Latin America

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) has called on Latin American and Caribbean Nations to Boycott the Summit of the Americas. May 12, 2022, the arbitrary decision by the government of the United States to exclude Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela from participation in the regional Summit of the Americas - scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, June 6th to 10th - represents another example of imperial hubris and delusion, according to the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP). 

Previously published 20/5/16 on PravdaReport.

Dilma Roussef, President of Brazil – abstained on UN vote against legitimacy of Crimea's secession from Ukraine, then asks Vladimir Putin for help against CIA-orchestrated coup.

A serious political crisis has paralyzed Brazil. Argentina has changed its president. Venezuela is standing on the brink of violent clashes and a military coup. In Peru, Alberto Fujimori's heiress is coming to power. Why do progressive left-wing parties lose ground in Latin America rapidly?

Of course, Nicolas Maduro's remarks about the external factor - the support of the opposition for the United States - are partially true. No external factor can shake up an economically stable and prosperous country. You may say, dear reader, that there is no such country in the world at the moment, as we all still feel the effects of the global financial crisis. This is true, too. However, there are countries in Latin America that have been developing steadily, even if they change governments. It goes about such countries as Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Uruguay. What is the matter then? The matter is about the very basis of everything - economy.

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina (2007-2015)

In Brazil, Dilma Rousseff (Workers' Party, PT) has not done anything that her predecessors have not done. She has manipulated the budget, borrowed money from private banks to pay social benefits, etc. Yet, the economy of Brazil has been experiencing an unprecedented economic downturn. The opposition of Brazil used the discontent of the middle classes, whose real salaries have been declining from year to year. Therefore, a major corruption scandal that has been raging since 2014 has led to the impeachment procedure and temporary removal of President Rousseff from power. As we all know, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It is hard to believe that Dilma Rousseff will return to her office.

In Argentina, it was a strong economic crisis that contributed to the defeat of Kirchnerism (Peronism). In November 2015, pro-American liberal politician Mauricio Macri took office as Argentina's new president. Macri has conducted radical economic reforms, agreed with vulture funds and started borrowing on the international market. At the same time, though, he canceled social benefits, export duties and cut the education system.

Left-wing forces lost their wings for being thoughtless

In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro is still clinging to power. He became the leader of Venezuela in 2013, after the death of his predecessor Hugo Chavez. His party lost last year's parliamentary elections, and it is his opponents, the liberals, who hold power in their hands now. Nicolas Maduro also remains under the pressure of the economic factor - low oil prices.

A few weeks ago, the first round of the presidential election in Peru ended with the victory of the right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, a daughter of dictator Alberto Fujimori. The neoliberal politician may thus replace left-wing forces in Peru as well.

The state of affairs was absolutely different ten years ago. Leftist forces were on the rise after Hugo Chavez won the 1998 presidential vote in Venezuela, Lula da Silva - in Brazil in 2002, Nestor Kirchner - in Argentina in 2003, Tabaré Vázquez - in Uruguay in 2004 and Evo Morales - in Bolivia in 2005. During the period from 2006 to 2011, the left won the elections in Nicaragua, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. Those victories became possible because of catastrophic consequences of the neoliberal economy in the late 1990s: the deregulation of the economy and the opening of the privatized market to foreign companies. The events resulted in considerable wealth disparity that the local elites paid no attention to at first.

The left took advantage of social movements of landless peasants in Brazil, Indians in Bolivia, the urban poor in Argentina, etc. PT or the Bolivian Movement to Socialism (MAS) arose directly from those protests. In 2003, those progressive governments saw high demands for natural resources. Bolivia increased its budget six times from 2005 to 2013. Investments from the dynamically developing Chinese economy flowed to Latin America. Those revenues allowed to establish a system of social support for the poorest layers of the population.

The results were overwhelming: the eradication of poverty, the rise of education and the formation of the middle class everywhere. However, after the crisis of 2008-2009, global economy has not recovered. In developed countries, including the USA, real wages have not increased over the past eight years. China, the main driving force, stopped buying raw materials from Latin America. GDP in Latin America dropped by 0.1 percent in 2015 for the first time since 2009. Noteworthy, China is the second largest trading partner in the region after the United States, but the main partner for Brazil, Chile and Peru and the second one for Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina. To crown it all, prices on raw materials, especially oil, have declined everywhere.

It was then revealed that during the well-to-do years, the left-wing governments have not created a base to switch to nationally-oriented economy. They have turned into the countries of one export culture. For example, 2/3 of 33 million hectares of arable land in the Argentine pampas that have been cultivated over the past 15 years, were attributed for sowing Monsanto's genetically modified soybeans. ₁ This soy goes to China as fodder for beef cattle. In Brazil, GM crops produced modified mosquitoes that carry Zika virus. Venezuela became a hostage to oil supplies. The changes were accompanied with the aging of the population, rapid urbanization and the growth of street crime. Corruption has skyrocketed everywhere as a consequence of both local mentality and oligarchic structure of the state.

Transnational corporations modify Latin America

Against this background, the personal enrichment of politicians (the Kirchners have increased their assets seven times) started annoying people. The result of the story is sad. State coffers are empty, the society is divided: the middle classes are dissatisfied and the poor threaten to take to the streets for protests should austerity measures are enacted.

Mauricio Macri's first six months in the office show that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Steel production and construction sector collapsed by 16-20 percent, the public debt associated with the release of short government bonds grows, inflation is rising. Retail prices and the growth of utility bills have tripped the inflation rate from January to April of the current year.

In addition, the questionable legitimacy of the change of power in Brazil has politically split the continent. Argentina has recognized the new government of Michel Temer, but Uruguay, Venezuela and El Salvador have not. Who benefits from the turn to liberalism? Transnational companies will improve their businesses with the help of new privatizations of de-privatized assets. The neoliberal offensive may bring fascist regimes to power, such as in Ukraine. In Latin America, this is a tradition. Wolfgang Schäuble, German Finance Minister and Chief Treasurer of the EU, said once: "Elections change nothing. There are rules." This phrase was the motto for the operation conducted by the European Commission to sober up the Greek SYRIZA government in the first half of 2015.

Many in Brazil pin hopes to the reaction from BRICS for the non-recognition of the new government of Michel Temer, especially on the part of Russia and China. However, where was Dilma Rousseff during the UN vote on the legitimacy of the Russian reunification with Crimea? She abstained.

Lyuba Lulko
Pravda.Ru

Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru

Footnote[s]

1. ⇑ One of a number of articles about GMO, and the fight against GMO, is: The March Against Monsanto is On: The Non-GMO Revolution and the Battle against the "Big 6" GMO Corporations (20/5/16) by Timothy Alexander Guzman | Global Research.

This month, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, one of the most important battles facing humanity is playing out. At stake: the salvation of the planet. Climate change is already being felt across Latin America and the Caribbean, the World Bank says.

Rising temperatures are changing rainfall patterns, leading to flooding in some places and intense droughts in others. Climate change will mean dry places get drier and wet places get wetter.

Indigenous beliefs, structured by a sound relationship with the environment, are the world over, but unlike in North America, Australia or Europe. They have not been so successfully suppressed in many parts of Latin America, but in some places they are making a resurgence. People living on the slopes of the Andes Mountains, as well as their livestock, are suffering from health problems because the sources of fresh water are diminishing.

Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru and two regional conservationist programs joined the 20x20 Initiative that aims to have all the planned work of re-vegetation 20 million hectares of land well under way by 2020. The initiative aims to change the dynamics of land restoration in the region and initially focuses on bringing 20 million hectares of degraded land into restoration by 2020. The land will be restored partly into natural forests and partly into a “mosaic” of trees, crops, and livestock.

SMH: Latin Americal countries fight climate change

Greenhouse gas emissions from land use changes, such as deforestation, account for 15 per cent of global emissions, or more than what is generated by the world's transport sector. So, programs to avoid destruction of forests help to reduce the amount of heat-trapping gases.

(A main cause of deforestation in South America and Asia has been clearing land for palm oil production. Palm oil has become a major source of biodiesel, a supposedly green fuel - from Blogspot: now can the world have its forests back? )

The response of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) was: for the rich nations to reverse the impact they had made, they must implement carbon emissions reductions of 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. They should shoulder costs of developing countries for mitigation actions, and provide finance and technological help to help developing nations deal with the effects of climate change.

Peru’s intention to show leadership later this year is part of a growing trend where Latin American countries are perceived to be punching above their weight when it comes to participating in global debates and forums on climate change action.

The 20x20 Initiative, which also aims to incorporate more countries of the region into the project, also seeks to tackle the carbon emissions through the protection of forests and fertile lands. UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, "Today's pledges by countries in Africa and Latin America to combat deforestation and more than double restoration targets will bring significant climate benefits..."

“Land restoration in the region is an essential element to promote equity, poverty reduction, alternatives for development in poor rural areas as well as a mechanism to achieve a low carbon, more resilient future,” said Gabriel Vallejo, Colombia's Minister of Environment, in a statement.." - See more at: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1207-initiative20x20.html#sthash.rTmKsh5D.Aq8Qlqlk.dpuf

Livestock industries

The global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than transport and of the 95 million tons of beef produced in the world in 2000, the vast majority came from cattle in Latin America, Europe and North America.

The World Resources Institute in Washington estimates that converting land to farms and using it for agriculture and livestock accounts for almost half of all greenhouse gas emissions in the region. Degraded land can be restored by adding trees to properties that are currently used for farming or raising livestock, and over the long term, the trees themselves can be sustainably harvested to provide additional income to farmers.

The Green Revolution relied on the intensive use of water and fossil-fuel-based chemicals, giving the world a 40 year reprieve of food security, but we can no longer afford to increase food production through agricultural expansion. Trading tropical forest for farmland is one of the most destructive things we do to the environment.

Governments and environmental groups are reluctant to pursue policies or campaigns to change consumer behaviour due to fears of a consumer backlash. International think-tank, Chatham House , found that consumers with a higher level of awareness of climate change and its impacts were more willing to reduce their dietary behaviour. The greatest potential for behaviour change appears to lie in emerging economies, with respondents in Brazil, China and India showing a greater consideration of climate change when choosing meat and dairy, and a greater willingness to modify their behaviour than consumers in the United States, the UK and Japan.

Developing nations can make headway, and make a pro-active response to environmental repairs and a reduction to greenhouse gas emissions, but in contrast, Australia is going backwards.

Australia's refusal to participate on climate change initiatives

The Brisbane G20 summit yielded major pledges to the Green Climate Fund by the US (US$3 billion) and Japan (US$1.5 billion). Combined with earlier pledges by France, Germany and others, the fund is now three-quarters of the way towards reaching its initial funding target of US$10 billion by the time of a pledging.

Australia stands as the only wealthy country to have ruled out a contribution to the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund. As of last week, the fund had received pledges from 22 countries totalling $US9.6 billion ($A11.2 billion) against an initial funding target of $US10 billion.

The Abbott government's refusal to contribute to the $US10 billion ($11.8 billion) Green Climate Fund risked Australia "being marginalised", Erwin Jackson, deputy chief executive of The Climate Institute said Australia remains one of the few rich nations not to make a pledge to the UN fund. Even Canada, led by climate sceptic Stephen Harper, has pledged $C300 million ($311 million).

Australia will continue to directly pay for climate change adaptation in vulnerable South Pacific island nations through its aid budget rather than donate to a UN Green Climate Fund. Scientists say much sharper emissions cuts are needed in coming decades to keep global warming within 2 degrees C of pre-industrial times, the overall goal of the UN talks.

With heavy investments in population growth, and growth in livestock industries and exports, Australia is locked into high emissions and climate change denial.

Last year our Treasurer announced cuts of $213m to the Biodiversity Fund and $144m to the Carbon Farming Initiative, and native vegetation is in nation-wide decline.

Hugo Chavez:A true and passionate Latin American leader.

Latin America was always material for big movies and great stories of literature of South America. It's always been the cradle for big revolutionary leaders such as Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Salvadore Allende, Fidel Castro and Che Guevarra. Always unsuccessful but their work rarely finishes because The United States of America always interferes. Chavez was inspired by all these leaders. (11 March, 2013 Two Venezuelan diplomats were deported from USA).

Early influences

Hugo Chavez was born in 28th July, 1954 in a small town forgotten and remote. This town had no electricity. His great grandfather was a Commander in the army, Pedro Peres Delgado.

He considered himself blessed as this was Peru's Independence Day, and he felt something of his importance as a child. He was excited to visit a relative in the next town, and was amazed by their generator. His childhood was poor, and his mother and father were primary teachers.

In the family book collection he found a book of the Liberators, and he began to be a reader of the Latin American leaders like Simon Bolivar. He read about Neruda, a celebrity Chilean writer. All the books he remembered in his head, and the American writer and Nobel Prize winner Walt Whitman.

Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) was an American poet, journalist, and essayist. The work for which he is best known is "Leaves of Grass," which has been controversial and banned. He has been called the greatest American poet of his time.

The story starts in Venezuela was the when Juan Vicente Gomez was a dictator for 36 years, but he influenced Chavez because his image was distorted by the influence of the rich people, and USA. Chavez admired him as a great man, even though he never met him. He liked to listen to the old farmers and the old people.

Chavez sold sweets and fruit in the street to help the family budget. He was incensed by the poverty of the people.

The Church was a big influence, and he was a popular alter boy. He played with the bells. Everyone recognised his cheeky calling of the bells. His mother influenced too by his her morality. He wanted to be a baseball champion, but he saw many injustices and the abuse of the working class people.

He was a cadet in the military army to be a baseball player, and he was sent to study in Peru in 1974. He was young and enthusiastic and learnt to play soccer. He met the President of Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado. The social change gave opportunity for the workers in Peru, but America didn't like this progress and he died mysteriously! (A military secret).

Patriotic fervor

He then saw the corruption of “democracy” and American corporations and the minority of white people and discrimination and lack of equal opportunity. He wanted to secretly get people to love Venezuela through the through the Bolivar Alliance for the Americas.

He had a strong admiration for Fidel Castro and for Che Guevarra. The more important thing that he was a commander in the army and had a comfortable life and elite status. He could have been selfish and closed the eyes. He studied a lot, and he was intelligent, astute, cunning, athletic and young. He was passionate for the love of his country.

When Allende of Chile died, he asked if he was elected then why did the army kill him?

Carlos Andrez Perez was a corrupt president of Venezuela and the revolution to remove him failed. Chavez was two years in prison, along with his friends and his political party. CARACAZO was the name of the day of rebellion. He served two years (out of 10 year sentence) because the next president released him.

Campaign against corruption

All the mining companies and corporations brought their own workers and this make him so angry. Everyone knows the skills of the American government. If you a re good leader in South America, they distort your name and defame the good quality thinking of the leaders. America always looks for leaders that cave into them and allow the corruption to enter. They sell the tools and arms to the terrorists, and Chavez discovered this. He had a vision of the dream of Bolivar, and he was NOT a good manager of money. That was his defect. His strength was intrinsic, and his passion. He discovered many traitors in his own group,his political party! Chavez was not the perfect leader. He worked from 7am to 1 am in the morning, and he used to drink 30 cups of coffee per day – addicted. He suffered a lot of stress. He travelled a lot.

He provided free hospitals for the poor people, and health care cover, free schools, free food for the kids, public housing for the poor, and he had many envious enemies. He taught ethics and morals. He taught compulsory patriotism and values that the country never had before. People were used to seeing corruption. He taught by good example. He nationalised the petrol. Venezuela has 300 years of petrol. This is not for sale. He knew the petrol would not last.

He was hated by foreign investors and the very rich exploitative people who used to pay low wages, not enough to survive. This was part of the revolution, looking for social justice. He wanted to wake up and remind the people of the vision of Simon Bolivar. The universities wanted to air-brush the memory of Simon Bolivar, and his vision of a unified South America – the Gran Colombia (the original name of South America). America Vespucio was writer who was a drafted of maps and put the name “America”.

Chavez couldn't control the mafia, the terrorists, the drug and weapon traffickers. There was so many stresses trying to control the borders, the schools and the task of unifying South America. He taught not to steal, but the generational fault was to continue to be criminals with the “DNA” of the conquistadors! The generational wrongs was in the blood. They enjoyed the crimes. He was a Christian and tried to change the people.

Chavez's legacy

The future generations will remember him. There was a 7 day procession after he died. America didn't let him finish what he started.

In Australia the principle is of open house for foreigners. In Venezuela the nationality is not for sale. Anyone can be “Australian”, but in Venezuela the jobs are for their own people.

He had the skill of keeping secret the country's reserves of petrol. He was Latin America, and passionate.

He had a great gift of speech. He said things as they were. Diplomacy was not his skill, and he didn't follow protocol. He was not scared to speak the truth. He would swear in front of the cameras to protect the poor people.

Chavez was a friend of Gadaffi and he knew America wanted to take the petrol of Venezuela. He gave an award to Gadaffi for the petrol business, and he protected Palestine.

Many people thought he was crazy and eccentric. If you are opposite America they make a scandal for you. He was not a good manager and there was corruption in his own party. However, he was NOT a dictator but was elected 4 times -with big margins. He unified all Latin America and created a fraternity. He gave money to Bolivia and Peru and Haiti for petrol and medicine and professional assistance. His vision was for all South America to be one Bolivariano country. American wanted them separate and dis empowered. The United States accused him of theft, but it's not true.

Writer Mario Vagas Llosa wrote an article about the death of the Chavez, and he criticized his poor manager. He was a big “Caudillo” (leader) but poor financial manager. Garcia Marquez wrote an article “Sun of your bravery” regarding Chavez -the “Two Chavez” in one. He wasn't as despotic as claimed by The United States of America. He was a typical happy “Creole” (Criollo).

Why did millions of people go to the funeral? If he wasn't a good leader, why would world leaders to to the funeral? President Obama didn't go. USA ("the Empire") wants elections now, but it is not their country!

Now he's dead, there's a plan to mummify his body and be on public display, like a freak show! He created a museum for the revolution, but would not expect to be an exhibit.

Photo: Three countries united, part of the Cono ( Cradle) Sur:

Three socialist leaders of the ConoSur (South Corner): Presidente Lula e os presidentes da Brazil, the late Néstor Kirchner, e da Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, durante reunião tripartite .

About 2,000 tourists are stranded in Peru after mudslides hit the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.  A Canberra man whose son is trapped by the Peruvian mudslides says the Australian consulate in Lima is proving difficult to contact. A West Australian tourist trapped in Peru says her group has been abandoned by their tour guide as stocks of fresh food and water in town dwindle. They say they were getting little or no assistance from the Australian Government.
Heavy rain triggered the slides and swept away roads, leaving the tourists stuck in Aguas Calientes, a small town near the Inca ruins.
Apart from hiking the Inca Trail, a stay in Aguas Calientes, is one of the best ways to get to Machu Picchu before all of the tourists arrive by train from Cusco.

Climate change impacts:

Peru has the most tropical glaciers in Latin America and has already lost 20 percent of the 2,600 kms of glaciers running through its central and southern Andes in the past 30 years, according to CONAM. (Peru's National Environment Council).  If climatic conditions remain as they are, all the glaciers (in Peru) below 18,000 feet will disappear by around 2015, CONAM's President told Reuters in an interview.

Climatic warming during the last 100-150 years has resulted in a significant glacier ice loss from mountainous areas of the world.  Changes in sediment and water supply induced by climatic warming and glacier retreat have altered channel and floodplain patterns of rivers draining high mountain ranges. 

Temperature in the Andes has increased by approximately 0.1 °C per decade, with only two of the last 20 years being below the 1961–90 average.  By the end of the 21st century, the tropical Andes may experience a massive warming on the order of 4.5–5 °C.

According to a study by Britain's East Anglia University, Peru is the country most at risk to global warming, after Honduras and Bangladesh, because of the proximity of its towns to glaciers and a lack of disaster prevention measures.  The glaciers and lakes specifically are of principal interests to tourists. However, glacial retreat and systems for lake stabilization may be negatively influencing tourism.

Climate change could cost Andean countries US$30 billion per year by 2025, according to a study commissioned by the Andean Community of Nations and carried out by the Peruvian University of the Pacific.  The figure represents 4.5 per cent of the countries' combined gross domestic product. 

The study also predicts that 70 per cent of Andean people will have severe difficulties in accessing clean water sources by 2025. By 2020, about 40 million people will be at risk of losing their water supplies as well as some crops, due to the melting of the glaciers and greater desertification of the Andean mountains.

Because of this geographical mismatch between national water resources and the human population, Peru is estimated to be a “water-scarce” country by 2025 if population growth trends remain high. Peru is particularly vulnerable to climate change because some 70 percent its energy comes from hydroelectric plants, supplied mainly by meltwater from Andean glaciers.

A natural hazard in itself does not necessarily cause a disaster; a disaster results when a natural hazard impacts on a vulnerable, exposed or ill-prepared community.  Destruction of mountain forests or inappropriate farming practices can accelerate erosion and expose land to the risk of landslides, floods and avalanches. Moreover, dams, roads or mining enterprises can be hazardous if not properly constructed and managed.

(Yungay showing the remains of the church spire and palm trees)

Yungay area tragedy, 1970:

Yungay, Peru
In a major catastrophe in 1970, some 25,000 people were killed when a mudslide caused by melting ice submerged the town of Yungay in the central Andes.  The reported death toll from what came to be known as Peru’s Great Earthquake totalled more than 74,000 people. On May 31, 1970, an undersea earthquake off the coast of Casma and Chimbote, north of Lima, triggered one of the most cataclysmic avalanches in recorded history – wiping out the entire highland town of Yungay and most of its 25,000 inhabitants. The 8.0 quake destabilized the glacier on the north face of Mount Huascarán, causing 10 million cubic meters of rock, ice and snow to break away and tear down its slope at more than 120 miles per hour.

It is the image of lone surviving palm trees in the Yungay cemetery that is burned into Peru’s memory. In Yungay, only some 350 people survived, including the few who were able to climb to the town’s elevated step-like cemetery. Among the survivors were 300 children, who had been taken to the circus at the local stadium, set on higher ground and on the outskirts of the town. To this day, a crushed intercity bus, four of the original palm trees that once crowned the city’s main plaza and remnants of the cathedral still stand. In 2000 the government declared May 31 “Natural Disaster Education and Reflection Day.”

(Mountain climbing in the Cordillera Blanca)

Cordillera Blanca's deadly avalanches

Cordillera Blanca
As mountains are often located in tectonically active zones, susceptibility to earthquakes is higher than in other areas. In the Andes, for example, as much as 88% of the mountainous area is susceptible to destructive earthquakes.

Cordillera Blanca glacier retreat since the late-19th century has triggered some of the world's most deadly avalanches and glacial lake outburst floods. Although a Peruvian glaciology and lakes security office has “controlled” 35 Cordillera Blanca glacial lakes, 30 glacier disasters have killed nearly 30,000 people in this region since 1941.

The accumulated precipitation values for November surpassed by 127% the average historic values and, in December, this value has reached 36%.

There are innumerable small to medium-size slope failures that cumulatively impose costs to society as great or greater than the large infrequent catastrophic landslides that draw so much attention. Damage to ecosystems has not generally been documented, but landslides may destroy habitats, for example by blocking streams and denuding slopes.

Lake Paron - looming danger:

Laguna Paron, Caraz, Peru
Currently, the Peruvian federal government has funded projects for the stabilization of 35 lakes that were considered to be the greatest threats to the populations inhabiting the valley below. The construction of tunnels prevents the increase in lake size above the tunnel outlet and dams are used to reinforce the existing, and potentially unstable, moraine walls

Lake Parón is a glacial lake in the Peruvian Andes, supporting a community of 15,000 people.  The people in the area live with the looming danger that, as the glacier above the lake continues to melt, the lake will overflow its banks, flooding the area and possibly killing many in the community. 

Duke Energy (a U.S. company) acquired the rights to control Lake Parón that provides water for hydroelectricity generation.  The community decided to reclaim control of the lake, and in 2008 it did just that.  The community has control of the area but they can't physically get inside the tunnel and change the water flow.  Lake Paron is fed with water derived from several large glaciers, and is surrounded by large peaks.  This lake - above Caraz, in the Northern part of the Cordillera - was once much visited, as it is 90 minutes of travel by car from Huaraz - a major town that serves as the jumping off point for those wishing to explore the region. However, the lake has now been dammed and tapped for hydroelectricity in order to support mining activities, and its has developed the characteristic and unsightly "high water mark" so characteristic of such reservoirs.

While Duke Energy has reaped solid economic rewards for its investment in Huaylas province, the Ancash Department maintains very high poverty levels despite its vast hydro and mineral resources.

The battle over the waters of Lake Parón, in the Northern Andes of Peru, came to a head during the late afternoon hours of July 29, 2008, when over 100 farmers from Huaylas province of the Department of Ancash took over the hydraulic operations of the Cañón del Pato Hydroelectic Center. The farmers were protesting the nearly 50% drop in Lake Parón's water levels following the center's release of the lake's water in order to enhance its power production capabilities.

The licensing of Lake Parón's waters for energy development in 1994 coincided with the enactment of structural reforms under the administration of then President Alberto Fujimori, who sought to attract foreign investment through privatization and pro-business economic policies.

The increase in the peasant population in the Andes area and the fact that, with global warming, it will become possible to cultivate, therefore irrigate, at ever higher altitudes, means that the resources required by traditional irrigation are set to grow and will increasingly be in competition with hydroelectric needs. Thus, even in the highest regions, there will be greater and more intense conflict between different users.

De-vegetation:

A mid-sized country with a large and highly biodiverse forest estate, Peru ranks within the top 10 countries worldwide in deforestation rates, emitting an estimated 127 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
In 1990, the total forest area in Latin America was 1,011 Mha, and it was reduced by 46.7 Mha in ten years (UNEP 2003a). The expansion of the agricultural frontier and livestock, selective logging, financing of big scale projects like construction of dams for energy generation, illegal crops, construction of roads and increased links to commercial markets have been the main causes of deforestation

Re-vegetation on such sites is a slow process, they may remain unprotected against erosion for decades or even centuries. As a result, slope failures, rockfall and debris flow will pose increasing threats to settlement and infrastructure. 

Sanitation and poverty:

Peru’s per capita GDP has historically remained well below the regional and world averages. It is estimated that 18.1% of the population lives on less than one dollar a day, and 37.7% of the population lives on less than two dollars per day. Peru continues to suffer from incomplete coverage of water and sanitation infrastructure. Inadequate sanitation and water supplies was evidenced by the 1993 cholera outbreak that spread rapidly across Peru.  If the national government does not promote the comprehensive management of water resources, then it is unlikely that regional departments will be able to single-handedly implement management regimes, especially in the context of limited funding.

Caring for Mother Earth:

The scientists of Western society have dismissed indigenous people as sentimental  and superstitious and accused them of being an obstacle to development. Paradoxically, those that previously turned deaf ears to our warnings, now are dismayed because their own model of "development” endangers our Mother Earth.

Pervian helicopters are airlifting tourists from the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu where hundreds remained stranded by heavy rains and mudslides that claimed seven lives.