Saturday, May 30, 2009

MAGIC WATERS IN THE DESERT: LIMA, PERU

MAGIC WATERS IN THE DESERT
TROUBLES IN THE AMAZON

For an almost-summer weekend, something light from an almost-summer evening in Lima, Peru.

To wit, a light (and music) and water show from the Circuito Magico del Agua -- the "Magic Water Circuit" -- in a city in the desert.

Something like a third of the twenty-seven-million population of Peru is said to live in its capital, Lima, tucked between the Pacific Ocean and the mountains.

Meanwhile, out in Amazonian Peru, there has been since April an on-going protest over indigenous rights and mineral rights. Three weeks ago the government imposed a sixty-day local state of emergency.

President Alan Garcia, who proudly hosted the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit last November, is keen to promote development. He is quoted as having said that "The riches of Peru belong to all Peruvians," and the benefits should not go only to the "small group of people who live there."

Back in the capital yesterday (May 29), Prime Minister Yehude Simon threatened to resign.

The Magic Water Circuit, located in the Reserve Park in the Santa Beatriz district of Lima, is open Wednesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. It perhaps becomes most magical as night falls.

More on the crisis, which has turned deadly, here (check under June 6, 2009). 


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