More on the Cusco floods

Reader 'Roy' has just left a comment on this previous post about the flooding in the Cusco/highlands region of Peru and I think it's worth sharing with the larger audience. It's written in caps (hey...i didn't write it) but it's definitely worth your time. The last line is exactly right, Roy. Thanks for taking the time out.

IT IS TRAGIC WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE SACRED VALLEY NEAR CUSCO. TODAY01-30-2010 THERE ARE ABOUT 5000 DISPLACED POOR FARMERS, WHO HAVE LOST EVERYTHING, TRYING TO FIND SOMETHING TO EAT, JUST IN THE SMALL TOWN OF URUBUMBA. ALL OF THEIR HOMES ARE FLOODED ON LOWER LAND. OTHER SMALL TOWNS IN THE VALLEY ABOVE THE HIGH WATER LINE HAS THE SAME PROBLEM.

THE RESIDENTS OF THIS TOWN ARE TRYING TO FEED THEM, BUT THEY DO NOT HAVE MUCH THEMSELVES. THE WHOLE VALLEY JUST HAD ANOTHER PROBLEM THE PAST FEW WEEKS. THEY HAVE HAD TO SELL THEIR CORN CROP AT A LOSS. LAST YEAR A PIECE OF FARM LAND THAT MADE 10,000 SOL, ONLY MADE 2000 SOL IF THEY WERE LUCKY. THE PRICE OF CORN HAS COLLAPSED. MANY FARMERS DIDNT GET BACK THE COST OF PUTTING THE CROPS INTO THE GROUND. I KNOW MANY WHO BORROWED THE MONEY TO PLANT THEIR CORN CROPS. NOW THEY CAN NOT REPAY THE LOANS.

NOW THE REST OF THE FOLKS THERE WHO WORK IN THE TOURIST INDUSTRY HAVE LOST THEIR JOBS, OR SOON WILL. A LOT OF PARENTS WILL HAVE MUCH DIFFICULTY IN FINDING A FEW SOL TO SEND THEIR CHILDREN BACK TO SCHOOL IN MARCH. THE LOCAL PEOPLE DO EVERYTHING THEY CAN TO HELP EACH OTHER, FOR NO ONE ELSE WILL. MANY OF THOSE CUTE KIDS IN THE TOURISTS PHOTOS ARE SLEEPING TONIGHT OUT IN THE OPEN WITH EMPTY STOMACHS.

BUT NOT TO WORRY, THE TOURISTS HAVE BEEN QUICKLY AIRLIFTED OUT OF THIS DISTURBING SIGHT, AND LIMA IS SO FAR AWAY.

What to fear, swine flu or an uncaring government?

Juan Sheput at his blog Mate Pastor made an excellent point today. The confirmation of 16 cases of swine flu (or AH1N1 if you insist) in Peru has caused consternation in Lima and headlines in all news media. The majority of cases are in a bunch of students who recently came back from their end of studies joint vacation to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

However, even though it's only early in the Andean winter season there have been 42 children killed by pneumonia in the poor and high altitude Puno and Cusco regions of Peru. Here's what Sheput had to say (translated) and for the record I agree 100%;

UPDATE: Make that 86 children dead

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Swine flu or AH1N1 has arrived in Peru and its spread is exponential. There are 16 cases at the moment, the majority of those students that ame back from their college "promo" trip to the Dominican Republic. They are therefore children from middle class backgrounds. We hope they recover quickly.

But at the same time 42 children have died of pneumonia in Puno and Cusco. They are not mentioned or worried about by Health Minister Oscar Ugarte. They are children aged between five and ten years. Is it true that the lives of the poor don't matter? It's fine that resources are earmarked to fight swine flu (around 60 million Soles), but the children of Puno and Cusco also deserve the same treatment, and not even a million has been set aside for them. They don't have antibiotics, vaccinations, heating or the thoughts of the authorities.

The figures for (Peruvian) children that die due to lack of opportune care in health centres and medical posts is extremely high. It is also unpardonable because the reasons for the deaths are totally predictable. Peru has never had the amount of economic resoruces that it has at the moment and it is therefore injust that children die due to this lack of care. Inequality in treatment is more than evident.

Simon Romero Watch (quite literally)

Otto's spies bring news from the highlands of Peru, where NYT hack and Latin America's worst journalist, Simon Romero, was spotted in Cusco's swanky restaurant "Fallen Angel" over the weekend.

Not an eatery for the thin-of-wallet (U$12 for a Bloody Mary, when 40% of the country lives on U$2 per day...get the picture?), Romero apparently enjoyed his steak (the tables are glass topped fishtanks, which is kind of trippy), the ceiling decorations (that celebrate the day when Romero actually writes a factually correct report about Latin America)......

....and particularly the live cabaret put on by the restaurant owners.

From there Otto's spies lost track of the wordsmith, but it is assumed he sallied forth to one of the many local nightclubs where free samples of local produce are readily available.