Peru's new president sworn in after impeachment drama

Yahoo – AFP, Francisco JARA, March 24, 2018

Peru's vice president Martin Vizcarra -- to be sworn in as president later Friday --
arrives at the Lima airport (AFP Photo/CRIS BOURONCLE)

Lima (AFP) - Martin Vizcarra was sworn in as Peru's new president Friday, catapulted to the post when Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned to avoid impeachment.

Vizcarra, who had been serving as both vice president and his country's ambassador to Canada, took the oath of office and donned the red-and-white presidential sash before the Peruvian Congress.

The ceremony came shortly after lawmakers voted to accept Kuczynski's resignation, rather than push ahead with impeaching him over corruption allegations.

"We will stand firm in the fight against corruption. Transparency will be a pillar of our administration," said Vizcarra, a former cabinet minister known for his meticulous management and unflashy style.

"Better times will come," he told his fellow Peruvians in his first address as president.

Just a day before, the engineer and technocrat was far removed from the political hornet's nest that brought down Kuczynski, leading a relatively placid diplomat's life in Ottawa.

He flew home Thursday night, on his 55th birthday, and now takes over the remainder of Kuczynski's term, until 2021 -- though early elections are still possible.

Kuczynski, 79, had a short tenure as president: the former Wall Street banker was elected by a razor-thin margin in June 2016, and took office the following month.

But he lacked a majority in Congress, and was almost immediately embroiled in a messy conflict with the main opposition party, Popular Force, led by Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of disgraced ex-president Alberto Fujimori.

When reports emerged linking Kuczynski to Brazil's scandal-plagued construction giant Odebrecht -- accused of paying massive bribes to politicians around Latin America for juicy public works contracts -- Popular Force mounted a relentless push to remove him from office.

Odebrecht revealed in December that it had paid nearly $5 million to consulting companies linked to Kuczynski when he was finance minister.

The former president survived a first impeachment vote that month. Three days later, he granted a pardon on medical grounds to former president Fujimori, who had been in jail for corruption and human rights violations.

That sparked speculation of a back-room deal with an opposition faction led by Keiko Fujimori's brother and rival Kenji.

When video tapes emerged of Kenji -- who has now split from his sister's party -- apparently offering bribes to a fellow lawmaker to vote against the December impeachment, the political damage to Kuczynski proved to be too much.

Facing a new impeachment vote, he announced his resignation Wednesday, proclaiming his innocence but saying it was best for the country if he quit.

Fujimori truce?

Vizcarra inherits a country still reeling from the drama and deeply mistrustful of its politicians, just as its strong economy is slowing.

Like Kuczynski, he will face an opposition-controlled Congress, though he may benefit from the fact that he has no connection to traditional political parties.

Keiko Fujimori appears willing to declare a truce -- at least for now.

"This is a moment to stand united as Peruvians, strong and optimistic in the face of the challenges that await us," she wrote on Twitter.

Vizcarra will almost immediately be thrust onto the international stage when Peru hosts the Summit of the Americas from April 13 to 14 -- an event the foreign ministry confirmed was still on.

Kuczynski travel ban request

Ironically, Kuczynski's demise echoed what happened to Alberto Fujimori himself in 2000, at the end of his decade-long run as Peru's president.

Fujimori had resigned the presidency by fax -- sent from exile in a hotel room in Japan. But Congress rejected the resignation, choosing instead to punish the ex-strongman.

Lawmakers ultimately impeached Fujimori on the grounds of "permanent moral incapacity," ending weeks of political drama.

Kuczynski managed to avoid the same fate when Congress accepted his resignation.

But his troubles may not be over yet.

On Saturday a court is due to rule on a request from prosecutors to ban him from leaving the country.

Despite the turmoil, experts and markets appear cautiously optimistic that Peru will now regain political stability.

"Peru's adherence to its constitution during this transition reflects its strength as a resilient democracy," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Development threatens Latin America's great Pantanal wetlands

France24 –AFP, 17 March 2018

A Yacare Caiman, in the Pantanal wetlands of Mato Grosso state, Brazil (CÁCERES
(BRAZIL) (AFP)

You can only just hear the murmur of running water through Plinia Rodrigues' vegetable garden, but that tiny stream has a huge job: keeping alive Latin America's mammoth wetlands, known as the Pantanal.

Rodrigues, 63, shows off the thick stands of palms and other native plants crowding around the fish-filled, crystalline water. The garden in the tiny community of Piraputanga in the far west of Brazil, near the border of Bolivia, looks like a little slice of paradise.

It's also important, one of a myriad of similar streams rising from the lush landscape to feed the mighty Paraguay river, which in turn underpins the Pantanal.

But with industrialized agriculture encroaching deeper and deeper into former wilderness, that fragile water network nestled between Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia is now under serious threat, experts say.

The problem is that even if the Pantanal itself is protected -- and Brazil's Congress is currently considering additional measures -- destruction of the sources upstream would be just as bad.

Rodrigues, who raises chickens, makes cheese and grows vegetables, says the undergrowth flourishing along her stream shows its good health. The plants help keep the banks in place, shielding the water and the life in it.

"We don't touch the river banks, so they're full of trees. We want to preserve what we have," she said, adding that she has only told a handful of other people about the hard-to-access spot where the stream is born.

But she's aware of the growing threat from deforestation, pesticides and industrial-scale planting of monocrops like soya.

Once, big fish swam here but they vanished when a nearby hydroelectric station blocked their path, she says.

"Everyone around here works with soya. Since that started, our trees haven't produced such good fruit," she said. "We grew papaya for the market but not any longer and the oranges have turned ugly."

Natural treasure trove

Covering 65,600 square miles (170,500 square kilometers), the Pantanal contains some 4,000 species of flora and fauna. But even though the Pantanal is Brazil's best preserved biosphere, that doesn't mean it isn't under pressure.

The Pantanal itself enjoys many legal protections and some 82 percent is untouched, the World Wildlife Fund says, but in the area where water rises, 55 percent of the territory has suffered deforestation.

"This region is at risk and if nothing is done to change this, we'll start seeing the collapse of the Pantanal during the coming years," said Julio Cesar Sampaio, WWF's coordinator for the Cerrado-Pantanal.

On the Pantanal, life is governed by the coming and going of the dry and rainy seasons. Between October and May, rain-swelled rivers spill and gradually flood 80 percent of the whole area, leaving only rich green islands.

At peak flooding, the Pantanal is a spectacular place for fishing and adventurous tourists. Birds, alligators, jaguars, monkeys and the mammoth green anaconda snake call this magical place home.

The Pantanal also plays an important role in controlling the climate, says Sergio Freitas, who studies the region at the University of Brasilia.

"The surface functions as a big mirror made of water, reflecting part of the heat back and making the climate more agreeable," he said.

It's not that humans can't coexist with the natural treasure house. Local cowboys, called "pantaneiros," move their herds in rhythm with the movement of the floods.

Freitas said ranchers have had a presence for more than 200 years without causing undue impact. The problem was the arrival in recent decades of intensive agriculture, reducing the topsoil and muddying the streams.

A better balance could still be achieved if the government applies incentives for producers to diversify and to steer away from current unsustainable practices, he said.

Development threatens Latin America's great Pantanal wetlands https://t.co/LgCKvqlVZq pic.twitter.com/kzGw4rKWbD

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 18, 2018

VIDEO: Restricted internet access doesn't stop young YouTubers in Cuba... even if it means working from outdoor public areas - the only place where they can access Wi-Fi - to passing their content across the island through a USB stick

VIDEO: Restricted internet access doesn't stop young YouTubers in Cuba... even if it means working from outdoor public areas - the only place where they can access Wi-Fi - to passing their content across the island through a USB stick pic.twitter.com/CtStDNkCrf

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 13, 2018

Pinera, a conservative billionaire, is sworn in as president of Chile

Yahoo – AFP, Paulina ABRAMOVICH, Ana FERNANDEZ, 11 March 2018

Sebastián Piñera (C), is takes office in Chile as the country's new president,
replacing ra Michelle Bachelet (R)

Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera was sworn in Sunday to his second term as president of Chile, replacing socialist Michelle Bachelet in the office for the second time in eight years.

An emotional Bachelet helped Pinera put on the sash of office, gave him a kiss and then left the Congress with members of her government.

Pinera, who was president from 2010-2014, has promised to stimulate growth and create jobs.

He is assuming the presidency just as Chile's economy is showing signs of rebounding from a period of sluggish growth due to low prices for copper, the country's biggest export.

"The good times are coming," his supporters chanted after he was sworn in. He was to deliver a speech later in the day.

Bachelet was cheered by supporters as she capped a second term in office in which she saw through an ambitious package of reforms aimed at eliminating the institutional legacy of the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

In a Facebook message, she said she was "profoundly proud of the transformation that we pushed these years" and said she was convinced Chile today is more "just, equitable and free."

She was Latin America's last sitting chief of state who is a woman.

Implementing the changes she made will now be up to the 68-year-old Pinera, who says he wants to reform the Pinochet-era pension system and supports the free education system instituted by Bachelet.

"I feel I now have more experience, more maturity, more awareness of the importance of uniting Chileans; greater humility to listen, with eyes and ears that are more attentive," he said this week.

Pinera -- whose fortune has been estimated by Forbes at $2.7 billion -- has promised to transform Chile into a developed economy in eight years.

The economy has grown at an average pace of two percent over the past four years, but surged 3.9 percent in January. Analysts are predicting 3.5 percent growth this year.

Trump name stripped from Panama hotel in property dispute

Yahoo – AFP, 5 March 2018

View of the hotel entrance sign after the Trump letters were removed,
outside the hotel in Panama City on March 5, 2018

The owner of the Trump Hotel in Panama City said Monday he had succeeded in expelling the management company of the US president's family from the building.

Cypriot businessman Orestes Fintiklis, who owns a majority of the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama, said it was "a commercial dispute that just spun out of control, and today this dispute has been settled by the judges and the authorities in this country."

Workers removed the Trump logo from the entrance to the luxury complex, where police had been deployed earlier in the day.

"Today Panama has showcased stable institutions, rule of law and investor-friendly legal framework," said Fintiklis in a brief statement to the press.

The row erupted last month when Fintiklis, a Miami-based investor who last year became owner of the majority of units in the building through a company he controls, said he wanted to boot the Trump Organization out before its management contract was up, remove the Trump name and rebrand the building.

In lawsuits lodged in the United States, Fintiklis alleged a decline in occupancy in the hotel. The Trump Organization hit back, claiming Fintiklis was breaching his contractual commitments as owner.

Fintiklis complained to the Panamanian prosecutors' office that Trump Organization employees were barring him access to the units he owns in the sail-shaped complex, which also boasts a casino, shops, a spa and a small private beach.

The complex was inaugurated in 2011 by Trump and Panama's president at the time, Ricardo Martinelli. Martinelli is currently on bail in Miami fighting extradition to Panama, where he is charged with corruption and spying.

The hotel and the majority of the apartments were sold last year to Fintiklis' Ithaca Capital Partners, which is based in Miami.

As part of the deal, the administration of the hotel remained in the hands of the Trump Organization, run by the president's two sons since he took office last year.

Trump Hotels last week accused Fintiklis of "fraud" and using "mafia-style tactics" to force its administration staff out of the disputed building.

There have been reports of physical confrontations between the new owner and his team and the Trump administration staff.

Last month, Panamanian prosecutors announced they were opening an investigation into the case following complaints by Fintiklis that he had been prevented from entering the building.

Accompanied by police and a court order, majority owners of Trump hotel in Panama City take ownership from Trump management #TrumpOceanClub pic.twitter.com/HagJMqupIS

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 6, 2018

VIDEO: A local initiative is underway in Guatemala to reduce plastic pollution in the country: Francisco Tambriz creates fabrics inspired by Maya clothing that will be used to make colourful reusable cotton bags

VIDEO: A local initiative is underway in Guatemala to reduce plastic pollution in the country: Francisco Tambriz creates fabrics inspired by Maya clothing that will be used to make colourful reusable cotton bags pic.twitter.com/iJH9GCve7q

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 4, 2018