Peruvian President Alan Garcia apologized to poor Peruvians for failing to improve their lives during his first year in office, and vowed renewed efforts against poverty.
Garcia, one of Washington's closest allies in Latin America, has presided over an economic boom driven by high world metal prices, but his popularity has slipped as the poor grow frustrated at being left out of the bonanza.
"I would have loved to do a lot more," Garcia said in his nationally broadcast state of the nation address to Congress, acknowledging that his government had not worked fast enough to help the poorest Peruvians.
"We apologize for this," Garcia said to thunderous applause.
He said increased public investment will "change the social face of Peru" by slashing the poverty rate to 30 percent from 44 percent now, and said the government would build housing for 1.2 million Peruvians by the time his term ends in 2011.
Garcia took office eager to redeem himself after a disastrous first government in the 1980s -- marked by radical populist rhetoric -- that left Peru mired in hyperinflation and nearly bankrupt.
Peru's economy grew 8 percent last year, the eighth consecutive year of expansion for the Andean nation of 27 million people, and Garcia has pushed forward with his market-friendly agenda.
But this month, peasant farmers, unionists and teachers took to the streets in sometimes violent demonstrations, blocking roads and closing airports to press for better distribution of wealth.
"In our situation of growth in the midst of great poverty, deep inequality and terrible distribution of wealth, a certain level of tension, protest and conflict is unavoidable," political analyst Gustavo Gorriti noted recently.
Resentment toward Garcia, 58, is most visible in rural highland regions such as Huancavelica, where nearly 90 percent are poor.
"They're not making us a priority," said Jorge Quinto Palomares, a regional government official. "The Huancavelica hospital is the only one in the region. The equipment is more than 50 years old."
The Indian and mestizo voters in the long-neglected highlands voted overwhelmingly for Garcia's populist opponent, Ollanta Humala, in a runoff in June last year.
Humala had promised radical redistribution of wealth, but Garcia deftly exploited voter fears about his opponent's ties with the current Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez while casting himself as the region's market-friendly alternative to Chavez.
Peruvians cheered when Garcia slashed the salaries of officials, including his own. His predecessor Alejandro Toledo was often criticized for his extravagant lifestyle.
But Garcia's honeymoon is clearly over.
A recent poll by Apoyo, Peru's top pollster, showed Garcia's popularity had dropped to just 32 percent this month from 63 percent last August.
"Economic growth is necessary, but not enough [by itself] to reduce poverty and inequality," Peruvian economist Humberto Campodonico said. "That is what the protests of Peru's poor, above all in the southern highlands, remind us of every day."
BEIJING FORUM: ‘So-called freedom of navigation advocated by certain countries outside the region challenges the norms of international relations,’ the minister said Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) yesterday denounced “hegemonic logic and acts of bullying” during remarks at a Beijing forum that were full of thinly veiled references to the US. Organizers said that about 1,800 representatives from 100 countries, including political, military and academic leaders, were in Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum. The three-day event comes as China presents itself as a mediator of fraught global issues including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Addressing attendees at the opening ceremony, Dong warned of “new threats and challenges” now facing world peace. “While the themes of the times — peace and development —
Venezuela on Saturday organized a day of military training for civilians in response to the US deployment in the Caribbean, and amid new threats from US President Donald Trump. About a month ago, Washington deployed warships to international waters off Venezuela’s coast, backed by F-35 jets sent to Puerto Rico in what it calls an anti-drug and anti-terrorism operation. Venezuelan Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino Lopez has accused Washington of waging “undeclared war” in the Caribbean, after US strikes killed over a dozen alleged drug traffickers off his country’s coast. Caracas also accused the US of seeking regime change, and
Decked out with fake crystal chandeliers and velvet sofas, cosmetic surgery clinics in Afghanistan’s capital are a world away from the austerity of Taliban rule, where Botox, lip filler and hair transplants reign. Despite the Taliban authorities’ strict theocratic rule, and prevailing conservatism and poverty in Afghanistan, the 20 or so clinics in Kabul have flourished since the end of decades of war in the country. Foreign doctors, especially from Turkey, travel to Kabul to train Afghans, who equally undertake internships in Istanbul, while equipment is imported from Asia or Europe. In the waiting rooms, the clientele is often well-off and includes men
BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS: A prosecutor said they considered the risk of Hak-ja Han tampering with evidence to be very high, which led them to seek the warrant South Korean prosecutors yesterday requested an arrest warrant for the leader of the Unification Church, Hak-ja Han, on allegations of bribery linked to the country’s former first lady and incitement to destroy evidence. The move came a day after the 82-year-old was questioned over her alleged role in bribing former first lady Kim Keon-hee and a lawmaker. Founded in 1954 by her late husband, Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church has long been the subject of controversy and criticism, with its teachings centered on Moon’s role as the “second coming” and its mass weddings. Followers are derisively referred to as “Moonies.” However, the church’s
RSS