Peru

The artist and leader of the disappearing White Heron clan paints pipe-smoking lizards, pink river dolphins – and the shocking, bloody history of plunder in the AmazonSantiago Yahuarcani’s Amazon is no longer the place he painted as a child. The rainforest scenes of parrots, anacondas and jaguars that he and his brothers used to sell to riverboat […]

Ancient rituals and a profound respect for ‘Mother Earth’ bolster fragile Andean communities as the climate crisis and unchecked mining take their tollWords and photographs by Giordano SimonciniIn Cusco, the Quechua people are at the forefront of the climate struggle. Amid Peru’s sacred mountains and ancestral plateaux, they confront daily challenges, […]

Critics had claimed that plan announced in May exposed complex of desert etchings to impact of informal miningPeru’s government has abandoned a plan that reduced the size of a protected area around the country’s ancient Nazca Lines, after criticism the change made them vulnerable to the impact of informal mining operations.Peru’s culture ministry said […]

By Poppy Tollemache ✐ Peruvian Times Contributing Writer ☄ Nearly two months have passed since Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru’s most acclaimed novelist and a defining figure of Latin American literature, died at age 89 on April 13, 2025. His passing marks the end of his remarkable literary era. With more The post Peru Reflects on the Life and Legacy of […]

Shock decision has raised fears ancient site with almost 2,000-year-old geoglyphs will be exploited by illegal minersArchaeologists and environmentalists have expressed their outrage at a shock decision by Peru’s culture ministry to cut by nearly half the protected archaeological park around the Nazca Lines, excluding an area nearly the size of urban […]

The narrative of ancient tribes around the world regularly using ayahuasca and magic mushrooms in healing practices is a popular one. Is it true?By Manvir Singh. Read by Sebastián Capitán Viveros Continue reading...

As the price of the precious metal soars to record levels, underground gunfights have erupted in the Andean region of Pataz as the mines’ riches draw in brutal crime cartelsDeep in the mountains of northern Peru, a bloody war is being fought over gold. As its international price sets successive record highs above $3,000 (£2,220) an ounce, criminal gangs, […]

Court rejects argument that man’s home is at risk from glacial flood but sets precedent that polluters may be held liable for costsA German court has rejected a climate case brought by a Peruvian farmer against the German energy company RWE, but set a potentially important precedent on polluters’ liability for their carbon emissions.The upper regional […]

By Poppy Tollemache ✐ Peruvian Times Contributing Writer ☄ Ayacucho, a culturally rich city in the Andes, is known for its 33 historic churches and extensive folk art industry. Strategically located on the main Inca highway that once connected Cusco and Quito, the city has long served as a vital The post From Carnival to Semana Santa: Ayacucho’s […]

By Paarth Mathur ✐ Peruvian Times Contributing Writer ☄ The linguistic landscape of Peru is a story of resilience. Since the Spanish conquest in 1532, efforts to erase indigenous languages like Quechua were relentless. Yet, despite centuries of suppression—through conquest, religious conversion, and colonial legislation—Quechua endured. Its survival […]

Celia Ramos was one of thousands of women subjected to government’s brutal policy in the 1990s. A ruling by the inter-American court of human rights could open way for reparationsThe case of a forced sterilisation carried out in Peru in the 1990s will be heard by an international court on Thursday, 28 years after the procedure – one of many thousands […]

A rerelease of the documentary about the German film-maker’s operatic adventure in the Peruvian jungle is a compelling portrait of an artist obsessedIn 1982, film-maker Les Blank released this sombre, thoughtful, quietly awestruck documentary account of Werner Herzog’s crazy sisyphean struggle in a remote and dangerous Peruvian jungle location, making […]

A tourist says four people holding pistols and a machine gun boarded the boat and forced passengers to drain their bank accountsA Spanish tourist has recounted how an armed gang calling themselves “river pirates” robbed her and her family aboard a boat travelling down the Amazon River in Peru.In a video on TikTok, one of the tourists, Elisabet de la […]

Three Peruvians and two Colombians missing since setting sail from Peru in March arrive in Galápagos Islands Five fishers who spent 55 days adrift at sea arrived on Saturday at a port in the Galápagos after being rescued by a tuna boat, the Ecuadorian navy said on X.The three Peruvians and two Colombians had been missing since mid-March and were found on […]

Pope faced questions about his handling of clerical sexual abuse cases earlier in his career after a survivors group filed a complaintGroups supporting clergy-molestation survivors say they are gravely concerned and insulted by the election of Pope Leo XIV after he overcame questions about his handling of clerical sexual abuse cases earlier in his career to […]