The Shining Path And The Ripple Effects Of Violence

What Remains Of The Shining Path?

Drought In Perú - Living Without Water

Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) Notification

The State Department alerts U.S. citizens to the damage caused by the flooding and landslides in several regions of Peru.  The State of Emergency issued by the Government of Peru remains in effect.  This Travel Alert expires on May 31, 2017.  The City of Cusco, the archaeological site of Machu Picchu and the tourist areas in the Sacred Valley and Lake Titicaca have not experienced flooding to date.  The coastal area south of Lima has returned to normal conditions.  Peru's Amazon Basin has received typical levels of rainfall.

A map from the Government of Peru showing the affected districts is available at http://unasolafuerza.pe/.

You are encouraged to carefully review the safety situation of your destination and modes of transportation before travel.  Visit the link above for the latest information.

Heavy rains have resulted in extensive damage to homes, water supply facilities, schools, hospitals, roads, and bridges in several regions.  The Government of Peru continues to repair roads and bridges especially along the Pan American highway and other vital access routes in the northern part of Peru.  The Government of Peru is also working to repair water supply facilities, sanitation systems, schools, and hospitals in the affected areas.  More than 1.1 million Peruvians were affected by the floods with approximately 46,000 still residing in camps and shelters and many more living with friends and family.  In northern coastal Peru, standing water has increased the number of cases of mosquito-borne illnesses such as Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya despite fumigation efforts.  Additionally, there has been a spike in Leptospirosis and other diarrheal diseases recently in flooded areas.  Local public health authorities warn of more cases of various diarrheal diseases and mosquito-borne viral diseases in the affected areas.  Therefore, ensuring compliance with usual guidance for safe drinking water and mosquito avoidance measures is highly recommended.  The CDC website has specific guidance on these measures.

Travel to impacted areas is likely to be delayed and may be dangerous due to bad road conditions.  If you experience issues while traveling, contact local authorities at (01-574-8000) or   iperu@promperu.gob.pe, which maintains offices in cities around the country and regularly updates information on local developments affecting travelers, including alternative methods of transit.

Listen to travel alerts and safety instructions from local authorities and avoid flooded areas.Establish a plan for maintaining contact with family and friends and keep them informed of your itinerary.

The Peruvian police report traffic on the Carretera Central is now flowing normally, with a few sections experiencing delays as road crews repair damages.  Official U.S. government travel to and along areas of the Carretera Central will only be allowed on a case-by-case basis.  Travelers, including U.S. government employees, are encouraged to confirm with hotel operators located in the coastal Departments of Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, and Tumbes that sanitation systems are operational and clean drinking water is available.  All Peace Corps volunteers who were relocated from affected regions are scheduled to return in May.  Most are expected to be able to return to serve in their sites in Piura, Lambayeque and Trujillo.

For further information:

• See the State Department's travel website for the Worldwide Caution, Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, and Country Specific Information for Peru.
• Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security messages and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
• Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
• Contact the U.S. Embassy in Peru, located in Monterrico, a suburb of Lima, at Avenida La Encalada, Block Seventeen. You can call the Embassy at 51-1-618-2000 during business hours, 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday, or dial the same number to reach a duty officer for after-hours emergencies.
• Call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or 1-202-501-4444 from other countries from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

Perú Flood Update

Hello Van!

Here is some news for the Peru Mission site:

This has been a year of crazy extremes weather-wise. Between the unusual coastal rains and flooding, much of the coastal infrastructure has failed and damages are in the millions of dollars. This is the rainy season in the Andes and the jungle. However, the rains are heavier than usual this year. The Amazon River is close to overflowing and more flooding is expected in the Loretto province.

Here is recent data from the National Institute of Civil Defense (Instituto Nacional de Defensa Civll - INDECI):

• 78 people have lost their lives
• 263 people have been injured
• 20 people are missing
• 101,104 persons have suffered severe damages and in need of immediate humanitarian help
• 643,216 persons have suffered minor damages and possibly in need of humanitarian help
• 11,519 houses have collapsed
• 12,440 houses are uninhabitable
• 141,149 houses have suffered damage
• 27 schools have collapsed
• 62 schools are uninhabitable
• 1,194 schools have suffered damage
• 10 health posts have collapsed
• 16 health posts are uninhabitable
• 399 health posts are damaged
• 2,148 km of highways destroyed
• 4,554 km of highways damaged
• 175 bridges destroyed
• 290 bridges damaged
• 872 km of rural roads destroyed
• 4,884 km of rural roads damaged

We have been working with our partners to identify how Presbyterians can help. Presbyterian Disaster Relief works globally with the ACT Alliance and ACT Peru has received $150,000 for direct disaster relief. Peruvians are also showing up in astonishing numbers to volunteer and provide help. As in all disasters, some communities are inundated with help while many other communities have been totally cut off and have received no aid.

We (the PCUSA co-workers in Peru) are collaborating on relief efforts with our Peruvian partners, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and other relief agencies. Within a few days we will let you know how you can help, and which communities will be the focus of the relief work for the Red Uniendo Manos partners, and the Iglesia Evangelica Churches here in Peru.

If you want to be amazed and awed at the power of nature, Google Peru Floods 2017 and look at the videos.  Following are two links to view:  Climate State and Business Insider

Sara Armstrong y Rusty Edmondson
Misión Presbiteriana Mundial
Lima, Perú
Sara Celular: 998 845 847
Presbyterian Mission Connections {Sara Armstrong & Russell Edmondson}

Meet Brenda Paredes

Brenda Wearing A Peruvian Manta

Although Brenda Paredes has served as our interpreter for many years on Sharon’s mission trips to Perú, she has done much more than that.  For example, she has worked at times as a travel agent, such as when arranging ground transportation and locating quality restaurants.  She has given us directions and dispensed advice on Peruvian customs and etiquette.  On shopping expeditions she has helped us negotiate with merchants so that we could land the best bargains.  At the work sites she has been pulled in many different directions to answer a multitude of questions, many of them coming at her in rapid succession from all quarters.  Throughout it all, she has maintained a consistently positive attitude, a sense of humor and a friendly smile.

Brenda was raised a Catholic, but when she was 12, her father joined a Presbyterian church in Lima.  At age 15, she went to the city of Huanta for a youth conference, where she met the PCUSA missionary at the time, Jacob Goad.  Wanting to improve her English, she applied for a J1 Visa that entitled her to work in the United States for 3 months.  Jacob, who in 2008 had returned to the United States, helped Brenda land a job at Alamance Presbyterian Church in Greensboro to work with the Mothers-Morning-Out program and other church activities.

After returning to Lima in March of 2009, she met Jacob’s replacements, Sara Armstrong and Rusty Edmondson during a worship service at Brenda’s home church in Lima, Amen Presbyterian. Brenda told Sara of her interest in learning English and asked Sara to give her a call if she could ever be of any assistance.  Late one night a couple of months later, Sara surprised Brenda with a call asking her to serve as an interpreter for a group of 17 “Gringos” from a church called Sharon Presbyterian in Charlotte.  Brenda said she hesitated.  “I had told Sara I was learning English. I did not think of myself as an interpreter!”

During that trip she met Connie and Van Dale, who encouraged her to pursue her dream to study in the United States.  With their sponsorship and dedication, she began a program in International Studies at Winthrop and at the same time joined Sharon.  However, her dream suffered an unfortunate setback when in 2013 she contracted TB on a flight from Greensboro to Charlotte.  For two years back in Perú, not only did she have to follow a strict regimen of antibiotics and therapy, she had to struggle with both the U.S. and Peruvian bureaucracies in spite of the fact that her doctors had given her full medical clearance.  When asked if she ever felt discouraged or lost faith, she gave credit to God and to Connie and Van for helping her stay focused.  Connie would remind her, “Don’t lose sight of your dream.”  Connie even made trips to Perú to help Brenda get the medicines and the medical attention she needed.

December 17, 2016, was a big day for Brenda, when she realized a dream: she received an undergraduate degree in the United States.  She had persevered and excelled, graduating Magnum Cum Laude from UNCC and being inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.  Several members of Sharon attended her graduation, celebrating with her and sharing in her joy.

Brenda embarks now on a new adventure. She has set her sights on a Master’s Degree in Latin-American studies at UNCC, with a focus on women’s issues.  Armed with a new Visa that will allow her to study part-time and to work full time for at least a year, and with the help of some scholarship assistance, she worked hard to obtain, she has begun her course work in the upcoming spring semester.

A long-term goal is to establish a non-profit organization in a Latin American country that will help low-income women feel empowered to make their own choices and to reach their full potential.  She plans to pattern her idea after the “Circle La Luz” here in Charlotte, an organization that provides Hispanic women with scholarship aid and counseling services to help them succeed in school.  Donations to help Brenda with her studies are appreciated.  Brenda's Go Fund Me page.

Brenda, your fellow members at Sharon are grateful for your service.

Tom Skinner

U. S. Embassy Visit Scheduled

Your thoughts a prayers are requested for Rebeca Massõn who will be visiting the United States Embassy in Lima on Thursday, November 17th for her J-1 visa appointment.

Rebeca is the daughter of Ester and Vlado Massõn.  Vlado is a former pastor of the Cristo Rey Church in Huanta.

Rebeca has joined us on our Perú Mission trips for the last 2 years and now we can not imagine not including her in every visit to wonderful Perú.

Any further information or news about her visit will be posted when available.

Perú Attacks Illegal Mining Ahead Of Climate Talks

Police Occupy Illegal Gold Mining Village 

Resource: Yahoo News

Peru has sent 1,000 police into its southeastern jungles to dismantle illegal gold-mining camps, just weeks before the country hosts global climate talks.

Even before the officers began blasting away at miners' makeshift shelters, the Amazon rainforest nearby looked like a war-scape, pocked with craters and littered with the trunks of amputated trees.

Peru's anti-illegal mining czar, retired army Gen. Augusto Soto, marched the men 6 miles (11 kilometers) to the wasteland known as La Pampa, where 50,000 hectares of rainforest have been obliterated in the past six years.

They destroyed motors and dynamited a dozen motorcycles as they tore down dwellings that included at least one mud-flanked bordello. The miners had removed and hidden some machinery.

Peru first criminalized unlicensed gold mining in 2012 but only began enforcing the law vigorously this year with serious manpower and explosives. The operations have displaced thousands of the estimated 40,000 people who authorities say moved to the jungle to mine gold.

In addition to contributing to deforestation, which scientists blame for between 12 and 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the illegal alluvial gold mining contaminates the jungle with tons of mercury.

Mercury is a toxin and has already contaminated the food chain, including fish, the local population's main protein source.

Peru's environment minister says the country loses about 400 square miles (between 100,000 and 120,000 hectares) a year to deforestation. The South American country will host U.N.-sponsored climate talks that start on Dec. 1.

From Sara Armstrong:

Prayer requests are needed for the conference that the Red Uniendo Manos-Peru is planning? Link  It will run parallel to the UN conference on Climate Change taking place in Peru starting December 1st.

The PCUSA national moderator and his wife will attend as will the new Area Coordinator for Latin American and the Caribbean, Valdir França and the Regional Liaison for Andean Countries, Sarah Henken.

Prayers are appreciated for Jed Koball and his wife Jenny Valles as they plan for the conference, for the leaders of the partner denominations as they gather in Lima for meetings with our representatives and for Sara Armstrong and Rusty Edmondson as they travel to Lima to be part of these events.

Important Changes Made To U.S. Passport Rules

Resource:  Peru This Week

By Agnes Rivera

Updates to keep travels, far and near, stress-free.

For those who aren't in the know of all the superfluous holidays that keep popping up, September was National Passport Awareness month in the United States. And apparently the U.S. Government figured the best way to end such awareness was by making changes to the little blue books.

On October 1, the U.S. Government began a phasing out process of additional visa pages inside passports. Experienced backpackers and border-hopping businessmen who find pride in their decorated passports are going to have to request a new passport once the pages fill up.

Additionally, it should be kept in mind that visa pages will only be added to passports that had been issued before October 1 of 2014.

There is good news however.

While the standard U.S. passport has been 28-pages for some years, 52-page passport books are available without extra charge.

If carrying a thicker passport with more than twice as many pages as the classic doesn't sound convenient, just stay aware of how many pages are left so a new passport can be acquired in a timely manner. Hoping to make things a little easier for the unobservant, newly issued passports will have numbered pages, just as they had been in the past.

Luckily the modification comes with plenty of time to take prepare, as not until January 1 of 2016 will additional visa pages no longer be available.

As commented by Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant secretary for U.S. passport services, passport issues and concerns “shouldn't be an ordeal” and doesn't have to be as long as everyone is informed and prepares for updates.

Peruvian City Of Ayacucho Remains A Museum Of Memory And Sorrow

An Andean Woman Looks For The Coffin Of A Relative

Resource:  The Star

By Oakland Ross

Published 2/10/13

A colonial gem, Ayacucho remembers its long years of suffering, when the terrorist insurgents of Shining Path haunted the Andean region.

They say the past is a distant land and people are different there.

But Adelina Garcia Mendoza recalls the events of Dec. 1, 1983, as if they were part of a film that’s unreeling still, as if she were the same woman she was then — a young wife and mother, just as helpless, just as afraid.

“I remember it all as if it were a moment ago,” she says.

Those were terrible times, the long, dark years of the 1980s and early ’90s, when this handsome colonial town high in the central Andes of Peru was haunted by two murderous forces — an eerie Maoist insurgency known as Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, pitted against the Peruvian police and military.

Now a woman of 50, with her long black hair streaked with filaments of grey and pulled back from her bronze, oval face, Garcia huddles at a small wooden table on the second floor of a building that houses the aptly named Museum of Memory. The structure stands on a street called Liberty in the western reaches of Ayacucho, the city where the Shining Path was born, where it thrived for more than a decade, and where it finally collapsed amid a poisoned legacy of murder, grief and enduring loss.

Just now, Garcia is recalling the night three decades ago when Peruvian soldiers in balaclavas burst into the home she shared with her husband and their two infant daughters at 282 Avenida Arenales.

It was after midnight, a curfew was in force, and Garcia and her family were asleep in their beds.

The soldiers seized her spouse of four years, a self-employed welder, aged 27. His name is Jose Zosimo Prado, or at least it was. They muscled him out of the house.

Read more...

My Daughter's Citzenship And My Mixed Feelings

Resource:  Reflejos

By Marco Ortiz

The bitter cold felt this past January 29 wasn’t an obstacle for the 99 individuals who attended their naturalization ceremony in Chicago.

Among these new citizens was my daughter.

Seeing her standing there, waiting impatiently for her turn to receive her certificate of citizenship, I couldn't help recounting the long road she had to travel to reach that goal.

First, at the age of two and a half, she saw me leave Peru not knowing that, because of the bureaucratic immigration process, she would wait seven years to see me again.

I remember the many times she asked me on the phone with her innocent voice, “Dad, when are you coming back?”

If I traveled back to Peru then, I could have lost several years of preparation working through the system to establish my own legal residence. I had no option but to wait my turn in the long line of people waiting before me.

I tried to explain to her why I came to the U.S. I explained that at that time there was no work in Peru, that the economy was very bad and that the terrorist attacks were a constant threat, so I came to the U.S. to be able to bring the whole family later.

But at the end of my detailed explanations, she would repeat the same question, “Dad, when are you coming back?”

That was a question I couldn’t answer and one that put a lump in my throat. When I finally was able to return to Peru, and went to the U.S. Embassy in Lima to apply for residence for my children, they said I needed to get a DNA test to prove I was their father.

Read more...

Travel Information

For those that are planning to join us on the 2014 Peru mission trip, or taking any trip in the near future, Randy Ross has some valuable information to share below.

The following information is from the U.S. State Department:

How long is a passport valid and when should I renew my passport?

"If possible, you should renew your passport approximately nine months before it expires. Some countries require that your passport be valid at least six months beyond the dates of your trip. Some airlines will not allow you to board if this requirement is not met."

I have done a little research and cannot find that Peru requires that a passport for a tourist be valid for six (6) months after entering the country. Rather it would seem to be that the requirement is ninety (90) days, the length of time a tourist can stay in Peru.

I have checked a few airline websites (American, Delta and United) as well. Delta recommends the six (6) months while American and United suggest that you check the individual county's entry requirements.

Thanks.

Randy

Additional passport links:

Estimated Processing Times

Frequently Asked Questions

Veterans Day Concert

Resource:  Jim Harrill jharrill@martinandharrill.com

The Annual Veterans Day concert for the community at South Mecklenburg High School, Wednesday, November 6 at 7:00 PM in the auditorium.

The public is invited!

Satellite Reveals 'Hidden' Palm Plantation In Amazon Rainforest

Resource:  Mongabay

By Rhett A. Butler

Peruvian official surprised by appearance of 1,000 hactares (2,471 acres) Amazon oil palm plantation. Newspaper report was first the forestry authority heard of the plantation.

A regional forestry official in Peru has expressed surprise over the sudden appearance of a 1000-hectare oil palm plantation in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, reports La Region.

Notified of the new plantation, which according to remote sensing data was established between last December and this past May near Tamshiyacu, Peru, Abel Benitez Sanchez, Regional Program Director of Forest Management and Wildlife for the Department of Loreto, told the newspaper he hadn't authorized the project nor granted a logging concession in the area. The regional attorney general is now opening an investigation into the development, which would have required a business plan, environmental impact assessment, and soil survey before proceeding.

Satellite imagery provided to mongabay.com by Clinton Jenkins showing an area of forest 12 kilometers outside Tamshiyacu, Peru. The first image shows the state of the forest on December 7, 2012. The second images shows the new plantations on May 28, 2013. The third image provides context at landscape scale.

The revelation comes less than six months after a developer was caught leveling 7,000 hectares for an oil palm plantation. The developer initially denied clearing rainforest, but satellite data provided by scientists working in the area demonstrated the company was misleading the public.

"Those planning to raze the Amazon forest for industrial oil palm plantations should be on notice," said Clinton Jenkins, a GIS-expert at North Carolina State University, at the time. "We can see everything they do from space, and so they will be exposed when they lie."

While palm oil development in the Peruvian Amazon is currently low relative to other parts of the world, plantations have rapidly expanded in recent years, raising fears that it could become a major driver of deforestation in the region. A study published in the journalEnvironmental Research Lettersin 2012 found that 72 percent of oil palm expansion in the Peruvian Amazon since 2000 has come at the expense of forest. The study concluded that expansion into forest areas was more common with industrial plantations, rather than low-yield plantations established by smallholders.

Webinar Invitation

Grace and peace to you.

Join us for a webinar to learn from and pray with our partners working in Egypt. Hear how our brothers and sisters are being impacted by recent happenings, and learn how God is present in the midst of this situation. We will have the chance to hear from one of our Egyptian global partners, a Presbyterian mission co-worker, and Amgad Beblawi, World Mission's Area Coordinator for the Middle East.

When: Thursday, August 29 at 1:00 PM (EST)

To register for this webinar

We hope you will be able to join us for this important conversation. Please share this event with your congregations and colleagues.

In Christ,

Hunter Farrell

Director, Presbyterian World Mission

Mission Crossroads PC(USA)

In Perú, Fly The Flag In July, Or Pay Up

Resource:  Times-Standard National & World News

Anyone traveling in Peru in recent weeks could easily have concluded it's among the world's most patriotic nations. Until they find out why the national flag is flapping virtually everywhere: Failing to fly the banner for Independence Day can bring a hefty fine.

Under a 1939 national law, Peruvian homes, businesses and institutions are required to fly the red-and-white standard from July 27 through July 30 to honor Independence Day, which falls on July 28.

But some municipalities require that the flag be flown for the entire month of July, or even longer. Enforcement varies from municipality to municipality.

There is uniformity neither in the specified time period nor in the penalty for non-compliance.

Fines begin at about $20 and can run as high as $380, according to a 2011 study by the Peruvian Institute of Municipal Administration.

So, flags are everywhere.

And more often than not, they are affixed to roofs far from the street—where they can't be easily stolen

Liberty Island Reopens - Ellis Island Remains Closed

Debris Left From The Storm Surge On Ellis Island

The article below is posted to honor the hard work of the National Park Service and this year's mission participant Diana Pardue.

Resource:  Yahoo News

By Holly Bailey

For more than 100 years, Ellis Island has been an important symbol of the nation’s immigration system, a place where more than 12 million people passed through between 1892 and 1924 seeking a better life in America. And since 1990, when Ellis Island reopened as a museum, millions more have walked through its doors, seeking to understand its role in creating the nation’s “melting pot” of culture and their own family roots.

But for the past eight months, Ellis Island has been eerily quiet, another victim of the rage of Superstorm Sandy. The Oct. 29 storm flooded the island with what National Park Service officials say was at least an 8-foot wall of water, destroying its electrical system and damaging many of its historic buildings—including the immigration museum.

“We went back through the historical records, and Ellis Island has never seen a storm like this. … We thought the buildings were on high enough ground, but nobody imagined water coming over the walls like it did,” Diana Pardue, head of museum services for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, said. “It was a very damaging storm.”

Neighboring Liberty Island, home to the Statue of Liberty, also sustained major damage from Sandy—adding up to a combined $59 million in damage to both islands, according to the NPS. But after months of renovations—including the rebuilding of its electrical system, walkways and boat docks--Liberty Island will reopen Thursday in time for the Independence Day holiday.

Yet Ellis Island will remain dark, closed until at least next year. Park officials, who had put all their focus on getting Liberty Island back open, say they will soon turn their attention to Ellis Island, where they will undertake a massive renovation aimed not only at repairing Sandy damage but protecting the island from future storms.

“The decision was made early on that we didn't just want to put everything back where it was so that if there is another storm like this” the island is better prepared, Pardue said.

While park officials say they are only now beginning to plot the exact details of the rebuilding process at Ellis Island, their early decisions mirror those made by building owners in Lower Manhattan who are being forced to bring their structures, many of which are more than 100 years old, into the modern age.

Read more...

Renco's Toxic Lead Fight

Resource:  Bloomberg News

By Andrew Martin

Aross the river from Belinda Elida Barja’s two-room apartment, the lead and zinc smelters of Doe Run Peru spread smoke and dust in the mountain town of La Oroya.

Her 9-year-old son Kenyi has headaches, memory loss, stomach ailments and difficulty concentrating, Barja said. The lead in his blood measured 41 micrograms per deciliter in a 2007 test -- eight times the level the U.S. government considers a cause for action. Barja blames Doe Run Peru.

“They just think about making money,” she said.

Most of La Oroya’s children suffer elevated lead levels, according to the Peruvian government. Parents say some have symptoms -- consistent with lead poisoning -- that include anemia, convulsions, stunted growth, mental retardation and the ills Barja said her son suffers.

The question of responsibility is at the center of a high-stakes clash between Peru and U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert, who owned Doe Run Peru for more than a decade through Renco Group Inc. Far from defensive, Renco is demanding $800 million from Peru because it ordered a costly pollution clean-up that the company says forced Doe Run Peru into bankruptcy in 2010. Renco has said it’s not responsible for the children’s ailments.

Its demand was made under an arcane, often secretive investor-state arbitration system that is growing rapidly in size and scope, roiling global trade and angering countries from Australia to South Africa over the perceived trampling of their sovereign rights.

Read more...

La Oroya Refinery Will Not Be Sold After All

Resource:  Platts

By Renzo Pipoli

Doe Run Peru's La Oroya metal refinery will not be sold off as previously expected, as the company will instead be restructured, the court-appointed administrator said Friday.

"The creditors of Doe Run [Peru] met this week and agreed to change the mandate from a liquidation to a restructuring, designating Right Business as the administrator," Rocio Chavez, general manager of Right Business, said in an e-mail Friday. "It has given us 60 days to ready a restructuring plan."

Chavez said that if the mandate had not been changed, the plant would have been immediately closed and workers let go, because the prior mandate to liquidate assets was about to expire.

The plant is processing zinc and lead, but not copper. Chavez said the copper circuit remains closed because a project to produce sulfuric acid -- while at the same time cutting emissions -- and make other upgrades is not finished, "which makes that operation impossible."

The refinery stopped operating in mid-2009, after suppliers halted deliveries of feedstock mineral concentrates due to nonpayment. At the same time, the Peruvian government said the company had to invest in upgrades that would reduce pollution. The company's creditors eventually took it to bankruptcy court, leading to the appointment of a temporary administrator.

La Oroya, which before the closure had some 3,500 workers, restarted operations with fewer than 1,000 workers in July 2012, running just the zinc circuit. It restarted the lead circuit later the same year.

Perú Objects To Warning

Resource: New York Times

By: The Associated Press

A United States Embassy warning to American tourists about a potential kidnapping threat in the Cuzco region of Peru, which includes the Incan citadel Machu Picchu, drew vehement objections from Peruvian officials on Friday.

But a United States Embassy official said credible evidence existed of a threat from a Peruvian terrorist group.

The official confirmed a report in La República, a Peruvian newspaper, that said that leaders of the Shining Path guerrilla group had discussed kidnapping foreigners, particularly Americans, in intercepted communications. Tens of thousands of Americans visit Peru each year.

The official agreed to discuss the report only if not quoted by name because of the political delicacy of the warning.

La República said its sources about the interceptions included members of Peru’s military high command, but the country’s military chief, Adm. José Cueto, said that he had no such information.

“Perhaps it is information that they alone have and have not shared,” Admiral Cueto said of the United States government.

The embassy warning that mentioned Peru’s biggest tourist draw was posted on the embassy’s Facebook page on Thursday. Dated Feb. 13, it was also posted on the embassy’s Web site.

Read more...