Word: andean
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...today elected governments rule in only two of eleven nations, Venezuela and Colombia. Under the gaze of soldiers posted to ward off violence, 1.6 million Ecuadorians went to the polls last week for the first time in eleven years to select the leaders of their small (pop. 7.5 million) Andean country. Their choice for President: Jaime Roldós Aguilera, 38, a mild-mannered populist lawyer who won by a smashing 2-to-l ratio, despite a strong right-wing effort on behalf of his conservative opponent, former Quito Mayor Sixto Durán Ball...
Every year thousands of pre-Hispanic objects-Mayan stelae, Aztec jewelry, Incan pottery, Olmec figurines-are smuggled out of Mexico, Central America and the Andean nations of South America. The illicit trade easily reaches millions of dollars annually and involves characters so bizarre they might have stepped out of an old Humphrey Bogart film: shrewd peasants, soldiers of fortune, venal archaeologists, dealers, diplomats and collectors who are ready to pay-or do-almost anything to satisfy their greed...
...safe. Last month a quarter-ton stone figure of an ancient priest chewing coca, known as El Coquero and dating back some 3,000 years, vanished from its site in San Agustin in southwest Colombia. Ecuadorian officials are trying to retrieve an entire 11,000-item collection of Andean treasures that somehow managed to turn up in Milan and Turin, where they were being put up for sale...
Despite the formidable obstacles in their way, many Latin American governments now seem determined to save what remains of their ancient national heritage. Explains Silvio Mutal, a Lima-based U.N. official who has been helping in the struggle to preserve Andean culture: "We are dealing with the birthright of whole races. It is vital that these artifacts stay in their countries of origin so that the descendants of their makers can see and learn from their past...
Primov made some 20 visits to the San Tutis brothel outside the Andean city of Cuzco. His interviews with the prostitutes led to the conclusion that brothels do serve as, among other things, a gathering place for drinking and storytelling...