International
Drought in Peru Andes proves fatal for alpacas, potato crops
| By AFP | Juan Carlos Cisneros, with Ernesto Tovar in Lima |
A drought in the Peruvian Andes has ravaged alpaca flocks and withered potato crops, forcing the government to declare a state of emergency on Saturday for 60 days in more than 100 districts.
Hardest hit are rural communities in the Arequipa and Puno departments in Peru’s southern region, where the government decreed a state of emergency “due to imminent danger from water shortage.”
The national weather service, Senamhi, described the drought as one of the worst in the past half century, exacerbated by the offshore La Nina weather phenomenon in the central Pacific Ocean.
“November 2022 was one of the driest (months) in the last 58 years in various weather stations in the Andean region,” Senamhi reported.
Andean hamlets for Quechua- and Aymara-speaking indigenous groups have faced critical losses of crops and livestock herds.
“For lack of forage and water, the alpacas are dying. My alpacas have died,” Isabel Bellido, an alpaca farmer, told AFP from her mountain home in Lagunillas near Puno, a regional capital at 4,200 meters (12,550 feet) in elevation some 850 kilometers (530 miles) southeast of Lima.
Carlos Pacheco, a veterinarian and expert in llamas and alpacas, said a worst-case scenario would be for the drought to endure.
“The animals are already underweight, and there is no pasture,” he said.
At high altitude in the Andes, temperatures can drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus four degrees Fahrenheit), and cause mass deaths of sheep and alpacas, vital to the subsistence of dwellers in mountain hamlets.
Divine supplication
In the winter of 2015, an estimated 170,000 alpacas died from extreme cold and drought in Peru.
Local press reports say hundreds of alpaca crias, or babies, and lambs have already died this year.
Shallow lakes have dried up, leaving only scattered puddles, as in the case of the Parihuanas Lagoon near Lagunillas.
In the neighboring Santa Lucia district, the Collpacocha Lagoon has completely disappeared, leaving only a cracked mud lake bed.
Near Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable inland sea in the world at 3,812 meters in elevation, the inhabitants of the Aymara-speaking village of Ichu appeal to a higher authority to end the drought.
They have taken out the venerated Catholic figure of Our Lady of the Cloud in a procession through the fields to plead for the first time in years for holy intervention to bring rain.
“We’ve planted our crops in the customary way but the potatoes aren’t sprouting because of the intense heat. It is worrisome,” said Daniel Ccama, a community leader in Ichu.
“Let the rains come Father Jesus. Don’t punish us father,” the procession participants chanted in their native Aymara.
International
Missile attack hits Kharkiv homes, leaving 13 wounded
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that a Russian missile attack on residential buildings in the eastern city of Kharkiv has left at least 13 people injured, according to local authorities.
“A horrific Russian attack on Kharkiv,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram, explaining that two missiles were fired, striking residential areas and causing “a number of casualties that is still being clarified.”
Local officials later confirmed that 13 people were injured in the attack, six of whom were hospitalized, including one woman in serious condition.
International
Sheinbaum evacuates National Palace after 6.5-magnitude earthquake hits Southern Mexico
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo evacuated the National Palace on Friday along with journalists and federal government staff after the seismic alert was activated during her morning press conference, triggered by a 6.5-magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in the south of the country.
The alert sounded while the president was speaking from the Treasury Hall, forcing the immediate interruption of the event and the activation of established safety protocols.
“Oh, it’s shaking,” Sheinbaum said as she noticed the tremor, before urging those present to remain calm.
According to preliminary information, the earthquake struck the state of Guerrero, one of Mexico’s most seismically active regions. The National Seismological Service (SSN) reported that the quake occurred at 7:58 a.m. local time (13:58 GMT).
Sheinbaum led the orderly evacuation of the historic building, accompanied by reporters covering the briefing and federal government personnel. Images released afterward show the president waiting in the central courtyard of the National Palace as she awaited guidance from Civil Protection authorities on whether it was safe to resume activities.
International
Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney to join Ukraine peace talks in Paris
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Friday that he will take part in peace negotiations on Ukrainescheduled to be held in Paris on January 5 and 6.
In a statement, the Canadian government said the meeting will bring together countries belonging to the so-called Coalition of the Willing, and aims to “accelerate efforts toward a negotiated peace” in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, supported by robust security guarantees.
Carney said Canada is working closely with its allies to achieve a “just and lasting peace,” stressing that the Coalition of the Willing must both deter further aggression and reinforce security guarantees, while ensuring that Ukraine is able to rebuild, recover and lay the foundations for genuine prosperity.
The Coalition of the Willing is made up of around 30 countries, the vast majority of them European, all of which are allies of Kyiv.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that a meeting of the Coalition, alongside other European leaders, will take place in Paris on January 6, focusing on security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a future peace agreement with Russia.
Missile attack hits Kharkiv homes, leaving 13 wounded
Sheinbaum evacuates National Palace after 6.5-magnitude earthquake hits Southern Mexico
Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney to join Ukraine peace talks in Paris
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
-
International4 days agoMan accused of killing nine in Paramaribo dies by suicide in police custody
-
International3 days agoMexico’s President Visits Victims After Train Derailment Kills 13 in Oaxaca
-
International3 days agoOne Dead, Three Injured in Shooting at Cree Nation in Saskatchewan
-
International4 days agoSix killed, including baby, in armed attack near tourist beach in Ecuador
-
International13 hours agoBrazil’s Bolsonaro Returns to Prison After Supreme Court Denies House Arrest
-
International2 days ago
Regional mexican music mourns the death of Banda Gota de Oro singer Giovanni Vera
-
International18 minutes agoSheinbaum evacuates National Palace after 6.5-magnitude earthquake hits Southern Mexico
-
International15 minutes agoMissile attack hits Kharkiv homes, leaving 13 wounded
-
International20 minutes agoCanada’s prime minister Mark Carney to join Ukraine peace talks in Paris