Newspapers in Peru
According to COMPUTERGEES.COM, Peru is a country located in South America. In Peru there are about 50 daily newspapers with a total circulation of 2 million copies, which means 85 newspaper sex. per 1,000 residents (1996). The largest and most important daily newspapers are published in Lima: the conservative El Comercio, founded as early as 1839 (about 150,000 copies), Gestión (130,000 copies), Ojo (100,000 copies), the conservative Expreso (100,000 copies).) and the leftist La República (50,000 copies). The press was nationalized in 1974-80. After a period of press freedom, this was again curtailed in 1993 by a new constitution requiring journalists to report their sources. The battle between the army and the guerrillas also hit with the journalist force.
According to HOMOSOCIETY.COM, Peru has over 1,200 mostly local radio stations, including a state station network, Radio Nacional del Perú (founded in 1937). Most TV stations are private; the state channel Radio Televisíon Peruana (Canal 7) is focused on education and culture. There are 273 radio and 148 TV receivers per 1,000 residents (2000).
Culture
According to CALCULATORINC, Peru has a rich mix of cultures, but the country is characterized mainly by the influence of indigenous peoples and Spaniards. The people of the highlands have strong origins of origin, while the well-educated elite on the coast have strong ties to Europe.
The cultures are mixed to some extent, but at the same time there is a large gap between them. In villages that are organized much like during the Inca culture, with common lands and collective labor, parts of the indigenous population live far from Western society. However, European elements are seen in clothing, music and at various festivals. Their world is considered foreign and left behind by many on the coast.
This cleavage between the original and the western has been described by the Peruvian writer José Maria Arguedas. As a son of a white lawyer, he grew up in the Andes with quechua as his mother tongue. In his autobiographical novel The Deep Rivers (1958), he depicts oppression and sharp class divisions in the Andean world. The internationally best-known author is Mario Vargas Llosa, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2010. He has written, among other things, The Green House and Talks in the Cathedral, his perhaps best-known work played during the dictatorship of the 1950s. Vargas Llosa is also known for a failed jump in politics in the late 1980s (see Modern History). The most famous name in the lyrics is César Vallejo.
According to ENINGBO.INFO, the rich folk culture lives among other things in oral stories, crafts and music. Drums and various flutes are original Native American instruments, while the stringed instruments came with the Spanish. Charrango became the Andean variant of the guitar, made of the shield animal’s shield. The “Andean folk music” that has become known outside of Peru with guitar, charrango, pan flute and drum is a music made for a Western market. The popular music flowing from speakers on buses and markets, with falsette song and brass, may be less enjoyable for European ears, but it is a living Native American music tradition.
2017
December
Extensive protests against pardon
December 25
Violent protests erupt against the pardon of ex-President Fujimori and new demands are raised on the resignation of incumbent President Kuczynski. Angry protesters clash with police who use tear gas to prevent them from reaching the hospital where Fujimori is temporarily being cared for by low blood pressure and cardiac disorders. Supporters of Alberto Fujimori are celebrating at the same time.
Ex-President Fujimori pardoned
24 December
President Kuczynski pardons Alberto Fujimori, the now 79-year-old ex-president who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for human rights crimes and corruption. The pardon is a result of a deal with the ex-president’s son Kenji Fujimori, who made sure to reduce the number of congressional votes for the proposal to put Kuczynski before state law three days earlier. Kuczynski pardons seven other people at the same time.
North Korean diplomats are expelled
December 22
Two North Korean diplomats – the first and third secretaries – are ordered to leave the country within two weeks. According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two have engaged in activities that are not in line with their “official duties”. North Korea’s violation of UN resolutions on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons also plays a role as threats to regional and global security, it states. In September, North Korea’s ambassador was expelled.
The President gets away with national law
December 21
Congress votes down a motion to initiate state law against President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Proponents of national law wanted to try the allegations of bribery (see November 2017). Kuczynski himself spoke before Congress during the ten-hour debate and accused the opposition of trying to implement a coup. In the end, 79 members voted in favor of the proposal (87 needed to get the two-thirds majority).
The pressure is mounting on the president to step down
December 14
President Kuczynski rejects demands that he resign and denies, just as in November, that he would have received bribes. Now, however, Kuczynski admits that he has been a consultant for the Brazilian building conglomerate Odebrecht. The largest party in Congress, the right-wing party FP, demands that the president resign and threaten to otherwise put him before the national court. The claim comes after Odebrecht stated that $ 5 million was paid to Kuczynski’s Westfield Capital company during his time as finance minister.
Four construction managers are sentenced to bribery scandal
December 4th
Four executives at construction companies with links to Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht are sentenced to 18 months in prison for bribing ex-president Alejandro Toledo. A fifth receives house arrest for failing health. The judgment is the first in the country in the extensive Odebrecht mutiny that shakes much of Latin America.
November
The President denies bribery charges
November 15
President Kuczynski rejects in a televised speech allegations that he received bribes or campaign grants from Odebrecht. He also dismisses claims that he should have been hired as a consultant by the Brazilian construction giant, ten years ago and after resigning as finance minister. The information comes from former CEO Marcelo Odebrecht, who is serving a long prison sentence in Brazil.
October
Cannabis is approved as a drug
October 20
Congress votes by a large majority to legalize cannabis for medical use. The new law gives the go-ahead to manufacture, import and sell cannabis oil. Peru becomes the sixth country in Latin America to legalize cannabis.
September
Police killed in assault in the Amazon
September 25
A police officer is killed in an assault by unknown perpetrators in the area surrounding the city of Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon. The area has serious problems with illegal logging and illegal mining. Four police officers and a guide are injured in the assault.
The government of Peru is overthrown by Congress
September 15th
President Kuczynski’s government is forced to step down since it was cast in a congressional vote, which is dominated by the opposition. The reason for the government’s failure is that the opposition is critical to how the Minister of Education has handled a long-lasting teacher strike. A government transformation is taking place, with Mercedes Aráoz as the new prime minister. It will take up two days later.
North Korea’s ambassador expelled
11 September
Peru orders North Korea’s ambassador Kim Hak-chol to leave the country within five days. The decision is a direct result of the recent North Korean regime having conducted several nuclear weapons tests in violation of international agreements. Shortly before, the United States has called on a number of Latin American countries to break diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
August
Diplomatic protest against Venezuela
August 11th
Peru orders Venezuela’s ambassador to leave the country on the ground since the government of Caracas “violated the democratic rules of the game” by appointing a constitutional assembly that has widespread power. Venezuela in turn exports Peru’s ambassador.
July
Ex-President Humala arrested
July 14
Former President Ollanta Humala and his wife Nadine Heredia are being held in custody pending trial. The couple is suspected of receiving money from construction company Odebrecht to fund their election campaign (see also November 2016 and January 2017).
March
Diplomatic dispute with Venezuela
6 March
The government revokes the ambassador to Venezuela and sends a letter of protest to the government in Caracas. The reason is that Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez called Kuczynski a “dog” who is always waving his tail for the United States.
February
Former President Toledo is arrested
February 12
Authorities are calling on former President Alejandro Toledo detained since he was singled out in the big corruption scandal surrounding Odebrecht (see January 2017). Toledo is believed to be in the United States, and President Kuczynski is requesting a phone call with his American colleague Donald Trump to extradite him. Toledo, whose home has been searched, is suspected to have received $ 20 million in bribes. He himself claims that the charges constitute “political lynching”.
January
The president orders the construction giant to leave the country
January 26
President Kuczynski orders the Brazilian building conglomerate Odebrecht to leave Peru, where the company is involved in several major infrastructure investments. The background is the huge corruption scandal in Brazil, where Odebrecht is at the center. Odebrecht’s representatives have acknowledged that the company paid $ 29 million in bribes in Peru between 2005 and 2014, under Presidents Alejandro Toledo, Alan García and Ollanta Humala. The government has now deprived Odebrecht of a $ 7 billion gas pipeline project.
Free trade agreements are stopped
January 23
US newly elected President Donald Trump put an end to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement, signed in February 2016 but not yet ratified by most participants. Peru is one of three Latin American countries in TTP (the others are Chile and Mexico). In total, the agreement, which is now on ice, includes twelve Pacific countries and Asia, which together account for one third of world trade.
Ex-president is sentenced in Italy
January 17
Francisco Morales Bermúdez, who was president from 1975 to 1980, is sentenced to life imprisonment for his participation in Operation Condor, a campaign conducted by right-wing junta in South America against left-wing forces from 1975., while 19 defendants are released after the two-year trial. Morales Bermúdez is 95 years old.
