Huanuco gunfight leaves three police wounded, three missing

A gunfight between Peruvian National Police officers and cattle rustlers in the Huánuco region left three officers injured and three more missing yesterday morning.

The six policemen were dispatched to investigate reports of livestock theft in the community of Palca in the Lauricocha province, where locals had reported a series of thefts.

They were ambushed at around 5am by a gang of criminals armed with shotguns and other firearms, as reported by the wounded officers.

Three officers have been transferred to Huánuco city hospital suffering from gunshot wounds, while the remaining three remain unaccounted for and are officially listed as “disappeared”.

The regional police force has responded by sending in further operatives, backed up by police aircraft in an attempt to locate the missing officers and arrest their attackers.

Grenade and cannabis plantation found in Lima avenue

A fragmentation grenade and more than 200 cannabis plants have been found in an avenue in Lima’s La Victoria region.

Municipal gardeners came across the grenade at about 10am, while tending the plants in the central reservation of San Eugenio Avenue. They immediately alerted police, who called specialist officers from the EDEX “bomb squad” division to render the weapon safe and remove it.

A few meters away, the gardeners then came across a large number of cannabis plants, growing hidden amongst the trees between the carriageways of the avenue and opposite the San Norberto high school. A total of over 200 plants were found and destroyed.

Police sources state that an investigation is underway to find those responsible.

La Victoria is a central district of Lima, and the terminal for many buses to and from the capital. However, many parts of the large district are generally poorly policed and unsafe for foreigners.

“Robocops” to hit the streets of Peru

At yesterday’s police operation to retake the Santa Anita market in Lima, a number of officers were seen wearing suits of black plastic armor, much to the surprise of commentators and protesters.

Dubbed “robocops” by the press, these are members of the 34^th Command or Special Services Unit, and after the new uniform’s successful trial it will be deployed to some 2,000 more officers around the country.

According to police sources, the plastic armor provides protections against sticks, stones and other blunt instruments, to the extent that officers sometimes are unaware of impacts.

As Lima police General Octavio Salazar puts it, “you can kick a policeman or throw a stone at him, with this new equipment he simply will not feel it.”

Salazar remarked that this will allow police to respond peacefully to situations that in the past would have called for the use of force to protect officers.

Bus crash outside Lima leaves one dead, 22 injured

A crash between a local bus and a heavy truck left one passenger dead and 22 wounded in Chaclacayo yesterday. The public transport vehicle was headed from the popular weekend destination of Chosica to Lima, about 30km away, when it struck a goods vehicle that suddenly pulled out of a fuel station.

A 19-year-old woman was killed instantly, and some other passengers were left trapped in the wreckage. It took firefighters from Chosica, Chaclacayo and Lima some hours to free them and transport them to clinics and the local hospital.

They are being treated under the compulsory accident insurance that both vehicles carried.

Amnesty International: Fujimori cannot be trusted

Peru’s Amnesty International Director Ismael Vega has said that it is hard to believe that fugitive ex-President Alberto Fujimori will abide by the decision of the Chilean courts if they rule in favor of his extradition to Peru, given his track record of dishonesty.

“You cannot believe Fujimori. He can say that he will respect the judgment and that he has no plans to try to escape, but his track record shows that he is not necessarily going to keep to his word,” he said in an interview on Ideeleradio.

For that reason, the Amnesty International official said that measures must be taken to prevent any possible escape by the former head of state, who spent 5 years after leaving office in voluntary exile in Japan – where, as a Japanese citizen, he was immune to extradition proceedings.

Vega stated on Radio San Borja that “the track record that Fujimori has in terms of keeping to his declarations, of justice and of respect for the law goes totally against his recent statements. He is a person characterized by a lack of respect for the rules”.

He added that Fujimori has an “irresistible compulsion to distort reality and try to change the facts,” as the ex-president claims that the corruption and crimes against humanity of which he stands accused were the result of a cooperation between his intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos and the military command, without his having any say in the matters.

Death of Peruvian band may have been murder

Victor Valladares, the press liaison for Peruvian music group Néctar, all of whose members were killed yesterday morning in a road accident in Buenos Aires, has claimed that the deaths could be the work of an organized crime syndicate that extorts protection money from singers and bands.

He added that Juan Murillo, the band’s manager and another of the crash’s victims, had admitted to him that a group of Peruvians, Colombians and Brazilians were demanding money in exchange for allowing bands to perform in Argentina.

Valladares stated that Murillo, who had been driving the vehicle, had not consumed alcohol – despite preliminary reports that this was the cause of the crash.

“Juan Murillo took musicians on tour in Argentina, and 20 days ago he was in Peru. He is from Trujillo [Northern Peru]. He talked with us and explained that there is a mafia of Peruvians, Colombians and Brazilians in Argentina, who demanded 25% of the gate money for any dance with Peruvian performers,” he stated.

Talking to América Televisión he called on the Peruvian Government to expedite the return of the musicians’ remains for forensic testing. “We are sure that this was not an accident, this was a murder,” he said.

He added that he would call for an exhaustive investigation into the deaths of the 13 Peruvians, including band members and friends of the popular techno-tropical group.

See also:
Techno group Néctar wiped out in Argentina

Problems of youth gangs

“Anyone under 18 is free to commit murder” 

The controversial proposal by Surquillo mayor Gustavo Sierra to punish the parents of children involved in gang activity has met with the approval of Virginia Borra, Minister for Woman and Social Development.

“We need some legal mechanism to stop this. We either have to establish an age limit for punishing minors, at 16, say, or we have to punish their parents who fail to bring them up well and protect them from [gangs],” she said on Saturday.

She added that the Cabinet is evaluating a proposal to reduce the age limit for punishing young people who commit offences, from 18 to 16. “We have yet to reach a decision, but we have discussed the issue and evaluated possibilities,” she said in an interview with RPP radio.

She pointed out that a boy of 17 years and 10 months should not be free to commit murder, as is currently the case. “Someone has to be made responsible for these acts,” she stressed.

Drug growers may switch from cocaine to cocoa

Coca eradication in Huánuco

The farmers of Huánuco, who have recently been involved in violent civil unrest to protect their right to crow cocaine-precursor crop coca, have requested temporary financial aid from the state while they change over to growing cacao, from which chocolate is made. According to Grover Pango, who represents the government in talks regarding coca eradication, this is the first major breakthrough that has been reached.

Talking to the Andina agency, he added that the government will stand firm on the eradication of the coca crops of the Upper Huallaga area, which are used almost exclusively for cocaine production rather than for traditional and legal leaf chewing and coca tea production. “That is not a point at issue, the eradication of coca will continue,” he said.

He stated that the talks are about the people of Huánuco and the problems they face, and include Regional President Jorge Espinoza as well as representatives of the coca growers’ movement. They were recently started as a measure to quell growing civil unrest in Huánuco, and will last until July 9^th, with the aim of forming an inclusive development plan for the region.

Pango revealed that one of the key demands of the growers’ movements is to know what will happen to the 34 of their members who were arrested during the recent outbreak of violence.

They also demand explanations for the allegedly violent and abusive invasion by police of fields growing crops other than coca in the same region. Government sources say that the case is currently under investigation.

Talking to RPP radio news, he said that the talks are a key opportunity for substituting illegal coca growing with alternative crops, which he hopes will be part of the development plan. He added that cacao presents an interesting possibility for the region, and that the government is considering investment in increased cacao production as a replacement for the coca – which has historically been the only profitable crop in the region.

Paracas park rangers attacked by dynamite fishermen

Three park rangers of the Paracas National Reserve were brutally attacked yesterday as they attempted to arrest five men who had been dynamite fishing in the Independencia bay, in the south of the protected area, according to national parks service Inrena.

The rangers were making a routine patrol when they heard three detonations coming from the region of the Carhuaz beach. They immediately headed to the area and attempted to intervene.

When the officers approached, the five criminals attacked them with knives and sticks, leading to a confrontation that left several wounded.

Before fleeing, the attackers stole the rangers’ digital cameras that contained evidence of the crime, and slashed the tires of the rangers’ vehicle so as to immobilize it.

With defensive wounds to the arms and hands, the rangers sought help from a passing motorist, who drove them to Pisco police headquarters where they reported the incident.

Police joined with the rangers in returning to the scene of the crime, where they found over 100kg of dead fish washed up on the beach – clear evidence of the ecological crime that had taken place.

Park authorities and police are now actively seeking the perpetrators.  In Peru, dynamite fishing is classed as a serious crime, punishable with 3-15 years in prison and fines up to US$200,000. Possession of unregistered explosives is also classed as a crime of terrorism, and if convicted the perpetrators could face heavy sentences.

Natives threaten to take control of oil pipeline

Natives from the district of Imaza (Bagua, Amazonas) warned today that they will take control over the pumping station of the North Peruvian Oil Pipeline if their law suit is not heard.

Their leader, César Tantalean, confirmed that they are demanding improvements to the road infrastructure in the region.

“They are laughing at us, the authorities promised to improve the road… and nothing has been done. We feel forced to take control over the roads of north east Peru and the pumping station,” he stressed.

He added that there will be a meeting between peasant and native self defense groups this Saturday, as well as with military officers from the region in an attempt to convince them to join in the action and demand the transfer of the necessary heavy machinery.

He claimed that authorities have consistently failed to honor promises that they have made, and that this is the only way for his people to make their voices heard.

See also:
Natives in Amazonas release kidnapped officials
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