMA RESIDENTS SUFFER FROM POLLUTION-RELATED
DISORDERS
BYLINE: by Ana Maria Lazo
DATELINE: LIMA, July 13
Felipe Sanchez, who has been working for eight years in the centre of
Lima, is suffering from a series of physical disorders which have notably
taken a toll on his work.
The young accountant insists he was in good health until 18 months ago
when he began to feel nauseous everytime he took the bus to the centre of
the city.
"While in the bus, I feel a slight pain in the area of the liver. I also feel
nauseous and as the hours pass I feel an insupportable fatigue enveloping
my body," Sanchez said.
But he said the curious thing was that the symptoms would disappear
once he reached home, and medical tests have ruled out anemia or any
organic infection.
Environmental expert Rosa Silva of the Project for Vigilance of
Environmental Pollution (VICON) says Felipe is slowly being poisoned by
highly contaminated air in the centre of Lima.
"The air which the people of Lima breathe is virtually poisoned due to
the toxic gases which have exceeded the normal limits established by the
World Health Organisation (WHO)," Silva said.
Air pollution causes disorders like asphyxiation of the body, liver and
lung problems, decrease in learning capabilities and skin irritability.
Lima, which has a total population of eight million, is one of the world's
most polluted cities due to its climate, the increase in the number of
factories and cars and the lack of green areas.
Last year, the Peruvian capital experienced its highest pollution index,
said VICON consultant Cesar Nunez.
Nunez said that in 1992, the sediments which settled in the centre of the
city exceeded 17 tons per sq km. WHO says the the normal deposits should
not exceed five tons.
Lima's Abancay Avenue, which is one of the capital's main and most
polluted highways, has already exceeded the allowable carbon monoxide
percentage recommended by WHO.
Environmental expert Felix Cuba warns that the quantity of carbon
monoxide registered in Lima's highways is enough to close the streets to
traffic in other cities.
But the biggest concentration of toxic gases is found in Lima's northern
outskirts, where more than two million Peruvians live in the poor districts.
Air currents from the south deposit toxic gases from the industrial heart
of the capital in the northern area, which experts say has about 26 tons of
sedimentation per sq km -- 21 times more than the safe limit established
by the WHO.
Cuba says more than 40 percent of the city's industrial activities would
have to be relocated to areas away from the wind currents in order to
solve the worsening problem.
He also recommends that the government review the routing of public
transport, implemented two years ago, which has resulted in a vehicular
chaos in streets designed for horse-drawn coaches.
In the first half of 1993, the number of cars increased considerably due
to the importation of new and used vehicles.
Now almost 20,000 public vehicles ply the Lima routes daily, and about
65 percent of the cars date back to 1970 or even before.
The lack green parks has also aggravated the problem, Cuba warns. He
said the capital requires more than 2.9 billion hectares of green areas to
purify the air. At present, it only has 1,400 hectares.
The European-Community sponsored VICON project has already
recommended that Peruvian authorities improve the quality of air. But so
far, they have not done anything, Cuba said.
Copyright 1993 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
AUTH: BY DOREEN GILLESPIE
TITL: PERU TO PRIVATIZE 8 FIRMS IN 1993; EXPECTS TO RAISE AT LEAST
$1.2 BILLION
REFR: JOURNAL OF COMMERCE Section A; Page 3, Column 2 JOURNAL-CODE
JCM
DATE: July 13, 1993, Tuesday
ABST: Peruvian Government aims to privatize eight state-owned firms in
1993 including copper firm Cerro Verde, and telecommunications
providers Entel Peru and Compania Peruana de Telefonos; anticipates
income of a minimum $1.2 billion from sales (M)
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
The Reuter Library Report
July 13, 1993, Tuesday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: CANADA BECOMES FIRST NATION TO SIGN ADOPTION PACT
WITH PERU
DATELINE: LIMA, July 13
Canada has become the first country to sign an accord with Peru aimed
at avoiding corruption and trafficking in the adoption of Peruvian children,
a Canadian embassy official said on Tuesday.
Canada informed Peru of its interest in the agreement after the Peruvian
government decreed a law last year giving the state a larger role in
overseeing the adoption process, Canadian consul Michel Vermette said.
''They (the Peruvians) are trying to clean up the whole process by
eliminating corruption, assuring (that) the children have really been
abandoned and avoiding cases in which children to be adopted have been
sold,'' he told Reuters.
Canadian ambassador James Leach and officials of Peru's National
Institute of Family Welfare (INABIT) initialed the agreement, which
provides for a three-year followup process of the adopted children, during
a ceremony on Monday.
INABIT director Ana Kanashiro said she expected other countries like the
United States and France to follow suit.
Vermette said at least two Canadian couples had encountered serious
problems while adopting children here, leading the embassy to take the
initiative in becoming the first country to sign such an accord.
Hundreds of foreign couples come each year to this impoverished
Andean nation to adopt children but they often encounter bureaucratic
delays and a corrupt judicial system.
Copyright 1993 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
AUTH: BY DOREEN GILLESPIE
TITL: PERU TO PRIVATIZE 8 FIRMS IN 1993; EXPECTS TO RAISE AT LEAST
$1.2 BILLION
REFR: JOURNAL OF COMMERCE Section A; Page 3, Column 2 JOURNAL-CODE
JCM
DATE: July 13, 1993, Tuesday
ABST: Peruvian Government aims to privatize eight state-owned firms in
1993 including copper firm Cerro Verde, and telecommunications
providers Entel Peru and Compania Peruana de Telefonos; anticipates
income of a minimum $1.2 billion from sales (M)
Copyright 1993 News World Communications, Inc.
The Washington Times
July 13, 1993, Tuesday, Final Edition
SECTION: Part A; WORLD; Pg. A7
HEADLINE: Legal, illegal firms share Peru jungle ; Mayor gunned down?
'Truth is you get a bit jaded to that sort of thing'
BYLINE: Lawrence Jay Speer; SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
DATELINE: PALMAS DEL ESPINO PLANTATION, PERU
PALMAS DEL ESPINO PLANTATION, Peru - Maoist guerrillas recently
gunned down the mayor of a nearby village, but managers at this palm oil
plantation in the heart of the world's coca-growing region saw the incident
as simply business as usual.
"I've been working in the most dangerous neighborhood in the world for
eight years," said Jorge Galvan, production manager for Palmas del Espino
S.A., "and the truth is, you become a bit jaded to that sort of thing."
A group of heavily armed ex-marine commandos flags Mr. Galvan down
as he drives the dirt road grids crisscrossing the 11,000-acre African palm
tree plantation.
"Having this kind of security is the only way we can live out here," Mr.
Galvan says, handing over his identification card to a combat fatigue-clad
guard.
"If you're going to do business in the Upper Huallaga Valley, there
simply isn't a choice."
According to U.S. Embassy officials in Lima, Peru's Upper Huallaga
Valley produces nearly two-thirds of the world supply of raw coca, the
main ingredient in the production of cocaine.
Violent trafficking organizations and the Maoist-influenced Sendero
Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrilla movement have taken advantage of the
drug trade to turn the valley - which is more than twice the size of
Maryland - into a killing field.
It is a level of danger that has kept business away for more than 10
years, with the exception of the four-factory Palmas del Espino complex.
The $55 million project - run by Grupo Romero, one of Peru's top family
business concerns with banking, industrial and agricultural holdings
nationwide - is testimony to the adage that anything is possible if there's
money to be made.
"When we started this project in 1979, terrorism and drug trafficking
had yet to appear in the Huallaga Valley," said Palmas del Espino
commercial manager Francisco Saldana, who oversees sales and marketing
from an office in Lima 350 miles to the west.
"We thought the area would be perfect for an African palm plantation:
the soil was rich, the climate was right and there were no tenant farmers
to compete with - it was virgin jungle then."
Thanks to former President Fernando Belaunde's penchant for opening
large jungle tracts to development, the push into Peru's last frontier was
then seen as the fulfillment of the search for El Dorado, the mythical city of
gold that had eluded the Spanish conquistadores nearly 500 years ago.
When Grupo Romero's agro-industrial experts teamed up with the
number crunchers to form the working plan for Palmas del Espino, it was
as if a group of modern-day conquistadores had discovered a new El
Dorado: cooking oil.
Aided by the low cost of agricultural labor here and a series of
convenient financing arrangements - $24 million was underwritten by the
World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and other
international financial houses - more than 4,800 acres were planted by
1984.
The bubble burst in July 1984, when Shining Path militants invaded the
as-yet-defenseless complex, destroying an unfinished camp, most of the
heavy machinery on-site and parts of the plantation itself.
Total cost of the one-day rampage: $1.5 million.
The Shining Path invasion carried a political message, Mr. Saldana said.
"Essentially they demanded that this project be stopped."
But Grupo Romero officials would hear nothing of it, calling on the army
and their own security forces to "create a safe haven for doing business. . .
We couldn't just back out and swallow our losses with more than $12
million invested," Mr. Saldana said.
Since 1984 Palmas has spent more than $1 million annually on security,
although construction of the U.S.-led Santa Lucia anti-narcotics base just
miles from the factory has lowered costs of late.
"The base has pushed the drugs and the terrorism further north," said
Mr. Galvan, the production manager. "They still grow coca everywhere,
but at least it's a bit safer to do business here now," he said, noting the
irony of an $11 million U.S. anti-drug base easing his security worries.
The company's biggest problem today, according to Mr. Galvan, is
getting its 25,000 tons of oil to market.
Terrorists have repeatedly attacked Palmas del Espino's trucks during
the 26-hour trip to Lima, usually demanding money, but at times simply
destroying the shipments or the vehicle itself.
GRAPHIC: Photo, A worker, using a machete attached to a 20-foot-long
pole, harvests palm fruit in the thick jungle of Peru's Palmas del Espino
plantation., By Lawrence J. Speer/The Washington Times
Copyright 1993 Extel Financial Limited
Regulatory News Service
July 12, 1993, Monday
SECTION: Company News
HEADLINE: Anglo Am.Corp SA - Chairman's Statement 1993
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT 1993
[deleted]
The changes taking place in South Africa and in much of the world beyond
us have widended the Corporation's horizons, offering the prospect of a
challenging, dynamic period of renewed growth. To have the opportunity
of discussing our plans, as well as certain public issues, principally
competition policy, unbundling, and black empowerment. I intend this
year to comment but briefly on the Corporation's results, which for your
convenience are summarised overleaf. In essence, they shown that despite
a further period of near-stagnation in world economic activity and trade,
and the severity of the South African recession, our equity accounted
earnings declined by no more than five per cent to R2 461 million in the
year to 31 March 1993, and we were able to maintain the dividend at 345
cents a share.
That says much for the basic strength and resilience of the Corporation's
core investments, and for the logic of their product and geographical
diversity. Implicit in those results is something I wish to make explicit
from the outset-the determined and successful efforts of our employees in
all branches of our group in containing costs and meeting in other ways the
challenge of these very difficult times. On behalf of the board, I
congratulate them. I turn now to our plans for expansions and further
diversification, so as to maximise profit potential in good times whilst
enhancing our resistance to adversity.
The final rejection of apartheld and the now irreversible progress toward
multi-party, democratic government are opening doors to South African
business in terms of projects, access to technology and multi-source
funding. Opportunities in African and other developing countries are
occuring not simply as a result of political changes here; they are also the
consequence
Since my last statement the R1 billion Venetia diamond mine and the R750
million Landau coal replacement project have both been formally opened,
leaving a further six major ventures actively in hand. To take the
international projects first, one set is being pursued in South America and
concerns Anglo American Corporation of South America (AMSA), which has
grown into a smaller version of Anglo American itself, with assets in excess
of US$ 1 billion, AMSA well illustrates, I think, the adaptability of the
group to a distinctly different business environment and culture. We in
Johannesburg have seen our role primarily as supportive, leaving to local
initiative the selection of partners and identification of suitable projects.
The management is multi-national, drawing on South African
administrative and technical skills no more than necessary. Financially,
AMSA has stood largely on its own feet from the beginning, and to have
financed its growth from its own and other internal sources have been no
small achievement given the infiationary conditions prevailing.
The Mantos Blancos mining company, which is listed on the Santiago stock
exchange, and in which AMSA holds 75 per cent, has four copper projects
in hand, three in Chile and one in peru. At its Mantos Blancos operation
north-east of Antofagasta, the life will be lengthened and production
maintained in excess of the current 70,000 tons of copper a year by
establishing a single large open pit from which almost all the oxide and
sulphide ores will be mined. Well south of Antofagasta is the Mantoverde
deposit, which was significantly extended by the work of our own
geologists. Now owned by the Mantos Blancos, it consists of about 80
million tons of oxide ore averaging 0.83 per cent copper. Assuming the
feasibility study is positive, production should start in 1995, building up to
a rate of 40 000 tons of cathodes a year.
The third project, Collahuasi, is held as to one-third each by Billiton/Royal
Dutch Shell, Falconbridge, and Compania Minera Mantos Minorco, which is
jointly owned by Mantos Blancos and Minorco. Collahuasi could become
one of the most important copper projects to be developed in the 1990s,
with a possible output of over 300 000 tons of copper a year. It will be an
open pit operation with a life of at least 40 years, and mining could start in
1997/98. Mantos Blancos purchased outright the Quellaveco copper
deposit in the south of Peru. It is our first direct investment in the
country, and we have now taken into partnership the International
Finance Corporation, an affiliate of the World Bank, with a holding of 20
per cent. Reserves of 268 million tons averaging 0.85 per cent copper lend
themselves to open pit mining. Test work is being carried out prior to the
feasibility study.
[deleted]
Copyright 1993 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
July 12, 1993
SECTION: FOREIGN NEWS; Section A; Page 8
HEADLINE: Peru: Stay put and be counted
A Peruvian soldier guards a bridge in Lima on Sunday as 350,000
volunteers conducted the first census in 12 years. The government ordered
residents of the chaotic capital to stay indoors as it gathered information
on needed services. /Associated Press
GRAPHIC: Stand alone photo of a Peruvian soldier guarding a bridge in
Lima
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts/The Monitoring Report
July 12, 1993, Monday
SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; 4(D). LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
PAGE: ME/1738/III
HEADLINE: Peru: state of emergency extended in Apurimac
The government had extended the state of emergency in Apurimac
Department for 60 days "to maintain public order", Radioprogramas del
Peru (Lima) reported on 9th July.
Copyright (c) 1993 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
Summary of World Broadcasts/The Monitoring Report
July 12, 1993, Monday
SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; 4(D). LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
PAGE: ME/1738/III
HEADLINE: Peru: four MRTA "leaders" presented to the media
Four Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) "leaders", who had
"turned themselves in to take advantage of the Repentance Law", were
presented to the media in Tarapoto on 9th July, Television Global (Lima)
reported, noting that one of them, Andres Mendoza del Aguila - alias
Comrade Grillo - had "held the highest position within the north-eastern
front of that subversive organisation".
Copyright 1993 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
July 12, 1993
SECTION: News
HEADLINE: Peru investigates cases of 100 missing students
DATELINE: LIMA
LIMA, July 11 (AFP) - Peru's attorney general is aiding investigations
into the cases of some 100 students who have disappeared in Junin
province, a legal source said Sunday.
Attorney General Blanca Nelida Colan met Saturday with security and
justice ministry officials in Junin province where an estimated 100 high-
school and university students have gone missing since 1991, the source
said.
In many instances the students are believed to have been murdered,
either by leftwing rebels or government forces.
This year, more than 70 high-school students, male and female, have
disappeared, apparently kidnapped by paramilitary gangs, said relatives of
the victims.
Copyright 1993 Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
July 12, 1993, Monday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 3; ZONE: N
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Census time in Peru: Peruvian Indian chief Shipibo is
interviewed by a census taker Sunday in Lima. To carry out the census, the
government had to shut down Lima, a city of 7 million people. It is Peru's
first census in 12 years. The count is considered vital to the government's
bid to restore order in a nation devastated by guerrilla war and economic
crisis. Reuters photo.
Copyright 1993 The Dallas Morning News
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
July 12, 1993, Monday, HOME FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8A
HEADLINE: Census for Peru
A census worker takes down details of the Texigua family Sunday in
Susana Higushi, a shantytown on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. The
government virtually shut down Lima for the count, part of an effort to
restore order from guerrilla warfare and provide basic necessities to the
11 million Peruvians without them.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO(S): A census worker takes down details of the Texigua
family Sunday in Susana Higushi, a shantytown on the outskirts of Lima,
Peru. The government virtually shut down Lima for the count, part of an
effort to restore order from guerrilla warfare and provide basic necessities
to the 11 million Peruvians without them. (Associated Press)
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
The Reuter Library Report
July 12, 1993, Monday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: MAOIST GUERRILLAS KILL 13 IN ATTACK IN RURAL PERU
DATELINE: AYACUCHO, Peru, July 12
Shining Path guerrillas attacked a remote hamlet in southeastern Peru,
killing 13 people and wounding several others in the biggest guerrilla
attack in the region this year, officials and witnesses said on Sunday.
About 20 guerrillas armed with machine guns, machetes and other
weapons entered the town of Matucana Alta in Huanta province, some 400
kms (240 miles) southeast of Lima on Saturday night, they said.
The guerrillas overwhelmed the local defence militia with their superior
firepower, leaving 13 of the town's residents dead and several others
wounded. The victims included three children.
Three of the wounded were evacuated to hospital in the departmental
capital of Ayacucho, some 180 kms (100 miles) to the south, officials said.
The attack was the biggest in the region since guerrillas killed 47
residents in the community of Huayallo last October.
More than 27,000 people have died in political violence in Peru since the
Shining Path took up arms in Ayacucho in 1980.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 12, 1993, Monday, BC cycle
SECTION: Financial Report. Canadian Financial Report.
HEADLINE: CAMBIOR <CBJ.TO> SIGNS JOINT VENTURE IN PERU
DATELINE: MONTREAL, JULY 12
Cambior Inc said it will form a joint venture with Southwestern Gold
Corp on Southwestern's Cristo Rey, Abancay Regional and other projects in
Peru.
The Cristo Rey project is 100 percent owned by Southwestern and is
located about 95 km southwest of Cuzco. Cambior will buy a 60 percent
undivided interest in Cristo Rey for a total of C$5.0 million over four years,
will fund a feasibility study and will provide financing to bring the
property into commercial production.
The companies also committed to the Abancay Regional Project, a US $2.0
million regional exploration program, on a 50/50 basis.
Cambior also has the first right to carry out due diligence on
Southwestern's seven other 100 percent owned properties in the Abancay
regional project area. Cambior will have the right to earn a minimum 51
percent undivided interest in each property.
The companies are also negotiating to acquire other property interests in
Peru.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 12, 1993, Monday, BC cycle
SECTION: Bonds Capital Market.
HEADLINE: GOVERNMENT TO ASSUME MINERO PERU'S DEBT
Minero Peru has debt of about $425 mln, including principal and
interest, company officials said. About half was restructured in talks with
the Paris Club in early May.
Minero Peru is due to sell off the Cerro Verde copper mine in late August
or early September. At least 14 foreign firms or Peruvian-based
subidiaries of major international mining companies have expressed
interest.
After Cerro Verde, Minero Peru will proceed with the privatization of its
copper refinery at Ilo and, later, Peru's Cajamarquilla zinc refinery, the
officials said.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 12, 1993, Monday, BC cycle
SECTION: Bonds Capital Market. Financial Report.
HEADLINE: TWELVE BANKS INVITED TO PROMOTE PERU BANK
Hidalgo said Interbanc, recently ranked fourth in Peru with 8.1 pct of
total deposits, would be the first bank sold off, probably by year-end.
Continental, ranked third with 15.3 pct of total deposits, will be
privatized in the first half of 1994 after the committee obtains
authorization to delay the sale, Hidalgo said.
Copyright 1993 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
July 11, 1993
SECTION: News
HEADLINE: Amnesty International to help Peru investigate mass graves
DATELINE: LIMA
LIMA, July 10 (AFP) - Amnesty International will help Peru identify the
charred remains of at least three people found in common graves in Lima,
Roger Caceres, head of the legislature's Human Rights Commission said
Saturday.
Press reports have speculated the remains found in a ravine Thursday
may be those of nine students and one professor who disappeared in a
military raid at La Cantuta University in Lima on July 18, 1992.
"The presence of a high level Amnesty International team in Lima
means we will have first rate scientific support," the opposition legislator
said.
The bodies are to be identified by pathologists with the Legal Defense
Institute in Lima.
Copyright 1993 Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
July 11, 1993, Sunday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 21; ZONE: C
HEADLINE: Peru orders curfew so it can start national census
BYLINE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LIMA, Peru
The government will try to freeze-frame this chaotic capital of about 7
million people Sunday at the start of an all-out effort to find out just how
many Peruvians there are.
From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., a curfew enforced by the military will keep
Peruvians indoors in Lima and all other major urban centers, close all
businesses and keep buses and taxis off the streets.
International flights in and out of Peru will continue as normal.
The only vehicles on the streets of Lima and other big cities on Sunday
will be military patrols and emergency services like firefighters and
ambulances.
Then, over the next two weeks, about 350,000 volunteers in red-and-
white baseball caps will make their way down jungle rivers by canoe, and
by mule across the Andes to check on remote communities never before
counted.
The census, the first in 12 years, is considered vital to the government's
bid to restore order in this Andean nation devastated by guerrilla war and
economic turmoil.
"There are no accurate statistics on employment or education, health or
housing," said Felix Murillo, head of the National Institute of Statistics and
Information, which is coordinating the census. "How we can we tackle
Peru's problems if we don't know how many we are or where we are?"
The census took four years to plan at a cost of $12 million. The data will
help the government decide where to put schools, health posts, roads,
housing projects.
The first results are expected in two months and the full report is to be
published next year.
Murillo hopes it will reveal who needs running water, electricity and
sewage outlets. World Health Organization figures show half of Peru's
estimated 22 million people lack such services.
The last census in 1981 counted 17.7 million Peruvians, 4.6 million in
Lima. Nearly half the 5.7 million work force had jobs. Today, at least 80
percent of the work force of 7 million are unemployed.
Experts say the results will show how Peru has changed since the Maoist
Shining Path insurgency began in 1980. The war claimed nearly 30,000
lives and caused $22 billion in economic damage.
More than 600,000 refugees have fled the countryside for the safer cities
since 1980, says Carlos Tapia, an expert on political violence and migration.
Some say the measures the government is taking to make sure people
will stay still and be counted are too extreme.
"The census is a national necessity, but I disagree with banning people
from leaving home even after being counted," said economist Graciela
Fernandez-Baca, who carried out the last census.
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
The Reuter Library Report
July 11, 1993, Sunday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: PRO-CUBAN REBELS KIDNAP OF PERUVIAN BUSINESSMAN
DATELINE: LIMA, July 11
Guerrillas of the pro-Cuban Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
(MRTA) were responsible for kidnapping a Peruvian businessman of
Japanese descent and killing his bodyguard, police said on Sunday.
A special brigade, comprised of members of the National Police and
Peru's intelligence service, has been formed to investigate the kidnapping
late on Friday of Raul Hiraoka Torres, son of the owner of the Hiraoka
chain of import stores, a police spokesman said.
Meanwhile, police sources quoted by El Comercio newspaper reported
Hiraoka's family had received a phone call in which the caller said 10
MRTA guerrillas in two trucks had abducted Hiraoka after blocking his
vehicle as he drove on a street in the San Isidro district of Lima.
The family has declined to comment on the case.
Hiraoka's bodyguard, Miguel Sandolval was killed during the incident
and another store employee was slightly injured, police said.
The MRTA, which Peru's government says is in disarray after the capture
of its principal leaders and surrender of hundreds of armed militants, have
kidnapped and killed two businessmen this year, one of whom was also of
Japanese descent.
Since 1985, three other businessmen of Japanese descent have been
kidnapped by the MRTA but were later released.
Copyright 1993 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
July 11, 1993, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section 3; Page 5; Column 1; Financial Desk
HEADLINE: Latin America's Oil Rush: Tapping Into Foreign Investors
BYLINE: By JAMES BROOKE
DATELINE: BRASILIA
LONG a crusty redoubt of nationalism, the Latin American oil industry is
quietly opening to a flood of foreign investment.
In late June, attention focused briefly on the successful privatization of
Argentina's state oil company, YPF S.A. But beyond that sale is a broad
movement in the region to attract foreign oil capital and technology.
"Oil nationalism was born in Latin America, so it is quite a turnaround,"
said Daniel Yergin, president of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a
consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. "There is no question that Latin
America is becoming a real hot spot for oil and gas investment and
exploration."
Just how hot can be judged by the crowded waiting room outside the
office of the new president of Petroperu, Emilio Zuniga. "I have been in this
job for three weeks, and I already have received representatives of 23
foreign oil companies interested in investing in Peru, " said Mr. Zuniga in
an interview in late June. By the end of next year, Petroperu, Peru's largest
state company, is to be sold to foreign investors.
The investors are lining up throughout the region for a variety of
reasons. Some want to diversify their portfolios away from the politically
unstable Middle East. For American companies, transportation to the
United States is generally quicker and cheaper from Latin America than
from the Persian Gulf and environmental standards are generally less
stringent than in the United States. And, finally, the oil is here.
Latin America led the world in oil discoveries from 1982 to 1991,
according to a recent survey of the region except for Mexico by
Petroconsultants S.A., a Geneva-based firm. During that period, companies
found 29.7 billion barrels of light, medium and heavy grades of oil in Latin
America, or 35 percent of world discoveries. Overall, proven reserves in
Latin America and the Caribbean come to 123 billion barrels, five times
the level of United States reserves.
Yet in many countries in the region, the legacy of years of oil nationalism
is declining production. Short of capital and modern technology, officials of
state oil companies increasingly see the value of partnerships.
"The silent confrontation of the 1960's and 70's between North America
and South America has eased greatly," said Gabriel Sanchez Sierra,
secretary general of the Latin-American Energy Organization, an
intergovernmental group in Quito, Ecuador.
The opportunities in the region range from huge privatizations like the
one involving YPF to equally ambitious joint production ventures and
construction contracts.
Still, despite the oil rush atmosphere, obstacles remain. Bucking regional
trends toward free markets and capitalist development, anti-American
feelings linger in some corners. And Marxist guerrilla groups in Peru and
Colombia continue to target foreign oil interests. What's more, oil
companies seeking to escape tight environmental restrictions will discover
that Latin American countries are tightening traditionally lax enforcement
of environmental laws.
What follows is a snapshot of industry changes in five key Latin
countries.
Venezuela
Unlike Argentina's wholesale privatization, Venezuela offers what will
most likely be the oil policy prototype for Latin America in the 90's --
foreign companies nibbling at the edges of a state monopoly. In the case of
Venezuela, the edges are juicy.
Last year, for the first time since the oil industry was nationalized in
1976, Venezuela signed agreements with foreign companies to produce oil.
Next month, in a second round of bidding, 80 foreign companies will be
vying to reactivate production in old fields, with reserves totaling 1.7
billion barrels.
Venezuela hopes to see $40 billion invested in the oil sector by the end
of the decade, according to Gustavo Roosen, president of Petroleos de
Venezuela S.A., the state oil company. Short on capital, the company plans
to invest $22 billion. The remaining $18 billion is to come from joint
ventures, including $10.4 billion in deals expected to be approved by year-
end.
"We're convinced that strategic associations -- that is, partnerships with
international companies -- are a far better alternative than indebtedness,"
Mr. Roosen said.
In the largest project, Exxon, Mitsubishi and Royal Dutch/Shell would join
Petroleos de Venezuela to convert natural gas into liquefied natural gas for
export to the United States. In two other projects, the state company would
work with Total S.A. of France, Itochu of Japan and Conoco Inc., a unit of E.
I. du Pont de Nemours.
Mexico
With national control of the oil industry exerting an almost mystical
hold over Mexican politics, officials in Latin America's second-largest oil-
producing nation maintain a strong nationalist front.
"Ownership and control of oil will remain unalterably in the hands of
Mexicans," President Carlos Salinas de Gortari said last March in a speech
marking the 55th anniversary of the expropriation of foreign oil companies
in Mexico.
But the monopoly is loosening slightly. Next year, Petroleos Mexicanos, or
Pemex, plans to start selling some of its 60 petrochemical plants.
In other departures, foreign companies are financing a $1.4 billion
refinery and have started drilling dozens of offshore oil wells. Pemex will
lease the refinery and wells until construction costs are repaid.
Colombia
Buoyed by a sea of oil that represents the largest find in the Americas
since the discovery in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay in 1968, Colombia is
embarking on an oil boom that could lead it to rival Mexico as a major
source of imported oil for the United States.
The new find is Cusiana, a field of 2 billion barrels of low-sulfur oil that
officially started pumping June 29. Half the oil is to go to Ecopetrol,
Colombia's state company, and the rest is being divided among three
foreign partners: British Petroleum, Total and the Triton Energy
Corporation of Dallas.
To raise production to 600,000 barrels a day by 1997, the four
companies are to invest $7 billion. In a measure of foreign confidence in
the field, Ecopetrol successfully offered a $150 million Eurobond issue in
late June, the first ever for a Colombian company.
With only one third of Colombia's oil-bearing area explored, Ecopetrol
will accept a new round of exploration bids in October. So far, the state
company has 86 joint ventures with foreign companies
But while Colombia's guerrillas believe the Government is giving away
the nation's riches, many foreign oil companies complain that the
Government is driving such hard bargains that it may kill the golden goose.
"Other countries are offering more attractive economic conditions,"
Stephen Newton, president of Occidental of Colombia, said in a recent
interview with a Colombian newsweekly, El Corredor. For every barrel of
oil pumped by Occidental, he said, 87 percent of revenues over operating
costs go to Colombia in the form of royalties, taxes and production sharing
with Ecopetrol.
Brazil
Latin America's largest nation has the region's most conservative oil
policies. With the exception of foreign-owned gas stations, the entire oil
sector is a Government monopoly. But, in contrast to Mexico and
Venezuela, Brazil imports about half of its oil. Petrobras, the state oil
company, has little hope of reaching an often stated goal of rendering
Brazil self-sufficient in oil in the 90's.
To hold down inflation, politicians routinely depress domestic gasoline
prices. Since 1980, this policy has deprived Petrobras of $25 billion. Capital
expenditures are now almost half the level of a decade ago, and 200
development plans are sitting on shelves.
Focusing on the Achilles heel of oil imports, Shell is coordinating a
business group to lobby Brazil's Congress to loosen the oil monopoly. The
move is well timed: starting in October, Congress will have the authority,
by simple majority vote, to amend the nation's Constitution, which
prohibits foreign investment in the industry. No amendments are now
permitted.
A recent survey found that just 40 percent of members of Congress
favor keeping the state monopoly intact.
Until the laws change, the only major area open to foreign participation
is a $2 billion, 2,100-mile gas pipeline that is to be built from fields in
eastern Bolivia, which hold six trillion cubic feet of natural gas, to Brazil's
"industrial triangle" -- the cities of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo
Horizonte.
Tenneco and British Gas have shown interest in forming a consortium to
construct the pipeline and thermo-electrical plants along the route.
Pressuring Brazil to open the monopoly, multilateral lenders like the World
Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank have indicated that they
will not help finance the gas line if the project remains under Petrobras
majority control.
Peru
One of the most radical turnarounds in Latin America's oil patch is in
Peru. With nationalizations in the 70's and legal tangles in the 80's, Peru
made it clear that foreign oil companies were not welcome. Paying a price
for hostility, Peruvians watched production and proven reserves drop in
half during the 80's. By 1987, Peru, once an exporter, had started
importing crude oil.
The turnaround came after Alberto K. Fujimori, a free-market
pragmatist, became President in 1990. He immediately worked to create a
pro-business environment by cutting Government controls and adopting
one of Latin America's most liberal foreign investment codes. Since 1990,
14 foreign oil companies have signed exploration or production contracts
and 14 more are expected to sign by the end of this year.
"Foreign companies are waiting in line," said Roger Alderson, general
manager for Simon Petroleum Technology, part of an American consortium
that signed an offshore exploration contract last month.
Further whetting foreign interest, Peru's Congress is expected to approve
an oil investment bill this month that provides for international arbitration
of disputes and a stable tax regime, among other things. And the
Government plans to privatize Petroperu.
" Peru is now one of Latin America's most attractive nations in the oil
sector," said Mr. Sanchez of the Latin-American Energy Organization.
GRAPHIC: Photo: British Petroleum workers in Cusiana, Colombia's 2
billion-barrel field. (Sarita Kendall)
Maps of South America showing countries with proven oil reserves and
their production (Sources: Latin American Energy Organization)
Copyright 1993 Reuters, Limited
July 11, 1993, Sunday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: PERU VIRTUALLY STOPS IN TRACKS TO TAKE CENSUS
BYLINE: By Mary Powers'
DATELINE: LIMA, Peru
Peru virtually froze in its tracks for eight hours Sunday as its citizens
were confined to their homes waiting for some 300,000 census takers to
ask them about who they are and where they live.
This normally bustling capital looked like a ghost town as an "immobility
order" took effect from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to allow the Institute of Statistics
and Information (INEI) to conduct Peru's Ninth Population and Fourth
Housing census.
Census takers spread out over cities, towns and villages of more than
100 homes as citizens were warned violators of the immobility order
would be placed under arrest for 24 hours.
Lima's Paseo de la Republica thoroughfare, usually clogged with buses,
minivans and cars, was deserted except for the occasional military patrol
truck or other authorized vehicle.
"Everyone is participating with civic spirit, staying in their homes and
giving the information required," said President Alberto Fujimori on a visit
to a poor section of central Lima.
Police reported isolated incidents of citizens who were moving about
without authorization in some parts of the capital but in general Peruvians
seemed to take the measure in stride.
"It doesn't bother me. I worked for 25 years and recently retired so I'm
a real home body now," said Olga Delgado who lives in an apartment house
in the San Isidro district.
INEI officials said the measure was designed at preventing the failure to
count hundreds of thousands of Peruvians as happened in the last national
head count in 1981.
Juan Maldonado, leader of shipibi indians of the northeast Amazon
region, said: "For us, as indigenous people, this census is historic because it
is the first time the governmment will take into account our needs and
ways to solve them."
The census in the jungle and remote highland areas, to be conducted in
the native languages of the area and to include a special questionnaire on
the needs of those communities, will begin on Monday and last through
July 26, the INEI said.
INEI chief Felix Murillo said thousands of leftist guerrillas held in jails
around Peru, including Shining Path chief Abimael Guzman, would be
counted but not interviewed. INEI officials estimate that this census will
count some 23,000,000 Peruvians and will register sharp shifts from rural
to urban areas because of economic hardship and a 12-year war by
Shining Path guerrillas in the countryside. Results are expected early next
year.
Copyright 1993 News World Communications, Inc.
The Washington Times
July 11, 1993, Sunday, Final Edition
SECTION: Part A; WORLD; AROUND THE WORLD; Pg. A8
HEADLINE: Two slain tourists found in Peru
BYLINE: FROM WIRE DISPATCHES AND STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: LIMA, PERU
The bodies of a Swiss man and an Austrian woman missing since May
and apparently killed by guerrillas have been found in the Andean
highlands.
Denis Masserey, 27, of Switzerland and Nicolette Huber, 22, of Austria
were found Wednesday near a lake in Lucanas province about 270 miles
southeast of Lima, a police report said.
Their bodies showed "signs of torture by presumed terrorist
delinquents," the report said, an apparent reference to Maoist Shining Path
guerrillas who operate in the area near the towns of Nazca and Puquio.
