Peru: Protests triple under Twobreakfasts

A good note in Gran Combo on the upsurge in social conflicts in Peru. According to the note and also according to the official numbers published by the (literally translated cos it's a good name) "defensor of the people" ombudsman, conflicts and protests have risen threefold in the last two years.

There are other charts on offer at GranCombo too, with one that notes the large percentage of the abovementioned protests generated by environmental and pollution issues.

Peru: Shiny happy people holding hands

Everyone around love them, love them
Put it in your hands
Take it take it
There's no time to cry
Happy happy
Put it in your heart
Where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine

R.E.M Shiny Happy People

Thanks to the Twobreakfasts government, Peru is now the place of happiness. Non-stop growth has brought wealth and opportunity to the whole country. The bright future that was promised has arrived. Peru is now on course to join the the industrialized nations.

Right?

Now most people know that the Bagua massacre happened, but surely that was an isolated incident There can't be that much social unrest in a country that's growing so quickly and so strongly, gaining plaudits from its peers and investment dollars attracted from abroad.

Right?

Wrong. In the sordid, rich-get-richer reality that is Peru, the Defensoría del Pueblo ("defender of the people"... a cool name for what's basically an ombudsman) registered 273 'cases of conflict' in Peru in the month of June (yes...one freakin' month!). Of those, 83% have not been resolved to date. By way of context, June 2008 registered 132 'cases of conflict'.

The current disputes also break down into categories, with the largest (47%) being social, 15% municipal government disputes and 12% labour disputes. As the protestors currently paralyzing provincial Peru and bits of Lima during the current, three day general strike would say, "Meet me in the crowd, people, people."

Social tensions rising in Peru again

After listening to PM and dumbass Yehude Simon say last night that Peru's gov't was "not weak" in the face of protests, this morning we have news that the Armed Forces have been given authorization to intervene in troublespots, such as Cusco, Andahuaylas (11 day protest and counting) and of course the Doe Run Peru (DRP) roadblock at La Oroya, which happens to be on a strategically important highway. The measure is by decree and lasts for the next 10 days in the Cusco, Apurimac and Junin regions.

Also, Gran Combo Club made a very sharp observation over the weekend when comparing El Comercio (Peru's lapdog newspaper of record) and its current coverage of Peru's social troubles with Chile's El Mercurio in the 1970's and 1980's when Pinochet was in power. Here are the two examples shown in GranCombo for those of you versed in the local language.

The similarities of blaming "infiltrators" for any social problem is disconcerting...to say the least.

Now I gotta run. Have a cool day, people.

A pretty map of the world

All nice colours and that. Anyone for a "5 to 10 year deep social and economic crisis"? Sounds yummy, doesn't it....

You can't help but note just how much better (maybe "less worse") things are down this end of the world, can you? You'll also note that Peru goes down with the rest of them..sorry Twobreakfasts, but your delusions won't last much longer.

All this from those bedwetting, hand-wringing Europessimists at LEAP who are the same despicable guys that.... errrr.....called the world recession correctly this time last year.