Peru: Unofficial Results Show Keiko Forced Into Presidential Runoff (Updated)

Unofficial quick counts of the votes in Sunday’s Peruvian presidential election shows gave Keiko Fujimori the advantage but not enough to prevent a runoff on June 5th.

According to Ipsos, the daughter of imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori received 39.1% of the vote with 71.1% of the vote tabulated. Keiko got 38.5% backing with 77% of ballots counted based on an analysis from GfK. As a result, she would gain a plurality but not the majority required to be rewarded with an outright win.

Earlier in the evening, exit polls from both Ipsos and GfK showed economist and ex-Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in a statistical dead heat for second place with legislator Verónika Mendoza. Yet the quick count results have given Kuczynski a thin but widening margin of roughly 3% over Mendoza.

Update (April 11th): A Keiko-Kuczynski runoff will surely be held in about two months following an official count of nearly 83% of votes.
 
Polls in the weeks prior to today’s election have demonstrated rising support for Mendoza, the 35-year-old leftist candidate of the Frente Amplio who has pledged to “tighten environmental supervision of mining companies and…proposed ditching Peru's constitution for one that enshrines access to water as a right, protects the environment and weakens a ‘corrupt’ business elite.” Yet a CPI study conducted from March 25-27 demonstrated that the former energy and economics minister commonly known as PPK would be the only hopeful able to beat Keiko in a one-on-one electoral matchup.

Daily Headlines: October 30, 2015

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala lifted a state of emergency order for regions in southern Peru affected last month by violent clashes between police and protesters opposed to a planned copper mine.

* Venezuela: The U.S. could push for more sanctions against Venezuelan officials despite President Nicolas Maduro’s threats of suing the Obama administration.

* Puerto Rico: Will Puerto Rico run out of money as early as this November and fall into default?

* Costa Rica: The Costa Rica government and children’s rights advocates are planning to expand an online marketing campaign aimed at discouraging child sex tourism.

YouTube Source – AFP (“Demonstrators gather in Lima (weeks ago) to protest against a big Chinese copper mining project in the provinces of Cotabambas and Grau.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, GlobalPost, La Prensa, Seeking Alpha, Tico Times

Daily Headlines: August 24, 2015

* Guatemala: During a televised speech on Sunday night, a defiant President Otto Pérez Molina refused to step down from his post despite being implicated by investigators in a growing customs fraud scandal.

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala is expected to sign into law a proposal allowing the Peruvian military to shoot down suspected aircraft attempting to smuggle drugs.

* El Salvador: “An internal dispute involving the feared Barrio 18 gang” is believed to have been the cause of a prison riot that left at least fourteen people dead.

* U.S.: A recent survey found that the environment is a topic that has gained importance among potential Latino voters.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (“Thousands of demonstrators demanded the ouster of Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina on Saturday following the arrest of Vice President Roxana Baldetti in a graft scandal that has rocked the country.”)

Online Sources – Bloomberg, The Indpendent, RTE, NPR

Daily Headlines: June 24, 2014

* Argentina: “I am moving as rapidly as possible to be of assistance to the parties,” said Daniel Pollack, the attorney assigned to oversee negotiations between the Argentine government and hedge fund investors seeking a court-ordered payment of $1.3 billion in debt.

* Mexico: Luis Fernando Sanchez Arellano, the head of the Tijuana drug gang, was captured by authorities shortly after Mexico’s crucial World Cup win over Croatia yesterday.

* Brazil: Six Latin American countries, and potentially two more, have qualified to the round of 16 stage of the World Cup in Brazil.

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala made three ministerial changes to his cabinet as his popularity slipped to an all-time low of 21%.

Video Source – Democracy Now via YouTube

Online Sources – Bloomberg; Newsweek; The Huffington Post; euronews

Daily Headlines: September 16, 2013

* South America: Public discontent and a summer of protests have contributed to plummeting approval ratings for Peruvian President Ollanta Humala (27%) and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (21%).

* Puerto Rico: Health secretary Francisco Joglar resigned after the controversial deaths of ten people at a public hospital due to a bacterial infection.

* Argentina: “Gaucho priest” Jose Gabriel Brochero was beatified in an open air mass on Saturday that was attended by an estimated 150,000 individuals.

* Mexico: At least tweenty-three people have died as a result of landslides, flooding and heavy rains caused by Hurricane Ingrid and Tropical Storm Manuel.

Video Source – YouTube via NTDTV (Video uploaded on August 20, 2013).

Online Sources- NBC News; ABC News; USA TODAY; GlobalPost; france24.com

Top Peruvian Shining Path Rebels Killed

Two senior members of Peru’s Shining Path guerillas were reportedly killed in a military operation carried out late Sunday night.

Alejandro Borda Casafranca, who was the rebels’ second-in-command and nicknamed "Comrade Alipio", and Marco Antonio Quispe Palomino ("Comrade Gabriel") were slain along with at lest one other suspected rebel in the Ayacucho region according to President Ollanta Humala.

"Intelligence sources that took part in this operation confirm ... they would be the number one and number two in control of Shining Path's military structure," Humala said on television on Monday morning.

Authorities are performing autopsies to confirm identities though armed forces chief Adm. Jose Cueto claimed "(Comrade) Alipio for certain. Still to be determined is (Comrade) Gabriel but it is nearly certain that it is him as well."

At its peak in the 1980s when the group seriously threatened the Peruvian state with terrorist activities in the capital city of Lima, massacres of hundreds of rural residents and the disappearances of thousands of people.  Since the capture of then-rebel leader and cult figure Abimael Guzman in 1992, however, the Shining Path has become severely debilitated militarily and politically.  One of the most recent blows against the guerillas was the capture in February of 2012 of their chief, “Comrade Artemio,” who was subsequently convicted on charges of terrorism and drug trafficking.

While the Shining Path may be a shell of what it one was some three decades ago, the rebels have not been completely defeated and they continue battling against the Peruvian military.  In April 2012, a group led by Borda and Quispe briefly kidnapped and then released thirty-six workers on the Camisea gas pipeline.  The rebels have also allied themselves to illegal drug trade and finances itself by growing and smuggling coca out of the Apurimac and Ene river valley region (VREAM).

Daily Headlines: April 30, 2013

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala indicated that he might pardon Alberto Fujimori, a disgraced former leader who is serving prison sentences for corruption and human rights abuses.

* Venezuela: A political ally of opposition leader Henrique Capriles was charged with promoting post-electoral violence days after U.S. filmmaker Timothy Tracy with conspiracy, falsifying public documents and other crimes.

* Bolivia: The Bolivian constitutional court gave the green light for President Evo Morales to run for a third term in elections scheduled for December 2014.

* Puerto Rico: Several Puerto Rican politicians backed presenting a resolution to the Congress aimed at “achieving the admission of Puerto Rico as a (U.S.) state”.

Video Source – YouTube via Associated Press (In 2009, “a special tribunal convicted former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori of murder and kidnapping on Tuesday and sentenced him to 25 years in prison for death squad activities during his autocratic 10-year rule”.)
 
Online Sources- Businessweek; Huffington Post; Al Jazeera English; The Latin Americanist; AFP

Peru: Imprisoned Ex-President Cancer Free Says Doctors

The odds that imprisoned former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori could receive a pardon may have gotten a lot slimmer after the results of a medical report were published yesterday.

According to a study conducted by twelve specialists, the ex-president “was suffering from tongue cancer…although no current evidence of the disease exists.”

The report on Fujimori, who is serving prison sentences on charges ranging from bribery to human rights abuses, also concluded that he was going through various ailments such as chronic gastritis and hypertension.

Furthermore, three of the five psychiatrists who examined Fujimori found that he is suffering from a “deep depression with suicidal tendencies.”  The psychiatry team was nevertheless divided as to whether Fujimori’s mental state is “recurring but moderate” or requiring “constant surveillance” over him.

The report was revealed by the local Cuarto Poder television newsmagazine program days before the Commission on Presidential Pardons is expected to emit its recommendation over the imprisonment of the former president.

The Fujimori family claimed they would not provide a public comment to the report even though last year they filed the request for a pardon.  Yet congressman Kenji Fujimori insisted in an interview that his father does have cancer and that the combination of maladies affecting him justifies a presidential pardon.

As to be expected regarding such a divisive figure like Fujimori, getting him to undergo a comprehensive medical exam was not without its controversy.  The ex-president failed to convince prison authorities to allow his personal physicians to take part in the group of doctors examining him.

Unsurprisingly, the results of the medical report have had its share of supporters and detractors in Peru.  Among the former is Fujimori’s personal doctor, Alejandro Aguinaga:

Daily Headlines: September 13, 2012

* Peru: On the twentieth anniversary of the capture of Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman, President Ollanta Humala said that he will not negotiate with the guerillas.

* Cuba: Cuban officials said that they would be willing to talk with the U.S. government over possibly releasing imprisoned contractor Alan Gross.

* Latin America: Latin American governments condemned the violent attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that left four people including Ambassador Christopher Stevens dead.

* El Salvador: Ex-senior Salvadoran military officer Inocente Orlando Montano pled guilty in the U.S. to immigration fraud and could be extradited to Spain over his alleged role in the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- NPR, RTT, Reuters, infosurhoy.com, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: September 6, 2012

* Paraguay: Reporters Without Borders denounced the “purge” of twenty-seven employees of a state-run TV station allegedly due to their support of ousted President Fernando Lugo.

* Latin America: “The balance of the political and economic performance of (Latin America and the Caribbean) during the last twelve months in general is positive,” claimed Organization of American States chief Jose Miguel Insulza.

* Argentina: Debate commenced yesterday in the Senate on a government-backed proposal that would lower the voting age from eighteen to sixteen.

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala said that the military killed Comrade Williams, one of the commanders of the Shining Path rebel army.

Video Source – YouTube via user TvPública Paraguay (Former Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo speaking on state-run TV Pública hours after he was ousted last June)

Online Sources- Reporters Without Borders, Bernama, Huffington Post, BBC News

Daily Headlines: July 17, 2012

* Mexico: President Felipe Calderon claimed that murders in the first six months this year dropped by as much as 20% though human rights activists claimed that violence against women has “surged” in the state of Mexico.

* Honduras: Remittances to Honduras between January and June of this year increased by 2.2% compared to the same period in 2011.

* Bolivia: India's Jindal Steel cancelled a contract with the Bolivian government to invest in a $2.1 billion mining project.

* Peru: Ollanta Humala's approval rating fell to 40% one year into his presidency according to a recently released poll.

Video Source– YouTube via cmdpdh (A January 2011 report from Televisa Noticias highlighted the growth in femicides in the state of Mexico).

Online Sources- Fox News Latino, Los Angeles Times, Economic Times, Reuters, Honduras Weekly

Daily Headlines: June 19, 2012

* Argentina: Tennis star David Nalbandian was fined $12,000 and could face a criminal investigation after (accidentally?) kicking a line judge at a tournament in London, England.

* Brazil: Has the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development failed before it begins on Friday or will the summit lead to meaningful results?

* Peru: “Social conflicts and the population's sensation of misrule” might explain why President Ollanta Humala’s approval rating fell to 45%.

* Colombia: A U.S. grand jury indicted former Colombian police general Mauricio Santoyo Velasco over allegations that he collaborated with paramilitaries and drug traffickers.

Video Source – YouTube via TVPublicaArgentina

Online Sources- The Telegraph, Reuters, ABC News, Christian Science Monitor

Daily Headlines: April 23, 2012

* Mexico: Officials at Wal-Mart have come under fire after a former executive of the retail giant’s Mexico division alleged that the company paid millions of dollars in bribes to secure permits to build new stores.

* Argentina: A new poll found that 62% of Argentines backed their government’s decision to take over majority control of energy firm YPF from Spain’s Repsol.

* Venezuela: Information Minister Andres Izarra denied rumors that President Hugo Chavez was close to death and accused opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles of being a “political fatality.”

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala said that changes to the Conga mining project have made it safer despite concerns by locals over possible environmental damage.

Image Source – Flickr via Adam_d_ (Interior of a Wal-Mart in Merida, Mexico). (CC BY 2.0)

Online Sources- BBC News, AFP, The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, MSNBC

Weekend Headlines: December 31, 2011 – January 1, 2012

* Chile: Officials announced the arrest of a tourist suspected of starting a wildfire that has consumed at least 27,000 acres of forest land in the Torres del Paine National Park.

* Latin America: The Venezuelan and Bolivian governments offered to remove for free defective breast implants made by a now-defunct French firm.

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala told a local radio station that he “can't help but show my annoyance” at a judge who allowed paroled activist Lori Berenson to return to the U.S. during the holidays.

* Ecuador: President Rafael Correa pledged to extend the deadline for protecting the Yasuni rainforest reserve from oil companies.

* Brazil: Brazilian firm Embraer won a U.S. defense contract that would allow it to sell twenty fighter jets for use by the Air Force in Afghanistan.

* South America: The 2012 Dakar Rally will begin on Sunday in Mar de Plata, Argentina and will be held during fifteen days in that country along with Chile and Peru.

Video Source – YouTube via cnnchile

Online Sources- CNN, ABC News, Expatica France, NPR, Reuters, TSN

Daily Headlines: September 7, 2011

* Haiti: Uruguayan President Jose Mujica apologized to his Haitian counterpart over the suspected rape of a Haitian man by Uruguayan U.N. troops while Brazil plans to remove some of its troops from the Caribbean country.

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala approved a law that would allow indigenous groups to be consulted before any rural land development projects.

* Mexico: Police arrested a U.S. man suspected of smuggling grenade parts across the border to the Sinaloa drug gang.

* Argentina: A judge opened an inquiry into allegations of rape and sexual abuse committed at a “notorious torture center” during the Dirty War period.

Image – AP via CSMonitor.com (“In this picture taken Sept. 3, 2011, people walk in front of a UN base where Uruguayan peacekeepers allegedly sexually abused an 18-year-old man in Port Salut, Haiti.”)

Online Sources- Reuters, MSNBC, BBC News, Voice of America, Times of India

Daily Headlines: September 2, 2011

* Brazil: Brookfield Asset Management or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Mall.

* Guatemala: Local health authorities claimed that as many as 2500 people may’ve been infected with sexually transmitted diseases during a series of medical experiments conducted in the 1940s by U.S. researchers.

* U.S.: As part of a court settlement the Environmental Protection Agency admitted that there was discrimination against Latino schoolchildren who were exposed to toxic pesticides in California.

* Peru: The government is expected soon present a plan that would raise mining royalties in order to pay for new social programs backed by President Ollanta Humala.

Image – LAHT (Outdoor facade of the Sambil shopping mall in Caracas, Venezuela. Foreign firms like Brookfield Asset Management and the Westfield Group are behind a boom in the construction and development of shopping malls in Brazil.)

Online Sources- The Globe and Mail, Fox News Latino, Reuters, BBC News, The Latin Americanist

Today’s Video: Humala’s challenges

Ollanta Humala will be sworn in later today as Peru’s next president and he will be thrown immediately into the fire. Numerous challenges await the former army Lieutenant Colonel, chief of which is to create policies that will bring greater help to the poor without disrupting the Andean country’s growing economy.

The following subtitled video via teleSUR takes a look at Peru’s economic difficulties and includes remarks from the upcoming vice president, Marisol Espinoza:

Video Source – teleSURenglish via YouTube
Online Source- Reuters

Daily Headlines: July 21, 2011

* Peru: Investors seem to have overcome their initial panic over the election of Ollanta Humala and the stock market has rebounded over the past several weeks.

* Ecuador: The directors and former opinion editor of El Universo newspaper were sentenced to three years in jail after losing a libel lawsuit brought up by President Rafael Correa.

* Cuba: The country’s Supreme Court is expected to hear an appeal tomorrow for convicted aid contractor Alan Gross who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against the state.

* South America: Paraguay will meet Uruguay in the Copa America final match after los Guaranis eliminated upstarts Venezuela in the semifinals.

Image – The Globe and Mail (Peru’s main stock market index has been rising this week after he promised not to replace the Central Bank chief and he selected two business-friendly figures to his future Cabinet).
Online Sources- Reuters, CNN, USA TODAY

Daily Headlines: July 18, 2011

* South America: In the latest Copa America upsets Brazil missed all of their attempts in a decisive penalty shootout against Paraguay while Venezuela surprisingly eliminated Chile.

* Peru: President-elect Ollanta Humala’s approval rating has decreased in the weeks leading to his July 28 inauguration.

* Ecuador: Authorities enacted a three-day ban on alcohol after at least 21 people died from contaminated liquor.

* Chile: All but two of the 33 miners rescued from an underground mine last year have sued the Chilean government and accused the mining agency of overlooking safety regulations.

Image – Marcelo Sayao/EPA via The Guardian (“Brazil's Fred misses the deciding penalty, giving the victory to Paraguay in the Copa América quarter-final.” Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile were all surprisingly eliminated in the quarterfinal stages.)
Online Sources- Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters

Daily Headlines: July 5, 2011

* Venezuela: "The return has begun," decalared Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to thousands of supporters last night hours after the ailing leader returned to his homeland.

* Colombia: Authorities claimed that they are close to capturing and possibly killing FARC guerilla chief Alfonso Cano, while at least two eyewitnesses who testified against politicos in the “para-politics” scandal were slain last week.

* U.S.: At least 125 Atlanta-area businesses were reportedly closed on Friday as part of a "day without immigrants" protest organized by a Georgia Latino rights group.

* Peru: President-elect Ollanta Humala is supposed to arrive today in Washington, D.C. where he’s scheduled to speak with U.S. officials including Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

* Bolivia: The Andean nation pulled out of a U.N. anti-drugs convention after failing to overcome U.S. objections against relaxing global norms to legalize coca chewing.

* Mexico: The country’s political dinosaur, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, may be in the midst of a comeback after the party swept a trio of gubernatorial elections over the weekend.

Video Source – euronews via YouTube (Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez returned to his country yesterday days after he admitted that doctors in Cuba removed a tumor with “cancerous cells.”)
Online Sources- BBC News, LAHT, UPI, The Telegraph, Living in Peru, News-Leader.com