Latin America: Week in Review
Peru’s Nationalist Party Attempts To Remove President Alán García After Violence Against Miners
April 8, 2010 By Staff
Peruvian President Alán García.
Today in Latin America
Top Story — The Nationalist Party of Peru brought a motion before Congress Wednesday that declared President Alán García “morally unfit” to finish his term, due to the violent clashes earlier this week between wildcat miners and police forces that left six dead.
The motion, which is allowed under the Peruvian constitution, is not likely to pass as it requires a two-thirds majority vote and would need to clear other procedural hurdles.
“I don’t think this will be successful, it’s merely a gesture,” said Sinesio López, a professor of politics at Lima’s Catholic University, according to the Washington Post.
The move by the left-wing Nationalist Party adds pressure to the business-oriented centrist García as his party searches for a successor for next year’s presidential elections. García cannot run for a second term and his party, APRA, has no candidate lined up yet.
The clashes occurred Sunday in Peru’s Caravelí province as police attempted to disperse wildcat miners who had blocked a highway with boulders, flaming tires and their bodies. The protestors threw sticks and stones at police, who responded with tear gas and fired live rounds to disperse the crowd.
“An independent and impartial investigation is absolutely critical to ensure that those responsible for these killings are brought to justice,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- 88 same-sex couples have gotten married in Mexico City, after a law passed by the city’s legislature giving gay marriages the same status as heterosexual ones went into effect last month.
- The Mexican peso fell Wednesday, breaking a nine-day rise against the U.S dollar.
Caribbean
- Cuba’s most prominent blogger, Yaoni Sánchez, has begun a Blogger Academy in her Havana apartment.
- Many of Haiti’s most notorious criminals are free, after escaping from the National Penitentiary following the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Central America
- A Virginia couple has been accused of selling drugs smuggled from El Salvador in an illegal pharmacy they operated in their apartment.
- A joint Nicaraguan-Cuban medical unit has begun to study handicapped persons near León, Nicaragua in an effort to help the Nicaraguan government create plans and programs for them.
- A forest fire in Costa Rica destroyed nearly 741 acres of two national parks in the country’s western province of Guanacaste.
- The Major League Soccer team, Chivas USA, acquired Costa Rican defender Dario Delgado on loan from Puntarenas FC in Costa Rica.
Andes
- Colombian President Álvaro Uribe asked Venezuela to respect the human rights of the eight Colombians detained by the country on suspicions of espionage. Uribe said that Venezuela had no evidence against these Colombians, who traveled to Venezuela as tourists.
- The Venezuelan bolivar hit a record low as the country’s central bank refrains from selling dollar debt on the local market to keep up with the demand for the U.S. dollar.
Southern Cone
- Floods ravaged Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, forcing at least 2,000 from their homes. So far over 100 have been reported dead, and many more left homeless.
- A U.S. judge ruled that Argentina’s Central Bank is not independent, and that $100 million in deposits by the Bank can be seized.
- Chilean fisherman are offering boat tours of areas hit by February’s post-quake Tsunami.
- Chile’s government raised its estimate of the earthquake toll to 486 dead and 79 missing. Last week’s estimate was 432.
- Uruguayan President José Mujica met Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in his first official visit to Caracas. The two reportedly planned to discuss the sale of crude petroleum to Uruguay.
Image: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador @ Flickr.
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