TEN YEARS LATER Reuters is first in running a stand-alone story on the 10-year anniversary of Alberto Fujimori's coup-d'etat. Most promising economic quote for Peru's future: "Enthusiastic investors have also lapped up [Peru's] first big sovereign bond issue since 1928." Most damning economic quote: "[A]nalysts say that only the mining and construction sectors are healthy, and the rest of the economy remains virtually paralyzed." The Times of Australia put this event on its' "What Happened on This Date."

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS EFE reports that Hernando de Soto is the 2002 recipient of the Association of Private Enterprise Education's (APEE) Adam Smith Award. According to the APEE's website, the award is presented to an individual who has made "a sustained and lasting contribution to the perpetuation of the ideals of a free market economy as first laid out in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations." However, a story earlier in the week on the Associated Press wire (which ran on New Jersey.com among other sources) said that de Soto is having to defend himself against charges that he helped prepare Fujimori for his coup-d'etat. While acknowledging that Fujimori "had contacted him three weeks after the coup for help," de Soto says he urged the former president to return to a democratic rule.

18 STRIPPED EFE reports that 18 former legislators, in addition to one current congressman, were stripped of their immunity so they could be tried in connection with their role in the fraudulent 2000 elections. Two lawmakers, Martha Chavez and Luis Caceres, were not yet stripped of their immunity as a result of illness.

CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE The New York Times runs a Reuters piece and MSNBC runs an NBC News piece, each from Havana, on Cuba's charge that Washington was "trying to oblige Peru to present a motion condemning Havana at a U.N. forum meeting in Geneva." While the story says that "Peru had informed Cuba it would not present [the] resolution," it does not report (as today's Lima dailies do) that the Toledo cabinet is quite divided on this issue.

EARLIER: The Washington Times reported (March 15, 2002) that the Bush administration was pressuring Peru to "sponsor a resolution condemning Cuba at the annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission opening in Geneva on Monday." The paper quoted a State Department official saying "We believe [Peruvian] President [Alejandro] Toledo has the moral and political authority to lead the region on the issue of democratic freedom and human rights."

PERUVIAN PEDOPHILE PROTECTION A piece in the New York Post documents the protection the New York Catholic hierarchy gave to Peruvian Rev. Juan Bazalar as he attempted to escape to Peru after being charged with sodomizing an altar boy in New York. The Chicago Sun-Times earlier reported on the Rev. Carlos Peralta who "was moved by his religious order to Chicago because of many acts of sexual abuse against minors outside the United States." A Chilean, Peralta's "allegations of misconduct followed Peralta from Chile to Guatemala to Peru."

LORI & ZACARIAS The Black World Today runs an opinion piece by Andrew Reding of the Pacific News Service which compares the similarities between Lori Berenson and Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker on September 11. "The Peruvian case is strikingly similar. Lori Berenson is a U.S. citizen arrested in Lima while sharing a house with members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, a Marxist guerrilla group committed to the violent overthrow of the Peruvian government. ... In effect, Bush is saying that international human rights law is good only when applied to the detriment of adversaries or to the benefit of U.S. citizens."

TELEVISED HEARINGS BEGIN The Houston Chronicle updates last week's Reuters story on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its plans to broadcast its hearings on television, starting Monday. (The picture is of Salomon Lerner, the chair of the commission.) It outlines a broader international comparison than the earlier Reuters piece and also includes the concerns the APRA party has with the commission. (See "Atrocities Made Public" on March 29 below.)

ONE UP, ONE DOWN Xinhua offers Davis Cup results and reports that Peruvian Luis Horna won his matches 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-2 against Paraguayan Francisco Rodriguez but Peruvian Ivan Miranda lost 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to Paraguayan Ramon Delgado. (Photograph is of Miranda and Horna losing last year's Davis doubles.) EARLIER: InternetSoccer reported on Nolberto Solano who insisted that "Newcastle will hold off Chelsea and Leeds to clinch the Premiership's final Champions League berth this season."

EARLIER: Time Magazine reviews "Horse of a Different Colour," a book on Monarchos, the surprise winner of last year's Kentucky Derby. "When Jorge Chavez, the 4-ft. 10-in. jockey who clawed his way up from the slums of Lima, Peru, to a seat atop Monarchos, hits the homestretch, you are rooting for him to win it all."

WHO ARE YOU? The Dallas News, among several other Texas papers such as The Armadillo Net, reports that the Frontier Times Museum is missing a "shrunken head" which "until the 1930s, reportedly belonged to a young Jivaro Indian from Ecuador or Peru." Although the story details how heads can be shrunken, there is no reporting on the ethics of having such an item in the first place.

ARTIST #1 EFE reports that Alfredo Bryce Echenique was at the 8th International Arts Festival held in San Jose Costa Rica where he gave a talk on April 3 on 'Humor in literature,' "one of the subjects that fascinates him as an artist and influences his work." Bryce's latest book, translated in English, is Tarzan's Tonsillitis, reviewed earlier in The Denver Post, the Decatur Daily, and The New York Times.

ARTIST #2 The Gu ardian reviews Susana Baca's new album "Espíritu Vivo." Baca's "gloriously evocative voice sings ballads of love, loss and life over a blend of fiery Latin signatures, stark African percussion and occasional oddball atmospherics" and the tracks include covers such as Björk's The Anchor Song, or the Brazilian Caetano Veloso's 13 de Mayo." The piece also interviews Baca and she comments on Alejandro Toledo, the Shining Path, and "Mario Vargos Lhosa." September 11 angle: She was recording the album in Manhattan on 9/11. The BBC also reviews the new release - but only in Spanish. The BombSite interviewed Baca in 2000. Marc Ribot's website offers some Baca tour dates beginning May 10 in Montreal, and going through Vermont and Boston, before ending in New York City on May 15. Europe dates being in June.

ARTIST #3 The Guardian reviews Mario Vargas Llosa's "The Feast of the Goat" which was recently published in England. Reviewer John Sturrock gushes that "Of all the Spanish American novelists I've read, Vargas Llosa is far and away the most convinced and accomplished realist; and he's at his strongest in The Feast of the Goat ." Business Wire informs that the current issue of LOFT magazine has an interview with Vargas Llosa. (See also "Vargas Llosa Reviewed" on March 29 below; and "1 International Writer" on March 15 below.)

ARTIST #4 The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune (in a Reuters story), and the BBC report that Ann Patchett has won the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction for her novel 'Bel Canto,' a fictionalized tale of the 1996 Tupac Amaru take-over of the Japanese Embassy in Lima. The book was reviewed earlier in The New York Times.

ARTIST #5? The Connecticut Courant film critic reviews "Big Trouble" If watching a man swallow the toes of a Peruvian beauty is your idea of great shtick, you will laugh yourself silly" at this movie. The problem is that while Sofia Vergara plays a Peruvian maid in the film, she is Colombian. The Boston Herald says, "Sofia Vergara, who is a major celebrity among Spanish-speaking audiences thanks to her role as a hostess on several hit shows on Univision, plays a sexy but smart Peruvian maid in the film."

VISITOR ONE The Polish News Agency perfunctorily reports on Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski's imminent visit to Peru. EFE relates that he will spend a day and a half in Peru in order, according to the Kwasniewski, "to seek stronger bilateral relations and especially to interest local business leaders in trade with Poland."

ONE OF 3 STARS MSNBC, through a Reuters story, reports on one of Peru's three "star agricultural exports": MANGOES. (The other two are coffee and asparagus.) Reporting from San Lorenzo, near the Ecuadoran border, the story says that last year, Peru "exported 27,000 tonnes of mangoes, almost entirely to the United States, and farmers are forecasting production this year of 30,000 tonnes of export mangoes. The mango export industry was worth $27 million in 2001." EARLIER: EFE quotes Energy and Mines Minister Alejandro Quijandria saying that in a total population of 26 million, "more than 1.5 million Peruvians ... directly depend on mining for their livelihoods."

Bloomberg reports that GDP "expanded in February for a seventh month, led by mining output and government spending in road construction." Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Peru's economy grew "by an estimated 4.3 percent in February, fueled by strong mining growth and a rebound in the construction sector."

ATROCITIES MADE PUBLIC MSNBC and CNN run the same Reuters story which reports that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's hearings will be broadcast on television offering Peruvians "first-hand accounts of murders, rapes and massacres" in the battle between the government and the Shining Path. The massacre at Uchuraccay in the early 1980s will be among the first stories told. The commission will produce a final report in July 2003. Separately, an EFE story recounts a horrific "quadruple murder" by four Bolivian brothers in the border town of Iñapari which straddles Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.

TRADE The Chicago Tribune runs a news story on the difficulties of getting the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) passed in the US Congress and an editorial questioning Bush's commitment to free trade. In a Reuters story in the New York Times, Alfredo Ferrero, deputy minister for integration and international trade negotiations, argues that without ATPA, drug trade in Peru will only increase. SABI reports on Incalpaca, a company suffering as a result of no trade deal. Conversely, SABI reports on Construcciones Metalicas financial worries with the onset of more free trade. Xinhua reports on the increased Peruvian exports to China in 2002. And HooverNews' Daily Coffee Report states that coffee production in Peru "could reach 2.8 million 60-kg bags this year, compared with 2.69 million in the previous year."

BONDS AND BONDS SABI offers an upbeat piece on the privatization efforts of the Toledo government while a Reuters story in the Financial Times reports on the government's issue of $5.7 million in domestic bonds. EFE suggests that Peru is also "consider[ing] issuing [US$1.2 billion in] bonds to finance war on drugs."

LORI BERENSON The New York Times reports that the Bush White House denies that it asked the Peruvian government for clemency on behalf of Lori Berenson. However, the denial is highly nuanced. CNN runs a Reuters story entitled: "OAS [Human] Rights' Court Mulls Berenson Case" but quotes First Vice-president Raul Diez Canseco saying, "This is an absolutely closed case." The conservative New York Post editorializes that "Justice for Lori = Jail." New York's Newsday compares Berenson to John Lindh in an editorial.

PEACE & QUIET? While EFE reports that President Toledo celebrated his 56th birthday in private, a separate EFE story depicts the floods in Tumbes that Toledo later inspected, breaking his birthday respite. Xinhua and ITAR-TASS also report that Toledo received communications ("a letter," says Xinhua) from Russian President Vladimir Putin on the desire for increased trade between the two countries.

VARGAS LLOSA REVIEWED The New York Times catches up with Mario Vargas Llosa on his birthday and describes where he is in his literary path: "among major awards only the Nobel Prize for literature has eluded him." The Times scribe opines, somewhat beyond his capacity, that had Vargas Llosa defeated Mr. Fujimori in the 1990 presidential elections, "it undoubtedly would have been Peru's gain." The piece also reveals Vargas Llosa's favourite authors: Flaubert, Faulkner and Melville. Read the New York Times review of "The Feast of the Goat," the review in New York Times Book Review, and the first chapter of the book.

DE SOTO MADE A BRAZILIAN! Newsweek runs a cover story on former US President Bill Clinton and mentions his work with Hernando de Soto: "[Clinton is] popularizing the provocative ideas of Brazilian economist Hernando de Soto, who argues that poor people worldwide are sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in assets (mostly in the land they squatted on) that with some well-placed legal reform can be turned into collateral, unlocking immense new development capital."

DE-PORTED Several Minnesota newspapers (including the Ledger Enquirer and the M acon News) run a Pioneer Press story on Peruvian Milagros Jimenez Ruiz who was arrested recently on charges of not appearing for an immigration hearing in 1997. Supporters, however, suggest that her union activity is the root cause and are publicizing her case.

DE-DRUGGED MSNBC (through Reuters) and EFE run stories on a Peruvian court clearing Fernando Zevallos, Aerocontinente's founder, of all drug charges. While charges were pressed, ownership of the airline was distributed among family members. AeroContinente, says Reuters, "controls 60 percent of Peru's air traffic and is one of Latin America's fastest-growing air carriers." Separately, SABI reports that Lan Peru, a division of Lan Chile, is investing heavily in the Peruvian market. A different SABI story focuses on capital investments in different airports around Peru.

4). Time Magazine reviews "Horse of a Different C olour," a book on Monarchos, the surprise winner of last year's Kentucky Derby. "When Jorge Chavez, the 4-ft. 10-in. jockey who clawed his way up from the slums of Lima, Peru, to a seat atop Monarchos, hits the homestretch, you are rooting for him to win it all."

AMB. WAGNER AT PRESS CLUB The Washington Times reported that Peru's Ambassador to the United States, Allan Wagner, was the National Press Club Morning Newsmaker today. The Miami Herald's Tim Johnson had a front seat and reported on Wagner's words on the US resumption of shooting down drug-carrying planes: ''We have been informed by the administration that this matter is in a very advanced state of consideration. We hope that this will be accomplished by the time President Bush is in Lima.'' Xinhua, reporting from Lima on Wagner's press conference, quoted the ambassador saying that the flights were "considered as necessary." Peruvia.com asked Ambassador Wagner if he believed Peru was receiving the international support needed to bring Fujimori to justice. Wagner replied that bringing Fujimori before a court of law "in Japan or Peru" would be a long process.

>The New York Times carried a Reuters story from Colombia on the ATPA (the Andean Trade Preference Act), a matter of utmost importance to Peru, according to Ambassador Wagner in his press conference. An earlier Reuters piece from Lima quoted Alfredo Ferrero, deputy minister of integration and international trade negotiations, saying that ATPA "has little or no effect on the United States, but for Peru and the Andean region it is crucially important -- a life or death matter."

> CNN reports on the arrival of US President George W. Bush in Lima on March 24. The story begins with the 7,000 police that will be "in action," according to Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi. Bushs' Lima visit prompted Wagner's press conference in Washington. EFE reports that Rospigliosi would allow for "peaceful protests" during Bush's' Lima stay.

> The Washington Times reported that the Bush administration was pressuring Peru to "sponsor a resolution condemning Cuba at the annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission opening in Geneva on Monday." The paper quoted a State Department official saying "We believe [Peruvian] President [Alejandro] Toledo has the moral and political authority to lead the region on the issue of democratic freedom and human rights." Ambassador Wagner had no comment on the issue.

FOUR MINES MINE #1: The BBC reviews the problems involving the Yanacocha mine (pictured) in Cajamarca, "Latin America's largest and most profitable god mine." Co-owned by Newmont Mining and a subsidiary of the World Bank, it seems to be setting itself up for a public relations boondoggle. "Many NGOs support local claims that the waters of the Cajamarca basin which they depend on for subsistence crops and farm animals have been polluted with the cyanide used to extract the gold." MINE #2: Pan American Silver Corp's press release states that "Revenue for the year was $39.3 million, 25 per cent greater than for 2000 due to the April start up of the Company's Huaron mine in Peru." It also stated that "Projected production from Huaron in 2002 is 4.7 million ounces of silver, 17,000 tonnes of zinc and 12,000 tonnes of lead." MINE #3: MiningWeb reported on Anglo American and its "expensing of feasibility costs for the Quellaveco copper project in Peru." MINE #4: Reuters reports that Teck-Cominco was looking to purchase "Peru's world-class Bayovar phosphate deposit which the government plans to privatize."

1 INTERNATIONAL TENOR Today's Telegraph and yesterday's Guardian gush over Peruvian opera super star Juan Diego Florez. (Canada's National Post reprints the Telegraph article. The Wall Street Journal's Weekend Section also devotes a paragraph to "the next king of the high C's." The Los Angeles Times had their coronation earlier in the week.) After Florez' wonderful performance in January as Almaviva in the Barber of Seville at the Met in New York City, the British papers anticipate his upcoming role in Bellini's La Sonnambula at the Royal Opera House in London which opens tomorrow. (The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, announces his return to New York in April. The Associated Press reports that Florez returns next year to New York as Don Ramiro in "La Cenerentola.") "He drives audiences into a frenzy wherever he goes," declares the Guardian, "and is acclaimed as one of the greatest bel canto tenors who ever lived." The paper also offers that "Florez still includes Peruvian folk songs in his recitals, and is currently orchestrating a batch of them." The Telegraph says that "Not since Joan Sutherland burst on to the international scene in the early Sixties has a vocal technique caused such a stir among the cognoscenti, and what looks set to be one of the great operatic careers of the 21st century has clearly been decisively launched." After a few caveats on Florez' talents, the Telegraph announces: "he is without doubt numero uno" and that his schedule is "pretty much full until 2006."

1 INTERNATIONAL WRITER The Guardian prints a long profile of Mario Vargas Llosa in anticipation of the April 8 release in the United Kingdom of his "The Feast of the Goat." The article follows a conundrum described by critic Alberto Manguel: "There is a 'troubling paradox' in the 'two Vargas Llosas' between the vision of the novelist and playwright and his views in the press. ... It seems as if the politician has never read the writer". The piece doggedly goes through the entire Vargas Llosa repertoire book by book . Vargas Llosa will be at the Watershed in Bristol next Tuesday at 7pm (tickets: 0117 925 3845); and the South Bank's Queen Elizabeth Hall, London SE1, on Tuesday March 26 at 7.30pm (tickets: 020 7960 4242).

2 INTERNATIONAL STRIKERS A Coventry Football Club site writes that Ysrael Zuniga "plundered two goals for the Sky Blues reserves" over West Ham although on the first one "the Peruvian appeared to control the ball with his arm before firing his shot over the bar." London's Independent reports that Bayern Munich's Bayern's "best efforts came from Claudio Pizarro, their Peruvian striker. Having twice brought undemanding saves from Fabien Barthez, [Pizarro] drew an excellent one from the Frenchman with 20 minutes remaining when he met Steffen Effenberg's free-kick at the near-post."

2 INTERNATIONAL SIBLINGS The National Post runs an odd story on Kel and Katherine Gleason, a brother and sister whose mother is Peruvian and have lately made their way to some notoriety: Kel was the " 32-year-old [TV's] Survivor contestant who was ... booted out of Africa last year for allegedly sneaking in beef jerky and not sharing it with the other contestants" while Katherine is the "designer for [US, Canadian, and British Olympic sponsor] Root's Kids and Youth clothes."

LEGISLATE AND LISTEN An MSNBC story, using the Reuters wire, reports that the Peruvian Congress inaugurated a "new music room complete with leather armchairs and Greek-style frescoes." This is part of the effort to rehabilitate an institution besotted during the Fujimori years. A separate MSNBC story (also from Reuters) and Bloomberg announced that Toledo had "set elections on Nov. 17 for regional authorities, which will control their own budgets, in the country's most ambitious drive toward devolving power to its underdeveloped regions." (MSNBC)

PLEASE PASS THE SALT The Los Angeles Times and MSNBC (using the same Associated Press story) report that both Abimael Guzman and Victor Polay have "ended a month long hunger strike without winning their objectives" which included "grant[ing] them new trials and clos[ing] down prisons designed specially for rebels convicted of terrorism." Guzman had lost 13 pounds while Polay had lost 22 pounds while on the hunger strike.

ECONOMIC ODDS AND ENDS DowJones reported on Peru's growing trade deficit while Reuters stated that the budget deficit "came in at 1.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter, in line with a target set with the International Monetary Fund, but worse than government expectations." ... EFE reports that the Peruvian government "mandated a pay increase for the country's construction workers to put an end to labor disputes in the industry." Labor wanted a 100% pay raise; industry wanted 3%; the government balanced it out at 11%. ... IntraFish reports that Peruvian Anchovy Fishery could open this month." ... BNAmericas reports that "Peruvian financial group Credicorp's (NYSE: BAP) successful share buyback at its main asset, local bank Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP), indicates the group is putting greater emphasis on its core business of banking and financial services." Reuters (the story is here as well) says that AeroContinente "said on Friday it was preparing to fly new routes from the United States to Europe and Asia that could help it beat its 2002 sales target of $120 million." In a separate story, Reuters reports that "cement output -- considered a barometer of economic growth -- jumped 17 percent year-on-year in February to 311,873 tonnes." The Economist runs an article on "Natural Gas in Bolivia and Peru" saying that "the race is on to export natural gas to California."

OTHER ODDS AND ENDS The Times of London reports on Prince Andrew's return to Great Britain from a visit to Peru. (See "Who Else Is In Peru" below, March 8, for Andrew's arrival in Peru.) ... Reuters reports that the British charity "Save the Children" held a press conference in Lima in which it stated that "nearly 23 percent of children under five in Peru are malnourished and infant mortality remains high." ... The Orlando Sentinel reports that Peruvian artist Nicario Jiminez participated in the 43rd annual Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival where "people gaped at the intricate dioramas the Peruvian artist creates out of boiled potatoes and plaster."

VICTOR POLAY TALKS The New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC all use an Associated Press story about the first interview that MRTA leader Victor Polay has given since moving into his prison cell 10 years ago. The interview was given to Caretas. The unsanctioned exchange included smuggled photos with the written answers. Among Polay's declarations were that the MRTA "did not initiate the violence in Peru."

"PR" SAID TO BE TOLEDO'S PROBLEM The Financial Times reports that Prime Minister Roberto Daniño "would press ahead with [his] programme for privatising state-owned concerns" but would need to do "a better job in selling the concept of privatisation to the public." On April 30, the government hopes to make sales of US$219 million despite recent public protests. The story also reveals that President Bush will be arriving in Peru later this month with a coterie of "some 700 officials." Reuters reports that the sale has been pushed back until May 30.

> EFE details part of the privitization plans: "privatize 63,500 hectares (157,000 acres) of land in 2002 through its Proyecto Tierras (Lands Project)" including "15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of coastal land, 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres) of waste lands, and 15,500 hectares (38,300 acres) located in Iquitos."

AFF THREATENS TO RETURN B loomberg reports on Fujimori's recorded message to 2,000 - 3,000 supporters in Villa El Salvador, (reported initially by La Republica), declaring that he will return to Peru before "anyone imagines it." The Miami Herald updates Fujimori's intimate role with death squads, as reported through the comments of a former intelligence officer.

EL NIÑO THREATENS TO RETURN CNN, (among others, including MSNBC), runs an exhaustive piece on what scientists believe is a "strong sign that the Pacific is headed for an El Niño condition that could last more than a year." Additional proof includes "the serious flooding in Peru over the past several weeks."

COCA CAPPING INKA? Peru is the only country in Latin America in which Pepsi or Coca-Cola does not hold the largest share in the soft drink market. In Peru, Inca Kola is Number One. But a Reuters story describes "plans to merge bottling operations with the U.S. drinks giant" Coca-Cola. Last year, Coke bought up half of Inca Kola.

ANDEAN FASHION IN PARIS London's Telegraph describes John Galliano 's "autumn/winter collection for Christian Dior on the opening day of the Paris pret-a-porter season" which "touched down on ... Machu Picchu" among other places. It was "the Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen [who] opened the show in a gilt-embroidered micro-skirt and sports top, with 'Peruvian Punk' head-dress and Innuit fur boots."

LOOK WHO'S IN PERU Two identical Reuters stories interview author/actor Stephen Fry traipsing through Peru. The first piece, however, includes a photo of a smoking Fry (appropos of his "relaxing on a sofa in the lobby of a Lima hotel, his feet up on a nearby table, puffing on a cigarette") while the second piece has him gussied up in a suit and tie. The article reports that Fry "is planning a coffee-table book about the Peruvian project to save the endangered Spectacled Bear - he has filmed a programme for the BBC about it which will air at Easter."

WHO ELSE IS IN PERU? Those reported to be visiting Peru these days include: Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan (BBC) and Prince Andrew. Xinhua reported that Andrew "slipped into Peru" unnoticed, with nobody to officially receive him at Jorge Chavez. EFE reports that the Duke of York is on a six-day visited Markham School, made a donation to La Victoria No. 8 Fire Station, and will make a trip to Moquegua. Both fail to mention that he will spend his birthday in Peru. Finally, Xinhua reports on the meeting in Lima of the trade and industrial ministers of the Andean countries.

NEW ART EXHIBITS The Orlando Sentinel announces the opening of 'Just Rhythm' by Peruvian painter Maritza. The exhibition of "music-related paintings" is found at Steinway Piano Galleries, 303 E. Altamonte Drive, Altamonte Springs, in Miami. The Washington Post signals the new show opening March 21 at the Textile Museum entitled "Hidden Threads of Peru: Q'ero Textiles." It will "showcase the fabrics of a remote community in the Peruvian Andes.

ETC. CNN runs a review of Nuggets II, a boxed set of "1960s rock songs from locales ranging from Great Britain to Iceland, Peru and Czechoslovakia." ... The National Post quotes Peruvian Manuel Beltran in his support of Bernard Cardinal Law and the sexual abuse cover-up in Boston. ... The Telegraph reports (and the Canadian National Post repeats) on the return of Percy Gibson and bride Joan Collins from their Malaysian honeymoon and reveals that "she romantically refused his request for a pre-nuptial agreement." It also quotes Collins saying "If Percy had wanted children, he would have had them when he was married before. The last thing I want is a child, I don't even want a dog. What's the big deal about children? They are incredibly messy, spoilt and take up all your time and money." ... A piece in the Canadian Press suggests that a B-movie actress, while vacationing in Peru, thought the locals confused her with X-Files Gillian Anderson.

PERUVIAN HOLOCAUST? A Reuters story in MSNBC on Peru reports that "a secret, underground furnace discovered in the army's headquarters [the Pentagonito] was used to incinerate people during the hard-line rule of former President Alberto Fujimori, an official said on Friday." However, the piece states that it is not clear whether "people were allegedly burned alive or their bodies were incinerated."

THE WORLD BANK CONNECTION IPS puts the World Bank on the defensive despite video evidence that Montesinos pressured a judge on behalf of a company the Bank co-owned that also owns a gold mine." The World Bank (through the International Finance Corporation "owns five percent of the Minera Yanacocha mine, the largest gold mine in Latin America, which is co-owned by Newmont and Buenaventura."

AUTHOR FUJIMORI As reported last week, former president Alberto Fujimori joins the new dichotomous world with his book "Alberto Fujimori Fights Terrorism". Somehow, the fullest report in English so far of this event comes today through the Bangladesh Independent. Among the details the paper offers is that the book is a "237-page paperback" published by Chuokoron-shinsha with a 20,000 copy run. No stranger to hubris, Fujimori "frequently draws parallels between his own battle, against the rebels and the one the United States has been fighting against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network." Chuokoron-shinsha Press plans to publish Fujimori's memoirs this summer.

POLITICALLY & ECONOMICALLY WOBBLY The Financial Times offers a piece on Peru's political and economic uncertainty. "Although Lima has weathered the turmoil that rocked Argentina and other markets in the region, worries closer to home have taken their toll." Toledo has sunk to a 65% disapproval rate, according to a local poll, and while there has been a recent economic resurgence, it has been "restricted mainly to the mining and construction sectors, offsetting declines in fishing." Bloomberg states that Peru's net international foreign reserves increased this week from "5.7 percent as of Feb. 26 to $9.2 billion." Reuters, meanwhile, reports that Peru's "total public and private foreign debt dipped slightly at the end of 2001 to $27.65 billion compared with $28.35 billion at the end of the previous year." While a separate Reuters piece reveals that pension funds are experiencing significant growth, another Bloomberg story suggests that oil production is in decline. A final Reuters story reports that "consumer prices fell 0.04 percent in February 2002 with lower food and drink and transportation prices."

SENDERO ON THE PROWL A Reuters piece quotes Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi saying that "though no longer the feared rebel group that once waged a bloody war in Peru, Maoist Shining Path remains a threat to this Andean nation." He estimated the size of the terrorist group about "300 to 450 leftist militants operating in three groups in the central and southern jungle." The story also reports that the minister denied any FARC/Sendero connection.

A FRIEND OF PERU London's Telegraph offers an obituary of Anita Goulden who "went to Peru on holiday and stayed for the next 43 years to look after abandoned and handicapped children." Piura lost an indomitable presence upon her death. "She defied hostile politicians and indifferent civil servants. The local archbishop accused her of being an Interpol agent. A bandit held a pistol to her temple. But nobody who crossed her path ever doubted her determination." She was given an MBE and the obituary states that "If the Queen of England approved of this gringa, the Peruvians reasoned, she clearly deserved their help, and local help began to trickle in." She also received help from Telegraph readers' generosity.

LORI ON 'NOW' In an opinion piece in the Financial Times, Amity Shales states that America's "National Organization of Women's home page [www.now.org] contained only a single international item - a clickable line reading "Free Lori Berenson", the New Yorker jailed in Peru on charges of collaborating with violent rebels. "

EXTRA Kyodo reports that environmental groups were upset at plans announced by Japan to expand its whaling quota and add the endangered whales to the annual hunt. However, Britain-based Whale and Dolphin Society "praised Peru for signing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, meaning it is no longer a market for whale meat from 'renegade whaling nations -- Norway and Japan.' But it said Peru is ''horrified'' that Japan is extending its hunt to yet another protected species." .... In a New Zealand Herald on US TV personality David Letterman: "Wonder why it's funny when Dave surrenders the microphone to the "Jerry Lewis of Peru", who jabbers away in high-speed Spanish while the crew debates the merits of various soups?" .... The Atlanta Journal-Constitution announces that Methodist missionary in Huancayo, Arthur Ivey, will be speaking in a local church this weekend. ... Science has an update on el Nino. "Using tiny bone fragments from fossilized fish, scientists have traced

PROFESSOR FUJIMORI The BBC, Kyodo, CNN (using the AP), and Xinhua (using Kyodo) report on ex-president Fujimori's appearance as a guest lecturer at Takushoku University next week, after 14 months of "relative seclusion." (BBC). His talk will be on the military operation he conducted on April 22, 1997 on the MRTA-controlled Japanese embassy in Lima. CNN, which uses information from the Yomiuri and Nihon Keizai newspapers, says that Fujimori will give his talk in Spanish and that the talk is titled "A Reflection on Terrorism." A University official told the BBC that Fujimori "might be retained as a guest lecturer." Kyodo specifies that the lecture will be at "2:25 p.m. in the Myogadani hall of the university's campus in Bunkyo Ward."

THE PERUVIAN/ISRAELI/JORDANIAN/COLOMBIAN LINK EFE reports, based on CPN Radio, that two Israeli arms dealers linked to the Vladimiro Montesinos corruption network, Sui Sudit and Rony Lerner, "turned themselves in to Peruvian police on Thursday, after apparently striking a bargain of some sort with authorities."

TRUTH COMMISSION QUESTIONED InterPress offers a lengthy, gloomy assessment of Peru's Truth Commission that is set to meet with regional counterparts in Lima this weekend. Established last year to investigate the 29,000 Peruvians killed or disappeared over the last 20 years, the Commission is chaired by Salomón Lerner, Rector of the Catholic University in Lima and include two Catholic priests, an evangelical pastor, and six representatives of civil society. The piece, written by regular InterPress contributor Abraham Lama, explains that the last twenty years are being examined because only "26 percent of a total of 6,200 forced disappearances took place during the 10 years Fujimori was in power, compared to 47 percent during [Fernando] Belaunde's five-year term [1980-1985] and 27 percent under [Alan] García [1995-2000]." The story also details the four working groups that will outline the Commissions task with its $6 million budget in 2002.

PESSIMISM RUNS RAMPANT The Wall Street Journal headlines their story "Privatization Plan Falters, Misses $500 Million Target by Half" explaining that only $268 million was raised "from sales of state-owned enterprises in 2001." The sale of ElectroAndes alone brought in $227 million. The government's plan for 2002 is to raise $700 million. World Oil and EFE report that "crude output in Peru is on a downward trajectory, having fallen around 2.5 per cent to an average of 97,097 barrels per day over the past year" (World Oil) although December's output increased slightly.

PERUVIANS IN PATERSON HELP OUT The Record (New Jersey, USA) reports that the Peruvian community near New York City is raising funds for the victims of the recent fireworks tragedy in Lima. Led by the local Peruvian consulate, a bank account has been established at Hudson United Bank and Continental Airlines has offered free transport of cargo. Almost 25,000 Paterson residents are of Peruvian descent.

FASTER COMMUNICATION Totaltele reports that Telefonica's Peruvian mobile subsidiary has become "the first operator to launch CDMA IS-95B in Latin America." This 2.5G technology "supports data speeds of up to 64 Kbps and will allow users access to mobile Internet services such as m-banking, personal information management and e-mail."

NO LONGER THE HIGHEST DINNER? The New Zealand Herald reports that a group of Kiwis will attempt to break a record of having dinner at the highest spot in the world held by the Australia Social Climbers group, set 13 years ago, by dining at 6768m on Mt Huascaran. The New Zealanders will have a second go at it on top of Argentina's Mt Aconcagua.

ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH TERRORISM The Associated Press runs a piece on the diverse crew serving on a USA aircraft carrier that includes one Alba Aponte, 20, whose family moved to Union City, New Jersey, from Lima in 1999. "Aponte was at New Jersey's Newark Airport Sept. 11 waiting to fly back to her Florida naval base when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. ``I could see the smoke and I knew it was terrorism,'' she said Aponte said terror attacks were common in Peru while she was growing up. ``I knew how people in New York were feeling, so I was glad I was in the Navy so I could help defend America."

OF SPECIAL INTEREST The Vancouver Sun reports that Peruvian architect Ruth Alvador will give the Weyerhaeuser Lecture on Architecture at the SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings, on January 10, 6:30 pm. The lecture is free and more information can be had by calling 604-683-8588. ..... The Associated Press runs a piece on earthquakes in 2001 and states that the largest earthquake in 2001 was "a magnitude 8.4 off the coast of Peru on June 23. It caused more than 100 deaths, but the impact was reduced because of its offshore location."

A CHALLENGING DUO EFE reports that former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Hernando de Soto have "decided to join forces to promote the development of capitalism in the Third World." This was first reported by RPP Noticias in their interview with De Soto. Together, they will create an organization to be launched in December.

PROPAGANDA IN CYBERSPACE The Guardian (UK) runs a full report on former President Alberto Fujimori's website which is described as "a propaganda war in cyberspace." The site has "few technical bells and whistles, but it is very effective in getting its message across." Reporting from Tokyo, Jonathan Watts suggests that "a band of wealthy and influential supporters ... have arranged translators so the site is available in Spanish, Japanese and English." While that was true when it began, the site's English translations no longer appear. And the English that remains uses words like "courageousless." The conclusion is rather bitter for Fujimori: "the 100 or so pages of html are not much to show for such a long period in power."

THE MISSIONARY'S SIDE The Raleigh News and Observer (North Carolina, USA) relays an Associated Press story from Tacoma, WA where Jim Bowers, the Baptist missionary whose wife and baby daughter were killed when their Cessna was accidentally shot down near Iquitos on April 20, was speaking at Northwest Baptist Seminary. Bowers now says "he's come to believe their deaths and his survival were 'all God's plan'." The story also reflects Bowers comments on yesterday's news of the USA Senate Intelligence committee's report on the accident. The Muskegon Chronicle (Michigan, USA), the local paper of the Bowers home church in Fruitport, adds reactions by members of Congress on the event. (See "Blame Ascribed" in November 1.)

ILO OR BUST InterPress reports that "Peru and Chile are competing for the privilege of providing a Pacific coast exit for Bolivia's natural gas exports to the United States and Mexico." which may lean to "tensions" between the countries. The port of Ilo will be "a top item on the agenda" Toledo meets with his counterpart Jorge Quiroga in La Paz in November. However, some analysts fear that this will compete negatively with Camisea. Sept 11 angle: "The attacks ... changed the equation because the United States is now seeking energy sources outside the oil-rich arena of conflict."

OKINAWAN HUAYNOS Japan Update reports on the Kenji Yamazato Band of Peru. Leader Kenji Yamazato is a pianist, bandleader and a third generation immigrant from Okinawa. "In Peru, his big band is very popular appearing regularly in Peruvian TV and radio programs." The band's repertoire includes "salsa, mambo, rumba, flamenco, tango, meringue, and Andes music, plus some Israeli and Chinese folk songs and tunes." All of the band members hail from Lima. The band plays on Saturday at Okinawa Convention Center. For more info, call 098-875-0101.

ADVANCE COPY The Baltimore Sun has an early review for Mario Vargas' "Feast of the Goat" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) to be released in the United States on November 13. In typical literary fair, the reviewer writes that "this is a dark, energetic and powerful novel ... with passion and without hope." In addition, it is "a frightening, troubling book ...[that] will breed nightmares in the reader."

RALLY FOR A GOOD CAUSE The Telegraph (UK) offers a first hand recapitulation of the ongoing Inca Trail Rally where "altitude sickness, failing cars, boulders and gulleys are just some of the obstacles." The continental rally is currently in Peru. Writer Malcolm McKay is driving a 1955 Triumph TR2 and is raising money for APECA.

TALK ON JAPANESE PERUVIANS The Los Angeles Times reports that next Wednesday, Amelia Morimoto, director of the Museum of Japanese Immigration in Lima, Peru, will speak at Pomona College in Claremont at 4:15 p.m. She will discuss "Japanese Peruvians: From Immigrants to the Era of Fujimori." For information: 607-8065 or 607-2920.

STATE OF PERUVIAN CHINESE Xinhua reports that "the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) held a reception to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Peru" on Friday. Chen Haosu, president of the CPAFFC, said China and Peru "have enjoyed a long history of friendship, especially after the establishment of diplomatic ties." Diplomatically, the Peruvian Ambassador to China, Luzmila Zanabria Ishikawa, said the friendship between the two peoples is not thirty years old but rather, "can be traced back to one and a half centuries ago."

NO MORE NOBU The New York Times runs a feature story on the Costanera 700 restaurant and its chef/owner, Humbeto Sato, "the most prominent purveyor of Japanese-Peruvian cuisine and possibly the keeper of some of the society's deepest secrets." Times reporter Clifford Krauss suggests that the restaurant is so discreet "that even Lima's most experienced taxicab drivers get lost trying to find it" even though "it is unmarked by anything more than its street number." Customers have included his customers have included Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, former Ecuadoran President Abdalá Bucaram, Alejandro Toledo, Alberto Fujimori, Vladimiro Montesinos, Demetrio Chávez (alias "El Vaticano"), and Mario Vargas Llosa. The piece does not mention that Chef Sato was an understudy to Chef Chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa's alias "Nobu." Costanera 700 was featured in Gourmet magazine (August 2000) in a piece written by Calvin Trillin. (not online)

OF SPECIAL INTEREST The Boston Globe reruns the Los Angeles Times story about the USA Ambassador to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlin, chasing down a pickpocketer in Peru. (See "Of Special Interest" on Monday, October 29.) ... The Miami Herald runs yesterday's EFE story on the arrest of Montesinos' daughter in Lima. (See "Another Montesinos Arrest" on November 1.)

KUCZYNSKI CAPS "COMMISSION-ITIS" Economy Minister Pedro-Pablo Kuczynksi threatened to resign and take other ministers with him. An early Reuters piece set the stage saying that "amid what has been dubbed 'commission-itis,' Economy Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said that 'Congress should legislate, not attack'." The article continued with a pessimistic economic review of Toledo's administration from the view of economic analysts, including Santiago Millan (HSBC Securities), Jose Cerritelli (Bear Stearns) and Matias Silvani (UBS Warburg). Then, Bloomberg and two different Reuters stories, Reuters A and Reuters B, revealed the root of Kuczynski's discontent: "A congressional commission on Tuesday approved a measure that could remove a system of arbitration for disputes between the Peruvian state and private companies." (Reuters A) If Congress went ahead with this, it could mean that "several ministers could quit," said Kuczynski in Bloomberg. Upping the ante even further, Kuczynski continued: "If now people are trying unilaterally to eliminate ... these arbitration clauses, we'd be a country like Afghanistan." (Reuters B) Finally, the Financial Times scoops with an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Roberto Dañino who soothes things declaring that he wants "a cross-party 'talking shop', comprising senior officials from the ruling coalition and its opponents who will discuss big national issues such as education." Photo: El Comercio, Lima

BLAME ASCRIBED The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Miami Herald, New York Times, the Associated Press (in the Washington Post and USAToday) and MSNBC (using Reuters) reports that a USA Senate Committee suggests that "the CIA should be taken off management of anti-drug interdiction flights over Peru should they resume." (AP) The flights were suspended when a Baptist missionaries' Cessna was accidentally shot down near Iquitos on April 20. Two Americans were killed. The primary culprit in this case was lax management by the CIA, suggest a Republican senator in the AP story. The report also blames mistakes made by the Peruvian military in a "precipitous rush to use lethal force." (AP) The pilot, Donaldson, had done nothing to merit being shot down, the report said. The Miami Herald offers a separate summary of the Senate's report. The New York Times says that "the committee urged the administration to consider placing the program under the control of another agency, since it is not a secret operation." The USA State Department released a less harsh review on August 2. The Miami Herald says that there is a "separate, still-secret review, completed by former U.S. Ambassador Morris Busby for the National Security Council."

ME TOO, ME TOO Not to be outdone by the competition, Reuters's photographer, Pilar Olivares, takes pictures (one, two) of the same street vendor that the Associated Press found selling Osama Bin Laden t-shirts on Lima's streets. (See AP photographer Silvia Izquierdo's work in "Street Vendors & Bin Laden" on October 27.) Photo: Reuters

ANOTHER MONTESINOS ARREST EFE reports on the arrest of Silvana Montesinos, 26, the oldest daughter of Vladimiro Montesinos, "after finding evidence that points to her involvement in rebuilding her father's corruption network." The story suggests that she will be shortly "moved to the women's prison in Chorrillas [sic]."

HIP, HIP, HERAUD Spectrum reports on the first-ever jointly given award by the Peru AEP (Asociación Electrotecnica Peruana), the IEEE Peru Section, and the IEEE Foundation (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). "Dr. Jorge Heraud Perez became the first recipient of the Elektron Award, presented by IEEE President Joel Snyder and IEEE Awards Board Chair Troy Nagel at INTERCON 2001 in Piura, Peru."