Peru's Machu Picchu reopens... for one Japanese tourist

Yahoo – AFP, October 13, 2020  

Machu Picchu has reopened for a single lucky visitor, a Japanese man
stranded in the country by the pandemic

Peru's best-known tourist site Machu Picchu has opened after months of coronavirus closure, but for just a single visitor -- a Japanese man stranded in the country by the pandemic. 

"The first person on Earth who went to Machu Picchu since the lockdown is meeeeeee," Jesse Katayama posted on his Instagram account alongside pictures of himself at the deserted site. 

"This is truly amazing! Thank you," he added in a video posted on the Facebook pages of the local tourism authority in Cusco, where the famed site is located. 

Katayama spoke against the backdrop of the majestic mountaintop dotted with ancient ruins that once attracted thousands of tourists a day but has been closed since March because of the coronavirus. 

The Japanese boxing instructor, identified by local media as a 26-year-old from Nara, has been stuck in Peru since March, when he bought a ticket for the tourist site just days before the country declared a health emergency. 

He told a Peruvian newspaper he had only planned to spend three days in the area, but with flights cancelled and movement limited by the virus, he found himself stuck there for months. 

Eventually, his plight reached the local tourism authority, which agreed to give him special permission to visit the Inca city, reopening the site just for him. 

"I thought that I wouldn't be able to go, but thanks to all of you who pleaded with the mayor and the government, I was given this super special opportunity," he wrote in Japanese on his Instagram account. 

Machu Picchu is the most enduring legacy of the Inca empire that ruled a large swathe of western South America for 100 years before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. 

The ruins of the Inca settlement were rediscovered in 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham, and in 1983, UNESCO declared Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site. 

It was originally scheduled to reopen to visitors in July, but that has now been pushed back to November. 

Just 675 tourists a day will be allowed in, 30 percent of the number allowed before the pandemic, with visitors expected to maintain social distancing. 

Since it first opened to tourists in 1948, it has been closed just once before, for two months in 2010 when a flood destroyed the railway tracks connecting it to Cusco.

Peru police arrest Chinese man for illegal COVID-19 testing

Yahoo – AFP, April 13, 2020

A Peruvian police photo showing Chinese citizen Zhang Tianxing (R) after his arrest
for the unauthorized use of stolen COVID-19 tests in a street in Lima, on April 12,
2020 (AFP Photo)

Police in Lima on Sunday arrested a Chinese citizen for illegally conducting rapid COVID-19 tests on the public with newly-delivered kits stolen from Peru's health ministry.

Tianxing Zhang, 36, was arrested in the Brena district of Lima as he was about to take samples from two women at the door of their house, police said.

He "was proceeding to carry out rapid tests for COVID-19 that he had stolen" from the Lima Sur health authority where he worked, according to a police statement.

Zhang was wearing a mask and a light blue medical apron at the time of his arrest by the state security police.

Both women had paid him to carry out a rapid home test, without health ministry approval.

"When questioned, he acknowledged he was not authorized to carry out this rapid test and that the Rapid Diagnostic Tests had been stolen from the Directorate of Integrated Health Network of Lima Sur where he had worked," the police said.

According to the police, the bespectacled Zhang confessed to stealing two batches of the test to use, for monetary gain, on people who suspected they were ill with the coronavirus.

Police found a backpack with 25 COVID-19 tests and other medical supplies at his home.

President Martin Vizcarra said on Wednesday that 330,000 rapid tests kits had arrived in Peru and were distributed to all parts of the country.

The health ministry reported it has carried out 45,272 rapid tests to April 12.

The South American country has so far registered 7,519 infections, with 193 deaths.

In Peru, 'they teach you to be ashamed,' indigenous trans candidate says

Yahoo – AFP, Carlos MANDUJANO, January 26, 2020

Gahela Cari hopes to become the first indigenous transgender person
elected to the Peruvian Congress (AFP Photo/Ernesto BENAVIDES)

Lima (AFP) - The first indigenous transgender candidate to run for parliament in Peru says it's time to end the culture of machismo in the South American country.

"I suffered, in my own flesh, the consequences of inequality, discrimination, violence and corruption," Gahela Cari, 27, said in an interview with AFP before Sunday's nationwide parliamentary ballot.

"We have to stop educating future macho men," she said during a break from campaigning.

Her candidacy comes as awareness of transgender people and their rights is growing in many countries.

"I'm an animal-rights advocate, an ecologist and a student leader," Cari told AFP. "I come from that part of the left that has always fought."

Cari, who has promised to support the anticorruption reforms of President Martin Vizcarra, is running as a candidate of the leftist Together for Peru party, which seeks to end the political crisis that led Vizcarra to dissolve Congress on September 30.

Small, thin and calm in demeanor, she sported an Andean hat over braided hair during her interview, with bright red lipstick and, tied to her left wrist, the green scarf that symbolizes support for legalized abortion.

What motivated you to run for Congress?

CARI: "We want trans people to have more opportunities. We don't enjoy the same conditions as the rest of the population. It's no coincidence that our life expectancy is less than 32 years. Here the state doesn't guarantee our rights."

Cari, who supports the anticorruption reforms of President Martin Vizcarra, is 

running for office amid growing awareness of transgender people and their rights 

globally (AFP Photo/Ernesto BENAVIDES)

"(Congress) has been more concerned with defending the corrupt. I'm tired of traditional politics. That's why I entered politics, to put Congress at the service of the citizenry."

How do you present yourself to voters?

CARI: "I introduce myself as a trans, indigenous, migrant woman. I was born in the south of the country. My mother is from Ayacucho and my father is from Puno. In this country we receive an education that aims to repress who we are, to repress our sexual identity and to repress our cultural identity. They force us to be ashamed of our roots."

"In a country that teaches you to be ashamed, a country that educates in order to repress you, to describe yourself as an indigenous trans person is already revolutionary. It is using your body to fight; fighting without even uttering a word."

What is the main point in your platform?

CARI: "We want to finish (Vizcarra's) political reform, to complete the reform of the justice system and to launch an economic reform that guarantees the voices of the citizenry and of vulnerable populations."

"We do not want the situation facing women and LGBTQ people to continue, which is why we are proposing a reform to put the fight against gender-based violence and all forms of discrimination on the table."

"We need to stop raising future macho men, future homophobes, future transphobes and woman killers. We need education with respect. I have suffered transphobic bullying in school."

"We're fighting to decriminalize abortion in all cases because we don't believe that a democratic state can continue to condemn a woman to be a mother against her will."

Facts about Peru (AFP Photo/Gustavo IZUS, Nicolas RAMALLO)

Is it true that you practiced prostitution?

CARI: "I had to be involved in prostitution though I didn't want to. It was for a short time... but it was the most complicated stage of my life."

"It was when I was about to finish university. I had gone five days without eating and my stomach was empty. It was a matter of necessity. I got out of it thanks to a network of contacts and thanks to feminists who saved my life."

Were you also a catechist?

CARI: "I was a catechist. I am a believer, I believe in a loving God. I believe that no religion can serve to justify hate."

If you studied law, why aren't you practicing as a lawyer?

CARI: "After finishing my university studies, those in charge refused to let me join the professional association. Without that membership, you can't work, though I tried hard. That depressed me for a while."

Is it difficult to campaign in a country with a tradition of machismo? 

CARI: "We have had to face situations of discrimination throughout the campaign. We have been threatened and have suffered situations of harassment and physical violence."

Peru: Tourists accused of damaging, defecating on Machu Picchu

A group of tourists has been caught allegedly damaging stonework and defecating in a sacred temple, according to Peruvian authorities. Most of the tourists are set to be deported, while one man is expected to face trial.

DW, 15 Januari 2020

Machu Picchu seen from above

Six tourists are in trouble after Peruvian police said they were caught vandalizing the famous Incan sanctuary Machu Picchu.

Authorities said four men and two women from Chile, Brazil, France and Argentina were arrested Sunday after they were found by park rangers in a restricted area of the Temple of the Sun. Several parts of the temple are off-limits to tourists for preservation reasons.

The group is said to have entered Machu Picchu on Saturday and hid in among the ruins to illegally spend the night.

Five of the tourists will be deported, and one man from Argentina will remain in Peru to face charges for "destroying Peru's cultural heritage." The 28-year-old acknowledged that he tried to remove a stone that fell to the ground, causing a crack in the floor, authorities said. He could be sentenced to four years in prison if convicted.

One of the tourists allegedly defecated among the ruins inside the Incan city.

Read more: Naked tourists arrested at Machu Picchu

It is not the first time that the 600-year-old Machu Picchu has been damaged by visitors.

In 2004, two Chileans were sentenced to six months in jail for spray painting a wall and were released only after agreeing to pay $100,000 in damages. In 2017, three Argentinians and a Colombian were arrested for painting graffiti on the ancient walls.

Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage site located near Cusco in southern Peru visited by more than 1 million tourists a year.

Facing arrest, former Peru president Garcia kills himself

Yahoo – AFP, Luis Jaime CISNEROS, April 17, 2019

Former Peruvian president Alan Garcia, pictured here May 28, 2010, was resuscitated
three times in surgery, before finally succumbing (AFP Photo/Cris BOURONCLE)

Lima (AFP) - Peru's former president Alan Garcia died in hospital on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head at his home as police were about to arrest him in a sprawling corruption case. He was 69.

The health ministry said Garcia died at 10:05 am (1505 GMT) of "a massive cerebral hemorrhage from a gunshot wound and cardiorespiratory arrest."

Garcia was resuscitated three times after suffering heart attacks while undergoing emergency surgery, before finally succumbing, Peru's Health Minister Zulema Tomas said.

The Casimiro Ulloa Emergency Hospital in Lima earlier confirmed he had suffered "a bullet wound to his head."

"This morning there was a regrettable accident: the president took the decision to shoot himself," Erasmo Reyna, Garcia's lawyer, told reporters outside the hospital after Garcia was admitted.

"Alan Garcia has died, long live APRA," said Omar Quesada, the general secretary of Garcia's American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) party.

The attempted arrest unfolded at 6:30 am (1130 GMT) at Garcia's home in Lima's upmarket Miraflores neighborhood.

Police were acting on an arrest warrant for money laundering that would have allowed Garcia to be held for 10 days, giving authorities time to gather evidence and prevent him from fleeing, the prosecutor's office said.

Ricardo Pinedo, Garcia's secretary, said the former president had four or five weapons in his home that were gifts from the armed forces. Police said he used one of those to shoot himself.

Interior Minister Carlos Moran said police "heard a gunshot a few minutes" after entering Garcia's house before finding him "sitting down with a head wound."

'Condolences'

Peru's President Martin Vizcarra expressed his sympathy on his Twitter account.

"Dismayed by the death of ex-president Alan Garcia. I send my condolences to his family and loved ones," Vizcarra wrote in a tweet.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and Bolivia's Evo Morales added their own condolences, while Colombian leader Ivan Duque said "with sadness we raise prayers" for Garcia's family, adding: "Rest in peace."

APRA congressman Mauricio Mulder said Garcia "took a dignified and honorable decision. An honorable act in the face of fascist persecution."

Dozens of tearful supporters congregated at the hospital entrance when the news was announced.

Garcia, who was president from 1985-90 and again from 2006-11, was suspected of having taken bribes from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht in return for large-scale public works contracts.

In November, he sought refuge in the Uruguayan Embassy after a court ordered him not to leave the country for 18 months.

He applied for asylum but following 16 days in the embassy he left when his request was denied.

Garcia, a social democrat, claimed to be the target of political persecution, an accusation denied by centrist Vizcarra.

On Tuesday, Garcia had said he would neither try to flee nor hide again.

He had recently insisted that "there is no statement, evidence or deposit that links me to any crime and even less so with the Odebrecht company or the execution of any of its projects."

Although under investigation by the public prosecutor's office, Garcia had not been charged with anything. He had strongly protested his innocence and seemed prepared to cooperate with authorities.

Money laundering and bribes

He was one of four Peruvian ex-presidents embroiled in various corruption scandals -- alongside Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-18), Ollanta Humala (2011-16) and Alejandro Toledo (2001-06).

Kuczynski, who is accused of money laundering and was being held under a 10-day preliminary detention until April 20, was also taken to hospital on Wednesday suffering from high blood pressure.

The 80-year-old was being treated in intensive care and had a cardiac catheter fitted, lawmaker Gilbert Violeta said.

Toledo faces extradition from the United States, having been charged with taking a $20 million Odebrecht bribe.

Odebrecht has admitted paying $29 million in bribes to Peruvian officials over three administrations.

Some of those payments were allegedly made during Garcia's second term in office to secure a contract to build the Lima metro.

Peruvian press reports also claim Garcia received a $100,000 payment from an illicit Odebrecht fund for giving a speech to Brazilian business leaders in Sao Paulo in May 2012.

Prosecutors allege that Garcia and 21 other officials conspired to enable Dutch company ATM Terminals to win a 2011 concession to operate a terminal at the port of Callao, near Lima.

Another ex-president, Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), is serving a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity and corruption.

His daughter, opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, is being held in pre-trial detention for up to three years, accused of accepting $1.2 million in illicit party funding from Odebrecht for her 2011 presidential campaign.

Peru's ex-president ordered detained in graft case: justice

Yahoo – AFP, April 10, 2019

Former Peruvian president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, 80, resigned in 2018 in a
scandal linked to the Odebrecht case (AFP Photo/Christian Miranda)

Lima (AFP) - A Peruvian court ordered the arrest on Wednesday of ex-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at the request of prosecutors investigating the giant Odebrecht corruption scandal.

Judicial authorities said the 80-year-old former president -- who resigned last year amid the scandal -- would be held for a preliminary period of 10 days "for the alleged crime of money laundering in the Odebrecht case."

The Superior Court on organized crime also authorized prosecutors to conduct a 48-hour search of Kuczynski's home for documents related to the case.

Kuczynski became the first sitting president to resign over the sweeping graft scandal involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht when he stepped down in March 2018.

The region-wide scandal has also embroiled Kuczynski's predecessors Ollanta Humala, Alan Garcia and Alejandro Toledo.

Odebrecht has admitted paying at least $29 million in bribes to Peruvian officials since 2004.

Kuczynski is a former economist who prior to his election in 2016 served as prime minister under Toledo in 2005-06.

Rock and roll nuns to perform for pope in Panama

Yahoo – AFP, Roberto CORTIJO, 17 January 2019

Known as "Siervas" or Servants, a band made up of nuns plays catchy Christian
songs that sound indistinguishable from many of their peers in mainstream rock

With millions of YouTube views and hits on Spotify and iTunes, a group of young nun rockers play one of their biggest gigs next week, and thousands of Catholics, including the pope himself, will lap it up.

It may be rock and roll, but Twisted Sister they ain't, and sex and drugs are not an option for the Sisters of the Servants of the Plan of God. They play their brand of melodic rock in their traditional habits.

"We're young sisters," says 37-year-old guitarist Sister Ivonne of the band, which includes members from Chile, Japan, Ecuador, China and Costa Rica.

"This is another form of bringing our evangelical message, showing our strength -- that's to say, it's also music that we like, it shows a lot about who we are."

Known as "Siervas" or Servants, the band plays catchy Christian songs that sound indistinguishable from many of their peers in mainstream rock.

But the appearance is very different, rock's grunge and glad rags giving way to the nuns' tried and trusted black and white habits and veils on stage.

Sister Ivonne (L) says playing in a band with other nuns is "another form of bringing 

our evangelical message, showing our strength"

YouTube hit

With a half-dozen slickly produced videos on YouTube, Siervas has built an international following as it communicates its message of "love, joy, hope."

Their "Trust in God" music video, which features the nuns playing on a helipad atop a Lima skyscraper, went viral on YouTube with nearly two million views.

And now, the Peru-based sisters will play at the World Youth Day celebrations, a gathering of global Catholic youth in Panama presided over by Pope Francis.

The message at the heart of their music? "We want to reach as many people as possible, and if the pope is included in that, we're more than satisfied," said Ivonne, who pens much of the lyrics.

The 11-member band, which performs in Spanish, has previously played for crowds at Francis' visits to Mexico and Peru.

Sister Teresa, a drum player from Chile, plays in a band made

 up of nuns she says takes "the word of God and his consolation 

to the prisons, to the disabled"

Not just music

"We're not just working in music, but we take the word of God and his consolation to the prisons, to the disabled," said Sister Daniela, the drummer from Costa Rica.

Tuesdays, when they are back in Peru, they bring food to the homeless on the streets.

The group will gig at a women's prison during the trip to Panama. They will also play at a children's cancer hospital and schools.

"We go to the women's prisons to listen to them. All they ask is to be listened to and to know God has forgiven them," said Camila, the 22-year-old Peruvian guitarist.

The band, which has so far visited 11 countries, including the United States, was formed in Lima in 2014 when the young musician nuns from different nationalities came together, said 24-year-old Sister Arisa, from Japan.

"It was God's plan that we come together," said Arisa, a violinist.

After months of rehearsal, they held their first concert in the auditorium of the General Command of the Army, helping raise funds for a house for the order in Angola.

Sister Arisa, a violinist from Japan, says that "it was God's plan" that she and 

other nuns form a band

The band has undergone several changes to its lineup since 2014, as sisters leave to fulfill their missionary role.

"Until now we have not been able to talk to the pope, we would love it if he approaches us," said Ivonne, from Chile.

"I wouldn't know what to say, I think I would faint."

Known as "Siervas" or Servants, a band made up of nuns plays catchy Christian songs that sound indistinguishable from many of their peers in mainstream rock

Sister Ivonne says playing in a band with other nuns is "another form of bringing our evangelical message, showing our strength"

Sister Teresa, a drum player from Chile, plays in a band made up of nuns she says takes "the word of God and his consolation to the prisons, to the disabled"

Sister Arisa, a violinist from Japan, says that "it was God's plan" that she and other nuns form a band

VIDEO: These nuns play catchy Christian songs that sound like mainstream rock 'n roll, and are scheduled to play at the World Youth Day celebrations in Panama, an event presided over by Pope Francis pic.twitter.com/xggFs5r8Iq

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 17, 2019

Related Articles:

Nuns on the run (with Swiss guards): Vatican Athletics gets Olympic blessing

Women should play a greater role in the training of priests to fight the child abuse 'crisis' that has engulfed the #CatholicChurch, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet has said https://t.co/UmGvrcnIZI #MarcOuellet

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 16, 2018

VIDEO: Peru celebrates the return of one of its cultural treasures, an eighth-century gold funerary mask, after a 20-year legal and diplomatic battle with Germany

VIDEO: Peru celebrates the return of one of its cultural treasures, an eighth-century gold funerary mask, after a 20-year legal and diplomatic battle with Germany pic.twitter.com/jzmjyMVNUE

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 11, 2018

Peru's Supreme Court president resigns over corruption scandal

Yahoo – AFP, 19 July 2018

The president of Peru's Judiciary and Supreme Court, Duberli Rodriguez (C) speaking
during a meeting with a committee of jurists, has resigned over a growing scandal
linked to the sale of sentences and influence peddling

Peru's Supreme Court president Duberli Rodriguez offered his resignation on Thursday after the publication of a series of audio recordings sparked a growing scandal over the sale of sentences and influence peddling.

"Given the institutional crisis that the judicial branch is going through, I present my irrevocable resignation from the post," said Rodriguez in a short letter published on the Supreme Court's Twitter account.

Rodriguez said the reasons for his resignation would be explained during a Supreme Court extraordinary session on Thursday afternoon.

He had been under pressure from Supreme Court colleagues demanding he resign so someone else -- completely untouched by the scandal -- could be tasked with reorganizing the judicial system.

Peru's judicial branch had announced a 90-day emergency on Wednesday, signed by Rodriguez and published in the El Peruano newspaper.

"In response to the judicial problems it is imperative that urgent and immediate measures are adopted to restore the normal, efficient and transparent development of jurisdictional activities," the judicial authority's resolution stated.

The National Council of the Magistracy's (CNM) president Orlando Velasquez also resigned on Thursday after just three days in the job, saying he did so for "dignity."

The CNM is the body that nominates judges and prosecutors.

The news comes less than a week after Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra dismissed Justice Minister Salvador Heresi over the embarrassing revelations.

"For the health of the justice system reform, I've asked minister Heresi to resign," Vizcarra had said on Twitter. "The period Peru is going through requires firm action."

Vizcarra appointed a committee of six jurists headed by ex-chancellor Allan Wagner to deliver a judicial reform proposal.

He has called an extraordinary session in parliament for Friday to discuss the possibility of a blanket resignation of CNM magistrates.

The diffusion of inflammatory audio recordings began 10 days ago on investigative journalism website IDL-Reporteros and the Panorama program on television station Canal 5, after which the public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into suspected influence peddling.

A number of judges and judicial officials implicated in the scandal have been suspended.

Heresi was sacked after a conversation between him and Supreme Court judge Cesar Hinostroza, another implicated in the affair, was played on television.

In the recording, Heresi asks Hinostroza to come to his office to talk to him about a legal initiative.

The president of Peru's Judiciary and Supreme Court, Duberli Rodriguez (C) speaking during a meeting with a committee of jurists, has resigned over a growing scandal linked to the sale of sentences and influence peddling.

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.

Amazon's indigenous people 'never so threatened': pope

Yahoo – AFP, January 19, 2018

Pope Francis shakes hands with an indigenous woman during a meeting with
 Amazon basin community members from Peru, Brazil and Bolivia, in the Peruvian
city of Puerto Maldonado (AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

Puerto Maldonado (Peru) (AFP) - Pope Francis sounded a stark warning about the future of the Amazon and its peoples during a visit to the region on Friday, saying they had "never been so threatened."

In a speech to thousands of tribe members on the edge of the rainforest in Peru, he said the Amazon and its peoples bore "deep wounds."

Francis lamented "the pressure being exerted by great business interests that want to lay hands on its petroleum, gas, lumber, gold and forms of agro-industrial monocultivation."

Bare-chested tribesmen, their bodies painted and their heads crowned with colourful feathers, danced and sung for the pope when he arrived in the Peruvian city of Puerto Maldonado.

Thousands of indigenous people had traveled to meet the pontiff from throughout the Amazon basin region of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia.

Members of one of the tribes presented the pope with a bow and arrow in a symbolic gesture aimed at urging him to defend land rights they say they have been stripped of.

"The native Amazonian peoples have probably never been so threatened on their own lands as they are at present," said the pope, who appeared visibly moved by the reception.

"Amazonia is being disputed on various fronts," he said.

"The problems strangle her peoples and provoke the migration of the young due to the lack of local alternatives.

"We have to break with the historical paradigm that views Amazonia as an inexhaustible source of supplies for other countries without concern for its inhabitants."

Ecuador's jailed VP stripped of office

Yahoo – AFP, Santiago PIEDRA SILVA, January 3, 2018

In prison for taking kickbacks, Ecuadoran Vice President Jorge Glas has
been stripped of his office (AFP Photo/Rodrigo BUENDIA)

Quito (AFP) - Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno confirmed on Wednesday that Jorge Glas, his vice president jailed for six years for graft, has been stripped of his office.

Glas, 48, automatically lost his title on Wednesday because he was absent from his post for more than the three months permitted under Ecuador's constitution -- because of his incarceration and pre-trial detention.

He is the highest-ranking Latin American politician to be convicted and imprisoned in a regional scandal involving a Brazilian construction group, Odebrecht, which gave bribes to secure public works contracts.

He was given a six-year sentence on December 13 by Ecuador's Supreme Court after being found guilty of receiving $13.5 million in Odebrecht kickbacks. He says he is innocent and will appeal.

But, taking into account his detention since October 2 pending his trial, he has not been able to carry out his duties.

That meant that at midnight Tuesday (0500 GMT Wednesday), Glas had failed to execute his functions as vice president for the three months allowed under the constitution. So he automatically lost his post.

"In line with what the constitution stipulates, the vice presidential functions of Jorge Glas have ended," Moreno told reporters at his palace in the capital, Quito.

He added that, by law, he now had two weeks to present a list of potential replacements for Congress to choose Glas's successor.

Two potential successors

The legislature voted December 17 to open proceedings to fire Glas. But that required rulings from the Constitutional Court and a congressional panel before going to a vote before the entire Congress.

In the end, the constitution's provisions were deemed to have gone into effect before the legislative process had run its course.

Glas has insisted he did not breach the three-month absence rule, arguing that part of his period in custody was vacation time. But that stance was dismissed by the government and Congress.

"Under the law, the three months of absence means that a temporary deficiency (of vice-presidential functions) becomes a definitive one, without the need for any congressional declaration," a constitutional expert, Rafael Oyarte, told AFP.

Two people were seen as best-placed to succeed Glas: current acting vice president Maria Vicuna, and Industries Minister Eva Garcia.

Ecuador's ruling party is split between Moreno and previous president Rafael Correa. Glas was an ally of Correa, who retired to Belgium but returned to his country in late November to battle Moreno for control of the party.

Odebrecht, which was investigated by the US Justice Department, agreed to pay a $3.5 billion fine after admitting to giving $788 million in bribes across 12 countries to secure contracts.

The scandal has ensnared politicians in several countries, including Mexico, Peru, Panama and Venezuela.

Ecuadoran prosecutors said Odebrecht spent $47.3 million in bribes in their country to get public contracts.