Recently in Peru · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Here once again to share with you some of what has been published in the Peruvian blogosphere. These days the categories are somewhat mixed up. Blogs that normally post about other things are now writing on politics and thematic blogs are posting personal items. More evidence that in the blogosphere anything is possible and there aren't restictions to creativity and personal expresion except for what we ourselves impose.
Beginning with politics, or better said, continuing with the discussion about Ollanta Humala who continues to offer plenty to talk about, especially now that several surveys have put him as the leading presidential candidate. In Gustavo García's blog, Cultura Peruana is the post, “We'll play in the forest while Ollanta is, Ollanta is …”. Gustavo says of Ollanta Humala:
He's become the fierce wolf of Peruvian politics, the terrible outsider who is threatening to become the country's president, the “menacing ghost” who at once is united to the dark side of the force: Hugo Chávez
In De todo un poco, Pedro Flores posts, “Ollanta, why won't you shut up?” where he comments:
The statement that he is going to intervene in multinational corporations, that he's going to impose new taxes, that he will be a radical with the transnationals; he's making a big blunder. It's because of these statements that the market comes down while the dollar rises and keeps rising and the investments stay stalled.
He then makes an analogy between an administrator of a commercial building and the president of the country which is interesting though somewhat superficial. To conclude with the posts on Humala, Diego of Desde la Clandestinidad sarcastically posts, “Why I Will Vote for Humala”:
It doesn't matter if the farms stop producing and industry stops or if we can no longer listen to Los Prisioneros because they're Chileans. Good bye to the foreigners and their ideologies because they alienate us. Farewell Catholicism and franchises. We'll eliminate the press, electricity, the Spanish language, and gasoline. I've already got my vote decided.
But not everything is about Huamala. Fujimori is also worrying some bloggers and in Perú Político Bernd Krehoff speaks of “The Streets of Fujimori,” concluding with the following:
The hundred thousand supporters that Fujimori had imagined waiting at the airport for his return to Peru appears to be more the product of a misplaced dream than a realistic calculation.
Check out the plentiful comments which are diverse and extremely interesting. And even better, Bernd went out of his way to translate the post to english so that the readers of Global Voices and all of the world can read it. The English version is here (though the interesting comments are on the Spanish version).
On another theme, ingenuopais (naive country) posts an unsettling article that's not meant for the naive. “Chile in Peru … Do They Already Have Their Candidate?”
If we Peruvians make the decision to suit the rules of the game of investments in Peru to make them compatible with the national interest, the government of our neighbor will consider it a potential problem. And sure, … it reminds the current governing “friend” that “… it's necessary that the establishment of legal protections for Chilean investors advances.” Nothing more to say.
But let's leave the anger that at times is produced by politics and let's laugh a little with Lanuez's “Electoral Ethics Pact.”
As a bridge between politics and technology, we have the post of Juan Carlos Luján in Sin Papel: “Peruvian Politicians Don't Know Anything About the Internet.”
Despite the fact that they all have Internet presence (there are eleven political movements that have no clue of the web's power), not one has demonstrated the astuteness to take advantage of the tool that would help them reach nearly three million Peruvian internet surfers and position themselves adequately on the world wide web.
In Communication and Peru's Development Eland Vera posts about “Ideas that were Brought Up in the Blogs and Education Course at UNSA.” It's a good handful of ideas which aren't completely original, but transfered to a city like Arequipa could do much good. A Mango tells us about “The Powers of Blogs, Part Two,” something which is just recently being seen in Peru. Finally, in “The Metaverse of JL,” JL tells us about his recent impressions of TV, cable, Tivo, and other related things in “Goodbye to TV Programming which also has a version in English: Say goodbye to the TV Guide.
Changing topics, the blog, Powerful Words momentarily leaves behind its literary side to post about a current event in Lima: “Story of a Kidnapping,” which is about the wave of abductions that have invaded our capitol city. Another hot topic of late was the recent attempt to hack our website, BlogsPerú, but luckily our webmaster, Leuzor realized in time and the problem was rapidly overcome. However, in the interim, various bloggers reported on the topic: Letra Suelta: Blogsperu y los crackers, http://e-nredados.blogspot.com/: Blogsperu crackeada y Blogsperu crackeada v2: 2006 es el año!, verolindapechocha: ¡BlogsPeru Hackeado! y BaluArt.net: BlogsPerú hackeado (Actualizado). Thanks to everyone for their concern.
For those that don't already know, I don't just live in Lima, but also in Iquitos, a beautiful city by the Amazon river. I tell you this because Pako Bardales, a blogger based in Iquitos, posts in his blog, Diario de IQT, “Alberto Fuguet Ama a Iquitos,” about the presence of Iquitos in the literary imagination of various writers. And from writers we move to the journalists. In El Crónico, they post almost in a humorous tone, “Singing 1, 2, 3!: Journalists Rise to the Scene,” about the various musical adventures of mainstream journalists. Speaking of music, Juan Carlos Bondy of Lado B laments in his post, “Why Don't the Stones Come?” which concludes:
Let this serve as a lesson to the naive, like this blogger, who dreamed of seeing the Rolling Stones around these parts. But don't worry, Daddy Yankee is sure to visit us soon.
Not everything is so full of regret however; Alexandra of Raising Ravens writes about  the Peruvian band, “Maganzoides: when the horror cannot stop,” a nostalgic post about the incredible rock band.
In the section of personal blogs, there are some excellent choices like Vir, who was just recently interviewed in BlogsPerú. In her blog, Puerto Asterix is a reflection on “Life, oh life, what is it all about” as well as various other topics:
How many times have I distrusted perfection? As if affirming my own imperfections somehow grants me a letter of authenticity, humanity, what they call an absence of pretension or “posing.” A species of silly rebellion. A change, two changes, three changes, aaah, life changes, I change, becoming another, but basically still me, crossing the threshold of your time, my beloved Al.
About other things, but with a certainly poetic tone, Laura of The Ingenious Naivete, tells us of “Sheets of the Sea:”
I will search you when you leave the sea, because there I find myself more easily. There in the water, blue and cold, I remove the legs that have lost me, I strip away the salt of the day to day and I am once again a woman and marine spirit, like before … like always.
For her part, Antolín Prieto of A Park Bench goes back in time juggling curious words in “A Wait:”
You can figure the ticking on the heels of a waiter in the bar or on that slow music that, you know, could be Piaff. But, How long will this song last? You wait until it finishes or maybe another one, without thinking of a thing. You stare at those pictures hanged on the wall.  They are not hooked on you or they are staring at you vividly. The worst are those pointing at you or the ones laughing mysteriosly, hiding their roaring laughter.
In this post we also have a translation to English thanks to the valuable collaboration of the indefatigable Kat who I'd like infinitely thank here.
Introducing a new topic in these selections, nothing better than a couple uninhibited girls: Definitely Unfaithful writes, “Dirty Mouth,” which talks about the intimacies that nearly everyone likes to hear. And Mojadita tells us about her experiences in past parties in “Anonymous.” I was able to get both bloggers to translate their posts, respectively: Noisy and Anonymous.
Hmmm, perhaps we should change topics and discuss parties: Invazor C!!! tells us about the birthday of a fellow Peruvian blogger in “Santos’ Birthday”. It's too bad we weren't there huh?
Finally, but no less important is our selection of photos. Remember the post, “Miscelanea Fotográfica: Trujillo, 31 de diciembre” which I had selected the time before? Well, there is never a first without a second and this time Crepúsculos y cuadernos presents Miscelánea Fotográfica: Huanchaco, 31/12/05, 1-2/01/06, a continuation of the photojournalistic report that began with the prior post. Comunal dances in the Southern Sierras of Peru and part of Bolivia are displayed in the series of two posts at “Caporales de la Tuntuna I,” which has sparked controversy among readers. And with that, I leave you until next time.
: Refers to a law passed in Venezuela which requires that half of all music played on public radio stations comes from domestic bands.
Translation by David Sasaki