Word: peru
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...crippled government and moribund economy. In addition, he has shaken boardrooms from Wall Street to Tokyo with his defiance of the multinational banks that hold many of Latin America's burdensome loans. His July inauguration made front-page news in Western capitals when he used it to announce that Peru would spend no more than 10% of its export earnings for interest and principal payments on its $14 billion foreign debt. Said he, with a typical rhetorical flourish: "President Alan García, may the world hear me, knows that Peru has a first great creditor--its own people...
With his bold declaration, the young leader had spawned a new idea: that he and other Latin American leaders had a right to limit the sacrifices of their countrymen. And while bankers have been relieved that no other South American country has yet adopted Peru's guideline, several have followed García's lead by stiffening their resolve not to let their debt problems further damage either their national pride or their fragile domestic economies...
...hallmark of García's program has been his vigorous attack on inefficiency and sloth. In recent weeks he has been engaged in a running argument with Peru's civil servants, who have resisted his effort to curb the five-hour workdays that have become traditional during the hot months, from January to March. The new President was even bold enough to attack extravagance in the pampered military, slashing an $800 million deal to purchase 26 French Mirage jet fighters back to twelve...
That might be an apt description of García's first six months in office. But if his greatest gains have been psychological, that is no mean accomplishment. "Peru, once the seat of the Inca Empire, is a country with a history," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams told a House subcommittee in November. "What Alan García has said to his people is that Peru is also a country with a future. He has helped Peruvians to believe that they can better their fate." The test now will be to see if García can convert the positive...
...accused her of inadvertently aiding "neo-Nazism" to discredit the country's culture. MacLaine was dismayed. During filming, locals took to calling her La Grinka (a gringa who seeks to become an Inca), and at a press conference last week she sought to make amends: "I profoundly believe that Peru is the repository of a splendiferous culture. If there were extraterrestrial beings that had visited the earth, Peru would be the place they would choose." With that graceful apology, apparently, the Inca-Grinka-do was done. --By Guy D. Garcia