Youth Protest in Lima

 

On Monday I headed downtown to buy some books.  My trip  there coincided with a march convened by

 numerous youth groups  in one of Lima's central squares, the Plaza San Martin, in order to.march in a show of their rejection of the recently-enacted Youth Labor Law.

Known derisively as the "Pulpin Law" after a brand of fruit juices meant for infants and toddlers, Law No. 30288 provides incentives for businesses to hire youth 18-24 years of age who haven't previously had formal employment or who have not had it in the previous 90 days.  How?  By making their employment exempt from payment of Compensation for Time of Service (money deposited periodically by the employer into a special account, that workers can then use as retirement savings or unemployment insurance), life insurance, hazard pay, family stipends, and twice-yearly bonuses, all of which are mandated by law for other regular employees.

To the apparent surprise of the Humala administration, the youth have roundly rejected the law as discriminatory and have argued that it is actually an attempt to mollify the entrepreneurial sector after two years of slowed economic growth by making it possible to incur those cost savings in up to 25% of their labor force and to receive an additional tax break for doing so.

The march was scheduled to start at 6 pm. The police presence was notable, but it was also evident that they were making an effort to have a lighter touch than the had displayed toward another such march on the 18th, after which the police were accused of inciting trouble after being video recorded charging the marchers with horses and dousing them --and holiday shoppers-- with tear gas.

These young ladies were clearly excited to be there and smilingly asked me
to take their picture

At this march the police were on deployed on foot, and sans side arms and without their usual allotment of tear gas launchers.  They also deployed a larger number of female officers, genteelly outfitted in white cotton gloves.

That "lighter" touch, however, did not prevent the Minister of the Interior, Army General Daniel Urresti, from showing up at a pre-march concentration at a park some distance away from the plaza, and blustering that anyone causing "disturbances" would be dealt with harshly, as well as suggesting that marchers would be banned from wearing backpacks or head coverings, and even that all participants would have to present their national ID and register with the police beforehand.  Those statements earned him a quick rebuke from the head of the president's Ministerial Council.

   

The march got going promply at 6 o'clock --under the watchful eye of a couple of drones-- with marchers streaming out of the plaza and down Nicolas de Pierola (a.k.a La Colmena) Ave., west down Garcilazo de la Vega (a.k.a Wilson) Ave., and then down Salaverry Ave., and past the Ministry of Labor.

"When the Law is Unjust Protest is a Duty"

An energetic group of young anarchists made up the tail end of the march as it left the plaza:

"If No One Works In Your Stead, No One Should Decide In Your Stead...
No Union or Party Bureacracy; Workers' Free Association!"   

  Later, on my way home from the bookstores, I found that the march had continued past the Ministry of Labor and was now heading down Arequipa Ave. toward the upper middle class and heavily commercial district of Miraflores, passing through the districts of Jesus Maria, Lince, and San Isidro on the way, and disrupting traffic for many blocks.

March proceeding along the two westbound lanes of Ave. Arequipa

I decided to leave my taxi and accompanied the march for a number of blocks at that point, but as I neared home, I decided to continue on my path there.   During my time with the march --which had by now swelled to at least 10,000 and covered a nearly a dozen blocks-- I witnessed many shows of support for the youth, from drivers honking in rythm wiith the chants, passersby clapping for them, and people coming to their windows and balconies to cheer them on.

Large police contingent accompanies the march

The marchers, I saw later on  the news, then gathered and rallied in Miraflores' Kennedy Park. The entire protest lasted some 6 hours, and --despite an attempt to divert the march by a group that managed to split off a contingent along a different avenue-- it went on without incident. 

There was a group that gathered in the Plaza San Marti and who were dispersed and repressed by the police after a brief street battle.  While this was going on the main demonstration was across town, but that hasn't stopped the conservative and pro-business media from trying to smear the protests as violent, or to make ominous pronouncements about "infiltrators".

Book shopping

Yesterday, since Liz had left for the US and I suddenly found myself without anything in particular to do, I decided to do some book shopping.

My first appointed task was to walk to the offices of the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) to buy a book of theirs on damage left on skeletal remains as a result of human rights violations.   I walked a number of blocks, made a wrong turn and found I was going the long way around -adding three more blocks to my walk- only to not be able to find the place.  I walked back home and found  that, whereas Google Maps had sent me to the tenth block of the street, the place I was looking for was on the third block!

After lunch, I caught a cab to downtown, and went looking for a political bookstore I had heard mentioned online.  I did find the place, but no one there knew of the bookstore.  I knew I was in the right place because it was an old building that housed the offices of one of Peru's Communist Parties, Patria Roja, and of the movement that arose from the recent anti-mining struggles in Cajamarca, the Movimiento de Afirmacion Social, led by Gregorio Santos.  The shop must've closed last year at some point, is my guess.

So, frustrated for the second time, I walked from Avenida Abancay to Plaza San Martin, to visit one of my favorite used book shops in Lima, the Libreria Georges Politzer, on Jiron Quilca.

There, I did manage to pick up an interesting set of bulletins published by the Chinese Embassy in 1974-1976 containing news summaries from the Xinghua News Agency.  I did not know that they put out such things, so I was rather pleased to find them -and to get the stack for just under 4 bucks!

Video: "Lima and the Sea"

This video was prepared by El Comercio for showing during the 7 Mares ("Seven Seas") festival held in Lima on March 17.   The video honors the Peruvian sea as the source which allowed Lima's ancient cultures to develop, and is part of El Comercio's campaign to build awareness and pride in Lima's ancient past and for preserving it's historic monuments.

Sex, Death and ... Huayno

While the rest of the world has been caught up with the demise and apparent apparition of Michael Jackson, we here in Peru have been held captive by the drama surrounding the murder of huayno singer Alicia Delgado who was killed on the same day in which Jackson died.

What has captured the attention of the nation is the emerging details of the crime and the weird and sordid web of mediocre characters surrounding it and Delgado herself.

Alicia Delgado developed a career singing popular Peruvian Andean tunes for the expat community in New Jersey. In time, she managed to get a gig in Lima, was a hit here as well, and soon was living here again essentially full-time. In the US she left an ex-husband and a son, who had opted for remaining with his dad.

Heartsick, she found solace in the frienship of another huayno singer, Abencia Meza, who had herself risen from hardship by wating tables at a huayno bars and begging for a chance at the mike. Eventually, it emerged that Abencia openly declared herself a lesbian and publicly stated that she loved Alicia, who although evasive on subject, continued to live with Abencia and hold hands with her in public.

Interestingly enough, though this didn't sit well with all of Alicia's family, the public seems to have accepted it and the pair's collective and individual popularity remained undiminished, specially that of Alicia who was heralded as the "Princess of Peruvian Folklore" and was noted for bringing harp music into modern huayno when so many others were relying on electric guitars and basses.

On the 23rd of June and over subsequent day we watched the details emerge as if from an eyedropper: "vernacular singer Alicia Delgado found dead in her hotel room"; "popular singer killed in her apartment"; "found strangled with a leather thong"; "suicide?"; "the Princess was stabbed!"; "car found, driver missing"; "traces of semen".

All eyes, of course, turned to Abencia, with whom Alicia had a few weeks back had an altercation and against whom she had filed criminal charges for battery. They had apparently reconciled to an extent, but the charges had not been withdrawn nor had Alicia returned to live with Abencia. Instead, Alicia had declared on TV that she had a beau and that marriage was not out of the question.

For her part, Abencia fainted on camera and then gave an interview from her bed, to which she was confined by doctor's orders due to "nerves". And that's were the circus started to get fun.

Abencia, who had an established history of violence -a few years ago, for example, she shot a guy in the leg from the stage when she spied him sneaking into one of her concerts without paying- denied any involvement and said that at the top of her list of suspects were Alicia's driver, Felipe  Pedro Mamanchura, her harpist, Miguel Salas, and her sister, Clarisa, whom Abencia said was jealous of her sister's success.

Salas, for his part, declared that he had had a sexual relationship with Alicia but that he wasn't the beau whom she had mentioned in the interview, nor had he killed her, and that Abencia was most likely responsible for the murder. Clarisa, herself, likewise pointed to Abencia, whith whom it turns out she had herself had a romantic relationship while Abencia was partnered with Alicia.

Salas then produced two videos recorded days before the murder in which Alicia displays Abencia's cellphone to the camera and shows text messages sent to it over a number of weeks by Abencia's other lovers. Although Alicia never publicly admitted the nature of her relationship with Abencia the message in the videos is clear: Abencia's been cheating on me.

Then, remarkably, Alicia says to the camera that if anything should befall her Abencia should be held responsible.

But, even then all was perhaps not was as simple as it would seem. During the filming a message was received on the phone which upset Alicia. It was sent from an internet cafe and had a sexual tone and language markedly at variance with the more romantic tenor of previous messages, raising the question of whether it was sent pursposely in the knowledge that Alicia had Abencia's phone and was filming it. Who could it be? Why?

Well, one of the people helping film -besides Salas, Alicia's sometime lover- was Gaudi, Alicia's step daughter, whose father, Alicia's ex-husband could stand to gain control of her properties and assets in the US.

In the meantime, Mamanchura, who had been fired by Abencia but rehired by Alicia and had been constantly at her side in her last weeks of life, had been captured near the Ecuadorean border with s/. 2000 which he said had been given to him by Abencia so he could flee the country. He confessed to the police that he had killed Alicia at Abencia's order and under her employ.

He later retracted those statements, which had been made without his lawyer being present, but Abencia, though confined to bed rest for "six to eight weeks", was arrested by police after attempting to get a visa at the Italian embassy.

In the meantime, the rest of us are heartily sick of the "Abenciamania" which has struck the media, which bombards us day and night with the sordid details and speculation, and which everyone is realizing has been a boon to government in that it has buried or pushed aside nearly all other news and discussion such as the recent tragic events in the jungle, an ongoing conflict with the public transport unions over recently enacted laws, and popular discontent in the interior with government economic policies.

Ah, well, sunt pueri pueri, puerilia tractant.

New Wonder

Click on the image for a 3-D tour of Machu Picchu (in Spanish)

Machu Picchu has been selected as one of the modern 7 Wonders of the World in a contest in which over 100 million people voted for their choice among the candidates. The announcement was made today in Lisbon, Portugal, by the non-profit New7Wonders organization, which sponsored and organized the worldwide vote. The other sites elected as new wonders of the world were the Great Wall of China, Petra, Chichén Itzá, the Colloseum in Rome, Rio's gigantic 'Christ the Redeemer' statue, and the Taj Mahal.

It seems that this is an auspicious year to visit Machu Picchu! (I hope it won't be more crowded...)

Señor Cuy

My cousin Carla has forwarded a copy of a review of the restaurant newly-opened by her father, Willy, and our aunt Toya: Señor Cuy. Below is my own translation of the article:

Noble Rodent Shines in Countless Recipes Which Surprise the Palate

High-Class Guinea Pig
Cecilia Fernández Sívori

Those who have lived with the unequaled and always crispy guinea pig on the table will not be surprised that there are countless ways of preparing such a delicious meat, which little by little has taken hold of the palates of good diners, to the point that there are 24 bedrock recipes. A sort of guinea pig map which geographically places us in regional products and flavors in order to takes traveling through the different regions of our country.
Although it is true that the it’s the departmental clubs which are the obligatory stopping points on the route of good guinea pig, it is surprising to discover, in the very heart of San Isidro, a sort of gastronomic temple dedicated to the guinea pig.
There, this noble rodent is the king and it is in the kitchen where its flesh shows the reasons for its flavourfulness. We speak of no other restaurant than El Señor Cuy, which, taking a step forward, includes on its menu not only the guinea pig dishes we are familiar with, but also gourmet preparations, and even charming fusions which raise the product to competitive levels.

For All Tastes
Thus, one can try “Guinea Pig Like Back Home”, “Gourmet Guinea Pig”, and “Recipes of the Famous”, each with its distinguishing flavor, as the ingredients for the dishes are brought, sorted, and used strictly so as to provide each diner with the flavors they seek without traveling far.
The presentation of the “Guinea Pig Like Back Home” is as it is prepared in each of Peru’s departments, and with provincial variations. The most requested styles are those of Ancash, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Moquegua, Huanuco, and Arequipa.
The “Gourmet Guinea Pigs” are none other than Mr. Guinea Pig (battered and fried), Sénior Cuy (Catalan-style), Signore Cuy (with a marked Italian note), Monsieur Cuy (French through-and-through) and the very-Peruvian Señor Cuy, amongst others which fill the menu.
The “Recipes of the Famous” are ways of preparing them from renown institutions and individuals, such as Le Cordon Blue Peru, chefs “Cucho” La Rosa and Jacques Henry Benoit, among others.
Democratically, the diner may also contribute to the menu, as if one arrives and does not find the style that one remembers from one’s hometown, the chef is more than open to making note of the request and including it among the culinary offerings and --why not?--baptizing it with your name.
Another detail about Señor Cuy is the aim of giving new value to the tradition of eating this animal, whose flesh, besides being tasty, is decidedly low in fat and thus easy to digest.
Therefore, if you pop into this new gastronomic point you will also be able to view Colonial artworks, copies of which are to be found in dining room as a way tying art in with such an age-old product.
It is no longer necessary to leave Lima to sample traditional guinea-pig dishes. Now, the offerings are diverse and good place to visit lies in the very heart of San Isidro.

Not bad, eh? Naturally, I am dying to eat there. But how to decide which style to try?

Señor Cuy
Av. Andrés Reyes Nº 144
San Isidro, Lima
441-6568
http://www.senorcuy.com (built by Danny, by the way)

• Original Article in El Peruano