Peru

Archaeologists say killing of animals may have helped cement claim on new territoryThat the Inca sacrificed people to appease their gods is well known, but a discovery in Peru sheds new light on a far more common sacrificial practice: the ritual offering of highly prized and ornately decorated llamas.Four naturally mummified llamas have been uncovered […]

Huge foreign fleets gather 400 miles off South America’s Pacific coast attracted by giant squid. Peru’s coastguard must defend its territorial waters amid rising tensionThe ocean is as black as chipped obsidian, yet whichever way you look dozens of bright lights illuminate the water and the night sky. Nearly 400 nautical miles from the South American […]

Feline geoglyph from 200-100BC emerges during work at Unesco world heritage siteThe dun sands of southern Peru, etched centuries ago with geoglyphs of a hummingbird, a monkey, an orca – and a figure some would dearly love to believe is an astronaut – have now revealed the form of an enormous cat lounging across a desert hillside.The feline Nazca line, […]

Japanese tourist waited almost seven months to enter Inca citadel while trapped in country during coronavirus pandemicPeru has opened the ruins of Machu Picchu for a single Japanese tourist after he waited almost seven months to enter the Inca citadel, while trapped in the Andean country during the coronavirus outbreak.Jesse Katayama’s entry into the […]

Huge armada moves from Galápagos Islands towards PeruChina rejects US embassy insinuation of overfishingA huge fishing armada of Chinese vessels has moved south from the Galápagos Islands towards Peru’s territorial waters, dragging the South American country into a diplomatic Twitter row between Washington and Beijing. Related: 'They just pull up […]

Oxford institution worked with indigenous communities to overhaul insensitive displaysFor almost 80 years, the shrunken human heads at Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum have fascinated and appalled visitors with their sewn-up lips and eye sockets, and straggly long hair decorated with iridescent beetles.But under a major revamp to address the […]

Leader faces being removed for ‘moral incapacity’ after tapes revealed alleged ties to a singer involved in a fraud caseThe Peruvian president, Martín Vizcarra, faced a fresh challenge to his leadership on Friday after the Congress approved a motion to start impeachment proceedings against him over leaked audio tapes and alleged ties to a singer […]

Partygoers crushed or asphyxiated trying to flee venue in Los Olivos districtCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAt least 13 people were crushed to death or asphyxiated as partygoers fled a Lima nightclub after a raid by police over alleged violations of restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic, officials have said.At […]

By Nicholas Asheshov — Tony Morrison, the naturalist, filmmaker and writer whose enthusiasm and talents  over half a century were focused on Peru and the Amazon, has died at his home in Woodbridge, Suffolk after a short illness.  He was 83. Tony, one of the pioneers, with David Attenborough of

Commemorating  Peru’s National Day 28 July and Arequipa’s 15 August 2020 was a rather sad FIESTAS PATRIAS  this year, in view of the coronavirus pandemic. By Paul Goulder — By now Lima, if not the whole of Peru, should be in the grips of a bicentenary fever but as it

Indigenous people in headwaters region say financing harms communities and ecosystemsIndigenous people living at the headwaters of the Amazon have called on European banks to stop financing oil development in the region, as it poses a threat to them and damages a fragile ecosystem, after a new report found $10bn in previously undisclosed funding for oil in […]

Women attempting to flee the country’s economic collapse are in desperate straits, stranded at borders and forced into sex work, say NGOsThe family had nothing at home, says mother of six Luisa Hernández, 30, from Zulia state, Venezuela. “To see your children grow up without food, without anything, is unbearable.“Eating from rubbish bins to survive […]

More than 160,000 people have died but from Mexico to Brazil, social networks are awash with quack cures and conspiraciesFor months Gustavo Andrade has been battling to convince his parishioners to take Covid-19 seriously. Related: Desperate Bolivians seek out toxic bleach falsely touted as Covid-19 cure Related: 'Planes spray the city at night': Covid-19 […]

Martín Vizcarra announced emergency decree putting health ministry in charge of system after Celia Capira chased his truckAs the presidential motorcade pulled away from the main hospital in Peru’s second city – fleeing an angry protest by medical staff and relatives of Covid-19 patients – one woman broke away from the crowd.Celia Capira ran sobbing […]

Activists fear devastation as virus arrives at indigenous reserveAt least six coronavirus cases among isolated Nahua peopleThe Covid-19 virus has reached a remote reserve for recently contacted indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon, despite efforts to shield the extremely vulnerable population from the pandemic. Related: 'Coronavirus could wipe us out': […]