REST IN POWER
Buddhist monk who brought mindfulness to West dies in Vietnam

This photo taken on November 15, 2018 shows then-92-year-old Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (C) in a wheelchair at the Tu Hieu pagoda in Hue (AFP/Manan VATSYAYANA)

Fri, January 21, 2022, 7:29 PM·4 min read

Vietnamese monk-turned-peace-activist Thich Nhat Hanh, a hugely influential Buddhist credited with bringing mindfulness to the West, has died aged 95.

The Zen master, whose reach within Buddhism is seen as second only to the Dalai Lama, spent nearly four decades in exile after being banished from his homeland for calling for an end to the Vietnam-American War.

Thich Nhat Hanh "passed away peacefully" at the Tu Hieu Temple in the city of Hue, Vietnam's Buddhist heartland, his Zen teaching organisation, the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, said.

"We invite our beloved global spiritual family to take a few moments to be still, to come back to our mindful breathing, as we together hold Thay in our hearts," the organisation said on Nhat Hanh's Twitter account, using the Vietnamese word for teacher.

Before his return to Vietnam in 2018, he set up retreats around the world and wrote over 100 books including on mindfulness and meditation -- a cornerstone of a $4.2 trillion global wellness industry espoused by Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington and tech billionaire Marc Benioff.

- Religious freedom, peace -

Born in 1926, Thich Nhat Hanh was ordained aged 16 and went on to found a youth school which trained volunteers to build clinics and infrastructure in villages blighted by war.

In the early 1960s he travelled to the United States, where he taught at Columbia and Princeton universities, but after one trip in 1966 to meet US civil rights icon Martin Luther King -- who joined his calls to end the Vietnam-American War -- he was barred from returning home.

Believing that war was fundamentally wrong, the monk refused to take sides in the conflict and was consequently persecuted by the governments of both North and South Vietnam.

Thich Nhat Hanh spent the next 39 years in France, but continued to advocate for religious freedom around the world.

In 1967, King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize, telling the committee in a letter: "this gentle Buddhist monk from Vietnam is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity".

"His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity."

He also continued to help his fellow Vietnamese.

As the war came to an end, many fled the country by boat, facing perilous conditions on the ocean as they attempted to reach sanctuary overseas.

Thich Nhat Hanh was able to save more than 800 people after he hired two large boats.

Such action was part of his belief in "engaged Buddhism", a term which he coined, according to John Powers, a professor of religious studies at Australia's Deakin University.

"One of the problems historically with Buddhism is that Buddhists have been really good about talking about compassion... but (they) have not been that great at putting it into practice," Powers said.

But Thich Nhat Nanh believed "it's not enough to sit on a cushion and meditate... and that's become a real cornerstone of a lot of modern Buddhism".

- Under close watch -

He was permitted by authorities to see out his final days at the Tu Hieu temple, but was closely monitored by plainclothes police who kept vigil outside his gated compound.

Since his return to Vietnam, hundreds flocked to his pagoda to join the monk on his outings around the temple's lush gardens.

Most of his followers are devoted to his spiritual messages, not his politics.

"He taught us to love people, to love ourselves, to love nature," said Tran Thi My Thanh, who made the pilgrimage to Hue with friends from Ho Chi Minh City.

His messages have not always been welcomed as authorities in Buddhist majority one-party Vietnam are wary of organised religion: in 2009 his followers were driven from their temple in southern Lam Dong province by hired mobs.

But Thich Nhat Hanh's disciples say they come in peace.

"We know that Vietnam has difficulty, and we know the world also tries to help Vietnam open up, to have more freedom, more democracy... we try to help also, but we do it in a Buddhist way," said Thich Chan Phap An, one of Thich Nhat Hanh's closest disciples.

"It's not wise to have confrontation, but it's very good to have communication," he told AFP in 2018.

caw/mdl/aph/lpm/oho

POST MODERN ARISTOCRACY

The princess and the Caravaggio: bitter dispute rages over Roman villa

Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi is facing the prospect of having to move out of the sprawling Villa Aurora. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz/The Guardian

‘It’s like a museum,’ says princess caught in inheritance feud over one of the world’s most expensive homes


Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Fri 14 Jan 2022 12.31 GMT

As legend goes, tossing a coin into the Trevi fountain guarantees a return visit to Rome. When, as a 16-year-old American tourist, Rita Carpenter participated in the ritual and made a wish to one day marry a Roman and live in the Italian capital, little did she know that almost five decades on she would return to marry a prince and her home would be a 16th-century villa stuffed with history, including the only ceiling mural ever painted by Caravaggio.

But now Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi is facing the prospect of having to move out of the sprawling Villa Aurora, and the vast treasures it contains are at risk of being closed off to the public.

On 18 January the property goes under the hammer, amid a bitter inheritance feud with the sons of her late husband, Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi. Hidden by high walls close to Via Veneto in central Rome, the villa is being sold with an opening bid of €471m (£393m), which would make it one of the world’s most expensive homes.

“We couldn’t reach an agreement so the judge ruled it had to be auctioned,” said the 72-year-old. “I really haven’t slept much at all.”

The Guercino fresco at Villa Aurora. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz

The princess is sceptical a petition launched this week urging the Italian government to stump up the cash to buy the property will be successful. Since the site is protected by the ministry of culture, once a bid has been agreed at auction the state will have the chance to buy the property at the same price. “I’d like the state to buy it but I don’t know if it’s a possibility as I don’t know if they have the money, that’s the problem. And I’m not the only heir.”

The lion’s share of the asking price is attributed to Caravaggio’s Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto mural, which the artist painted in 1597 on the ceiling of a small room tucked away on the villa’s first floor. The 2.75-metre-wide mural was commissioned by the villa’s first owner, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, to adorn the ceiling of his alchemy laboratory.

But the Caravaggio is not the only slice of history that Villa Aurora’s new owner will acquire. The property lies on the site of what was once the home of Julius Caesar. Monuments in the front garden include a sculpture by Michelangelo. The building also contains ceilings frescoed by the baroque painter Guercino, who was commissioned by the Ludovisis, a noble family with close ties to the papacy who bought the property from Del Monte in 1621. The spiral staircase leading up to the Caravaggio and the three floors above was designed by the baroque architect Carlo Maderno, who also designed the facade of St Peter’s Basilica.

Caravaggio’s Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto fresco. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz

The 40 or so rooms are packed with relics, including a door that belonged to an ancient Venetian warship, a telescope gifted to the Ludovosi family by Galileo Galilei and a leather box inscribed with a message from the chief of the British Red Cross thanking the Ludovisi family for allowing Red Cross members to reside in the villa for two years after the second world war. Villa Aurora has hosted everyone from Tchaikovsky and Henry James, who penned some of his 1909 classic, Italian Hours, in the villa’s garden, to Bette Midler and Madonna.

“This really is a museum,” said Princess Rita.

Villa Aurora was off the radar to the public until 2010, when it opened following a restoration project inspired by the princess after she saw it for the first time in 2003, the year she met Prince Nicolò.

A view of Villa Aurora. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz

“It was abandoned, there were birds flying through it and I told Nicolò: ‘We have to open the villa, it has to be seen by Italians and other people, they need to understand the beauty and culture of it all,’” she said.

Until the prince’s death in 2018, the villa hosted students of history and small private tour groups. The couple were also behind various charity initiatives. The princess put together a digital archive of 150,000 documents that shed even more light on the history of the villa.

The princess had an intriguing life before she met Nicolò. Described by the Washington Post in 1978 as one of the four most dynamic young women in the city, she was married to the US congressman John Jenrette until their divorce in 1981 after his bribery conviction during the FBI’s Abscam investigation. She acted in several films and miniseries, studied at Harvard Business School, wrote three books and twice posed for Playboy magazine.

She was a property broker in New York when she crossed paths with Nicolò. “He’d read an article about me in Crain’s Business, and then a mutual friend got in touch and said: ‘You must come to Rome, there’s this prince who wants to put a hotel on one of his properties outside the city.’” She was initially dismissive, but eventually flew to Rome and the pair instantly fell in love. A psychic had previously told her she would marry a European and live in Europe. “I’d kind of forgotten about it, but then there he was. He was a brilliant man in every way, and the least important part about him was being a prince.”

The Fama room of Villa Aurora. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz

In his will, Nicolò gave his wife the right to stay in the property for the rest of her life and, if sold, the proceeds were to be split between her and his sons. However, the sons disputed her right to stay in the villa, immediately prompting a toxic legal wrangle. She said she fears they will also try to prevent her getting her share of the sale’s proceeds.

“They want the house to themselves, forgetting how kind I’ve been to them or that their father said I made him the happiest he had been in his life. I don’t know what I’ll do afterwards, but I’ve done all I can, I can’t fight any more.”

Covid-19 vaccines showed high efficacy against severe Omicron: US data


Between October to November 2021, unvaccinated people were around 50 times more likely to die from Covid than people who were vaccinated and boosted (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)

Fri, January 21, 2022

Covid-19 vaccines and boosters continued to have very high efficacy against severe outcomes during the Omicron wave of the virus, a large real-world study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed Friday.

The paper evaluated data from more than 300,000 visits to emergency departments, urgent care clinics, and hospitalizations across 10 states from August 26, 2021 to January 5, 2022.

During the period when the Delta variant was dominant, vaccine efficacy against Covid-19 hospitalization was 90 percent between 14-179 days after dose two of a vaccine, fell to 81 percent more than 180 days after the second dose, and rose to 94 percent 14 days or more after dose three.

After Omicron became dominant, the vaccine efficacy estimate against hospitalization between 14-179 days after dose two was 81 percent, 57 percent after more than 180 days from dose two, and 90 percent 14 or more days after dose three.

A second CDC paper, based on data from 25 US state and local jurisdictions, found that vaccine efficacy against infection waned from 93 percent prior to Delta to around 80 percent when Delta became dominant, but protection against death remained stable and high at 94 percent.

Vaccine efficacy against infection fell to 68 percent by the time Omicron emerged. The authors weren't able to derive an estimate for vaccine efficacy against death during Omicron, because of a lag in reporting, but the broad scientific expectation is that it will remain very high.

The paper also showed that while deaths among fully vaccinated people rose sharply during the Delta wave -- totaling more than 20,000 people between July to November -- unvaccinated people were still 16 times more likely to die during the same period.

Protection was even greater for people who were boosted. Between October to November, unvaccinated people were around 50 times more likely to die from Covid than people who were vaccinated and boosted.

ia/caw

Honduras' next president blasts party for 'betrayal' in Congress


FILE PHOTO: Honduras' president-elect Xiomara Castro receives her presidential credentials during a ceremony, in Tegucigalpa

Fri, January 21, 2022,
By Gustavo Palencia

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) -Honduran president-elect Xiomara Castro on Friday accused some of her party's lawmakers of "betrayal" after they broke a pact with a key ally, potentially putting in jeopardy Castro's ability to pass a sweeping agenda through Congress.

Lawmakers from Castro's leftist Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre) and two other parties appointed a member of their caucus as president of Congress, breaking an agreement to appoint a lawmaker from the Partido Salvador de Honduras (PSH), an ally that helped Castro claim victory.

The lawmakers said the appointment was aimed at protecting Castro's incoming government. But she threatened to block the new head of Congress from being sworn in on Jan. 27, the day she takes office.

"The betrayal was done!" Castro wrote on Twitter. "I don't need traitors to protect me."

She said her party had expelled the 18 lawmakers who had supported the decision to go against naming a PSH member to the top post of Congress.

Castro also called for Libre members from around the country to converge in the capital Tegucigalpa for a vigil from Saturday night through early Sunday in what she called an act to "repudiate the attempted kidnapping of the legislative power."

Under Honduran law, lawmakers need a majority plus one to appoint the directors of the chamber or have the power to reform or repeal laws. Libre and its allies won 60 of the 128 seats in the single-house Congress.

Castro promised ally PSH leadership of Congress after its candidate, Salvador Nasralla, stepped down from the race and pledged support to Castro, the wife of former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup in 2009.

Nasralla described Friday's action as "another coup like in 2009" against Hondurans who voted for Castro with the expectation that PSH would lead Congress.

Going against the deal with PSH will likely impact Castro's ability to prevail in Congress, analysts said.

"Undoubtedly, although the dissident deputies say they support her campaign promises, they weaken their ability to fulfill those that have to go through Congress," said Eugenio Sosa, a professor at Honduras' National Autonomous University.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia, Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Portuguese Socialists' lead for Jan. 30 election narrows, poll shows

FILE PHOTO: Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa speaks during a news conference to announce the new measures amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at Ajuda Palace in Lisbon

Fri, January 21, 2022, 
By Sergio Goncalves

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's centre-left ruling Socialists lost ground in an opinion poll published on Friday that left it with the narrowest lead in all recent surveys, keeping the ballot wide open just 10 days before a snap general election.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa's party dropped to 37% support, according to the survey by Catolica pollsters, from 39% in the same poll a week ago, while their main rivals, the centre-right Social Democrats, rose to 33% from 30%.

It leaves the Socialist Party further away from a parliamentary majority, which under the proportional representation system equates to between 42% and 45% of the vote.

In October, Costa's two former allies - the Communists and Left Bloc - sided with right-wing parties to reject the minority government's budget bill, triggering the snap election set for Jan. 30.

Analysts say the election alone might not solve Portugal's political impasse as no party or known alliance is likely to win a working majority.

The Left Bloc lost one percentage point, polling at 5%, the same level of support as for the Communists.

Costa has said a new alliance with the two former partners is no longer possible, and signalled he might seek support from smaller parties such as the People-Animals-Nature (PAN). Catolica's poll gave them just 2% support, down from 3% a week ago.

The far-right party Chega would become the third-largest force in parliament, polling at 6%.

The share of voting intentions for the Liberal Initiative party rose one percentage point to 5%, while the right-wing CDS-PP and the eco-Socialist Livre could win 2% apiece, both unchanged.

The margin of error in the Catolica University poll, which surveyed 1,256 people on Jan. 12-18, was 2.6%.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei Khalip, William Maclean)

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision Blizzard stock on the day Microsoft announced plans to buy the video game company



Azmi Haroun,Dave Levinthal
Fri, January 21, 2022

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a stock disclosure that she sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision stock on January 18.

Microsoft's announced plans to acquire video-game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion on the same day.

Activision's stock soared that day, and Greene reported more than $200 in capital gains from the sale.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a stock disclosure indicating she sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision Blizzard stock on January 18 — the day news broke of plans for the video game company to be purchased by Microsoft.

Greene reported more than $200 in capital gains on the sale on the disclosure form, which she filed with Thursday with the Clerk of the House of Representatives. It was not immediately clear how much Greene — a freshman Republican from Georgia and one of Congress' most polarizing members — pocketed from the sale.

A stock trade disclosure from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of GeorgiaUS House of Representatives

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced plans to acquire video-game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. If the deal is greenlit, it will be the largest-ever deal in the tech industry. On the same day, Activision's price soared.

There is no indication that Greene violated the STOCK Act by making this trade.

Greene ranks among Congress' most active stock traders. She was the first member of Congress to invest in Donald Trump's social media company, TRUTH social, and has had no problem investing in companies that espouse social views that clash with her own, such as those on Black Lives Matter.

Greene's office could not be reached for immediate comment on the recent sale of Activision Blizzard stock. In September, Greene told Insider, "I have an independent investment advisor that has full discretionary authority on my accounts. I do not direct any trades."

Greene's stock sale comes in the background of Insider's new investigative reporting project, "Conflicted Congress," which chronicled the myriad ways members of the US House and Senate have eviscerated their own ethical standards, avoided consequences, and blinded Americans to the many moments when lawmakers' personal finances clash with their public duties.

The project identified 54 members of Congress who've failed to properly report their financial trades as mandated by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, also known as the STOCK Act.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who in December said lawmakers should be allowed to trade individual stocks, reversed course this month, saying she was now open to a stock trading ban for lawmakers.

"If members want to do that, I'm okay with that," Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.

Microsoft was the No. 2 most popular stock among members of Congress, according to an Insider analysis of congressional financial records. As part of Insider's "Conflicted Congress" project, Greene received a "solid" rating on the strength of her disclosing her various stock trades on time.

Only 10 members of Congress have placed their assets in a "qualified blind trust" — a formal, congressionally approved financial vehicle independently managed by a trustee and designed to prevent conflicts of interest. Greene is not among them.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Chile's president-elect unveils young, woman-majority cabinet


Chile's president-elect Gabriel Boric has announced a young, diverse and woman-majority cabinet (AFP/Javier TORRES)


Fri, January 21, 2022

Chile's leftist president-elect Gabriel Boric, whose victory at the polls last month unsettled the markets, on Friday named the country's Central Bank governor as his finance minister in a young, diverse and woman-majority cabinet.

Mario Marcel, an independent politician and former member of the Socialist Party, with which he maintains strong ties, had held various roles under center-left governments from 1990 to 2008.

Now 62, he was appointed Reserve Bank governor by Socialist former president Michelle Bachelet for a five-year term that started in late 2016 and continued under her center-right successor Sebastian Pinera.

Marcel was the favorite of the markets, which view his appointment as a sign of moderation in the economic reforms Boric had vowed to implement.

Boric, painted by his detractors as a "communist," succeeded in mobilizing record turnout in the December 19 vote, and garnered nearly 56 percent of votes cast, compared to 44 percent for ultra-conservative Jose Antonio Kast.

In a leftist coalition that includes Chile's Communist Party, Boric campaigned on promises of creating a "welfare state," increasing taxes and social spending.

Kast, in turn, had pledged to protect the neo-liberal economic model left behind by dictator Augusto Pinochet -- credited with Chile's relative wealth but blamed for a yawning gap between rich and poor.

Investors reacted nervously to Boric's victory, with the SP IPSA index closing 6.18 percent down the day after the election, while the Chilean peso ceded 3.4 percent to the US dollar to reach an historic rate of 876.

- Increasing taxes -

Marcel will take over amid expectations of an economic slowdown after growth of about 12 percent in 2021 due in large part to government grants to help with the coronavirus fallout, and individual withdrawals from private pension funds.

Chile's central bank has been increasing interest rates to halt inflation, and grants will stop, too.

Marcel will also have the tough task of implementing Boric's plan to increase taxes to fund social projects.

Analyst Marcelo Mella of the University of Santiago said choosing Marcel was a nod to the markets, as he "has credibility on the right and in the private sector."

This was a good starting point, Mella added, "for making the very difficult decisions the president will have to make this year."

- 14 women -

With a 24-member cabinet of whom a third are independents, Boric is seeking to expand the reach of his leftwing political coalition in a Congress divided near 50-50 between the left and right.

"The general outlook is a positive one in terms of breaking down the walls the president needs to break for a majority project with parliamentary backing," said Mella.

Fourteen members of the new team are women.

For interior minister, Boric chose Izkia Siches, 35, a surgeon who in 2017 became the first female president of the Medical College, a professional association of physicians.

Siches, who led Boric's presidential campaign, will also be Chile's first female interior minister.

The team also includes former student leaders and lawmakers Giorgio Jackson and Communist Camila Vallejo, who together with Boric led protests in 2011 for free schooling.

Maya Fernandez -- the granddaughter of Marxist former president Salvador Allende who died in the 1973 coup d'etat led by Pinochet -- will be defense minister.

The new foreign minister will be 53-year-old lawyer Antonia Urrejola, former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

"We are accompanied in this team of ministers by people of diverse backgrounds and training, a diverse cabinet," said Boric as he unveiled his team.

The average age is 49. The youngest, at 32, is new Women's Affairs Minister Antonia Orellana. Seven of the cabinet members are in their 30s.

Boric, elected at 35, will be Chile's youngest-ever president and one of the youngest in world history.

He will be sworn in on March 11.

On Friday, Boric named his priorities: managing the coronavirus pandemic, encouraging economic growth with social inclusion and ensuring the success of the process to write a new constitution to replace the Pinochet-era document still in place.

pa/ll/mlr/to

Chile's Boric unveils centrist Cabinet as markets breath sigh of relief

Chilean President-elect Gabriel Boric speaks during the presentation of his first cabinet in Santiago

Fri, January 21, 2022, 
By Fabian Cambero and Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile's leftist President-elect Gabriel Boric unveiled his Cabinet on Friday, throwing markets and investors a bone by picking current central bank head Mario Marcel to be the Andean country's finance minister.

Boric also named Izkia Siches, a prominent doctor and part of his campaign team, as the interior minister and his deputy, as well as lawmaker Marcela Hernando for the key role of mining minister, where copper and lithium development will be in focus.


The balanced make-up of the incoming government suggests Boric, a 35-year-old lawmaker and former student protest leader, may look to push gradual reforms rather than abrupt changes some had feared in the world's top copper producing nation.

"Naming Mario Marcel as finance minister is a very good sign of economic stability, seen positively by markets," said Miguel Angel Lopez, a public affairs professor at the University of Chile, adding it was a mix of coalition allies and technocrats.

"It's all linked to a much more centrist, more pragmatic shift in terms of what Boric wants to do in his government."

The new government, which will take office on March 11, was made up of members of parties across the political spectrum, reflecting a fragmented and diverse Congress. Women will lead more than half of the ministries.

Boric pledged during the election campaign to enact major reforms to Chile's market-led economic model, rattling investors, though he has moderated his tone since, boosting Chile's markets and currency.

The peso currency strengthened early on Friday to under 800 per dollar for the first time since November. A select index of Chilean equities also rose more than 2%.

'GREAT REFORMS'

Boric during the campaign pledged to "bury" Chile's market-orientated model, which has driven growth in the South American country in recent decades but has also deepened inequality, triggering months of social protests at the end of 2019.

He has promised to reform the private pension and health systems and raise taxes to finance greater social spending.

"This Cabinet's mission is to lay the foundations for the great reforms that we have proposed in our program," Boric said after unveiling his ministers, adding that it would look to drive economic growth while cutting out "structural inequalities."

"We are talking about sustainable growth accompanied by a fair redistribution of wealth," he said.

Chile, a global front-runner in the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, ended last year as the world's best-performing economy, buoyed by large state spending and several rounds of private pensions withdrawals to ease the impact of the pandemic.

Boric will, however, have to contend with signs of an overheating economy and inflation, as well as a fragmented Congress, which analysts say will force him to seek consensus with more centrist sectors.

"One of Boric's biggest challenges will be cooling down the economy and retaining popular support," Oxford Economics said in a report, adding that the young leader would face pressure to increase social spending while meeting tighter budget targets.

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Chilean peso has rallied from record low https://tmsnrt.rs/3rEpA0i

Chilean peso has rallied from record low (Interactive) https://tmsnrt.rs/3qL0Uny

Latin America bond yield spreads https://tmsnrt.rs/3ryvBvG

Latin America bond yield spreads (Interactive) https://tmsnrt.rs/3KumAMH

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(Reporting by Fabián Andrés Cambero and Natalia Ramos; Editing by Sandra Maler, Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)

Peru: 21 beaches polluted by spill linked to Tonga eruption

January 21, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

A worker, dressed in a protective suit, cleans Conchitas Beach contaminated by an oil spill, in Ancon, Peru, on Jan. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Peru declared an environmental emergency on Thursday after announcing that 21 beaches on the Pacific coast were contaminated by an oil spill at a refinery run by Spain-based Repsol, following surging waves caused by the eruption of an underwater volcano near Tonga.

President Pedro Castillo said a committee will be formed to propose ways of dealing with the crisis, in keeping with national policies aimed at protecting the environment.

Prime Minister Mirtha Vasquez said Repsol has promised to deliver a cleaning schedule, to incorporate local fishermen in the cleanup on beaches and to deliver food baskets to affected families.

Vasquez said the United Nations will provide a team of experts to help Peru deal with the oil spill. People are barred for now from going to the 21 polluted beaches because of health concerns.

Peruvian authorities say an Italian-flagged ship spilled 6,000 barrels in the Pacific on Saturday in front of the La Pampilla refinery. In recent days, environmental activists have collected oil-stained or dead seabirds.

Repsol said Peruvian authorities had not provided a tsunami warning and that the ship was continuing to unload oil to the refinery when the waves hit.

Two women in Peru drowned after being swept away by strong waves following the Tonga eruption.

Oil clean-up crews replace bathers on Peru beaches

AFP Ancon, Peru
Published: 21 Jan 2022, 2

Floating barriers to protect the beaches from drifting oil are seen at the resort town of Ancon, Peru, on 21 January, 2022AFP

At Miramar Beach in Peru's popular resort of Ancon, there are no bathers despite the summer heat. Instead, it teems with workers in coveralls cleaning up an oil spill.

Almost a million liters (264,000 gallons) of crude spilled into the sea on Saturday when a tanker was hit by waves while offloading at La Pampilla refinery in Ventanilla, 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Lima.

Its owner, Spanish oil company Repsol, attributed the accident to the swell caused by the volcanic eruption in Tonga, thousands of miles away.

"Oil reaches the beach during high tide at night... and deposits the oil on the shore," Martin Martinez of the NGO AMAAC Peru, supervising the cleanup, told AFP.

"We take advantage to remove it from the sea, that and the saturated sand," he said.

The spill has dealt a blow to tourism in the popular resort, and to businesses who make most of their money in the summer season.

"There were many people until Sunday; the stain arrived on Monday, and since then, no one is swimming anymore," said 48-year-old Richard Gutierrez, who has a food and soda stand on Miramar beach.

A man picks up an oil-soaked dead Cormoran from the sea on the resort town of Ancon, Peru, on 21 January, 2022AFP

"We cannot sell anything, there are no vacationers, there is no one" apart from about 100 cleanup workers -- soldiers, Repsol hired hands and volunteers -- removing the polluted sand with spades to be taken to a toxic waste treatment facility.
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'Ecological disaster'

Peru's government has declared the spill of some 6,000 barrels of oil an "ecological disaster" and has demanded compensation from Repsol.

The company denies responsibility, saying maritime authorities had issued no warning of freak waves after the Tonga eruption.

The task, which began Tuesday, is an arduous one.

The workers deposit the polluted sand onto blue tarps, which are dragged to a pile further inland, awaiting removal to another site.

Work begins at 8:00 am and finishes at 6:00 pm, with a 30-minute break for lunch.

No one knows how long it will take to clean up the affected stretch of coastline, but in Miramar, it is estimated it will last at least two weeks.

The environment ministry said 174 hectares -- equivalent to 270 football fields -- of coast were affected, and some 118 hectares at sea.

Marine currents have dispersed the oil all the way to the coast of Chancay district, more than 40 kilometers from where the spill occurred.

The health ministry has identified 21 affected beaches and warned bathers to stay away.

The spill has also affected hundreds of artisanal fishermen who operate on the central Peruvian coast.

They rely on catches of sole, lorna drum and Peruvian grunt -- fish commonly used in the local delicacy ceviche, a marinated raw fish dish Peru is famous for.

Traditional fishermen in despair over Peru oil spill


By AFP
Published January 20, 2022

Hundreds of traditional fisherman living just outside the Peruvian capital fear their livelihoods are ruined following an oil spill caused by a volcanic eruption thousands of miles away.

Authorities called the spill, caused by an eruption on the other side of the Pacific near Tonga, the worst ecological disaster in Lima in recent times.

Traditional fisherman in Ventanilla, a district to the north of Lima’s port in Callao, on Wednesday protested outside the gates of the Pampilla Refinery owned by Spanish energy giant Repsol, demanding compensation for the spill that occurred as freak waves hit a tanker during offloading on Saturday.

“How will we live now? That’s our worry,” Miguel Angell Nunez, who led the protest, told AFP.

“We’ve lost our source of work and we don’t know when this will end.

“We want them to recognize the damage. The spill was caused by (Repsol’s) negligence.”

It is an area teeming with sole, lorna drum and Peruvian grunt, commonly used in the local delicacy ceviche, a marinated raw fish dish that Peru is famous for.

Traditional fishermen use small scale, low technology, low capital practices, mostly from the beach or rocks.

The few that own small boats only travel short distances along the shoreline.

– ‘Catastrophe’ –

The Ventanilla spill sent 6,000 barrels of oil into the sea.

The environment ministry said 174 hectares — equivalent to 270 football fields — of sea, beaches and natural reserves were affected.

The attorney general’s office said the spill had “put at risk flora and fauna in two protected areas.”

Authorities pulled dead fish and birds covered in oil out of the sea, and had to seal off three beaches, meaning hundreds of fishermen had nowhere to go to work.

Refinery officials said they had erected “containment barriers that cover all of the affected zones and brigades with specialist sea and land teams have been deployed.”

But fishermen, some of whom live hand to mouth, fear that they could be prevented from working for years.

Around 1,500 traditional fisherman work in the area, usually earning between 50 and 120 soles ($12-$30) a day from their catch.

“This catastrophe won’t last one or four months. It will last years,” fisherman Roberto Carlos Espinoza told AFP.

“Today we don’t have work, what are we going to do?”

Espinoza blames Repsol for “lacking a contingency plan” for the damage to flora and fauna.

The spill has spread to beaches in neighboring districts where authorities have found dead sea lions and penguins.

The health ministry said 21 beaches have been affected and warned bathers not to visit them.

– ‘Tough and toxic work’ –

Repsol work teams wearing white suits, boots and gloves were removing oil from beaches and crags on the Cavero beach in Ventanilla on Wednesday.

Workers use dustpans, shovels and long sponges to soak up the oil that cloaks the beach and gives off a pungent stench, while the navy guards the area.

Toiling in the summer sun, they tip the collected oil into barrels and plastic bags.

“It’s not easy to work with this (oil) but unfortunately we have to work,” said Giancarlo Briseno.

“The work is tough, quite toxic and burns your face,” added Pedro Guzman.

Former environment minister Fabiola Munoz said it would take two years to clean up the spill.

The public prosecutor has opened an investigation for environmental pollution against the refinery.

It said the owners could face a fine of up to $34.5 million.

“The State will be inflexible,” warned Environment Minister Ruben Ramirez.

Tine van den Wall Bake Rodriguez, Repsol Peru’s spokeswoman, said “we cannot say who is responsible” for the oil spill, which the company has blamed on the freak waves.

“We are extremely affected” by it, she added.

The Pampilla refinery has the capacity to process 117,000 barrels a day, which represents more than half of Peru’s total oil output.

Rains Cause Flood Damage In Peru's Machu Picchu

By AFP News
01/21/22 

Strong rains in the town of Machu Picchu, next to the Inca citadel of the same name that is Peru's top tourist draw, washed away railroads and bridges Friday, officials said.

Flooding of the Alccamayo river interrupted train services, the regional government of Cusco department said.

Houses near the river were flooded, and one person was injured with another missing, civil defense officials said.

Some 447,800 people visited the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in 2021, a figure reduced by the pandemic and far lower than the usual 1.5 million per year 

Photo: AFP / ERNESTO BENAVIDES

Peru Rail company, one of two that provides transport in the region, said in a statement that trains have been cancelled until further notice.

Some 447,800 people visited the Machu Picchu site in 2021, a figure reduced by the pandemic and far lower than the usual 1.5 million per year.

Peru's economy declined 11.12 percent in 2020 and was in recession until June last year, with tourism the hardest-hit sector with a decline of more than 50 percent.