[NYTr] Venezuela Sends More Aid to Peru Quake Victims

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - August 21, 2007

[Venezuela is also providing humanitarian assistance to Peru after an
earthquake killed over 500 people there last week and injured many
thousands more.  Aid from Venezuela to Peruvians left without food and
without shelter from the quake has come in the form of material goods
(food, clothing, tents, and other materials) totaling 120 tons,
according to El Universal.  The Los Angeles Times reports today that
the aid has been controversial among opponents of President Chavez, who
allege that the assistance is politically motivated. -VIO]

Los Angeles Times - August 21, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-quake21aug21,1,3659999.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Quake aid has pro-Chavez message

By Patrick J. McDonnell

lima, peru -- The appearance of donated cans of tuna with labels
containing the image of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and a
condemnation of the Peruvian government as "heartless" caused a
political storm here Monday in the midst of an already controversial
earthquake relief effort.

"One has to ask who is behind this," President Alan Garcia said after a
Lima newspaper reported that the polemical tins were being distributed
in the quake-ravaged region south of the capital. "This is not the
moment to take advantage of the circumstances to make electoral
propaganda."

The Venezuelan ambassador to Peru denied his government was to blame
and said the whole affair was probably part of a dirty-tricks campaign
to discredit the fiery socialist leader. "This is a damaging
manipulation, a vile manipulation because Venezuela has brought
humanitarian aid, not party politics," Ambassador Jose Armando Laguna
told CPN Radio in Lima. "If they want, they can go and open all the
bags that [Venezuela] brought and verify there is no political
propaganda."

Venezuela and other Latin American nations have shipped tons of food,
medical supplies and other relief to Peru, where Wednesday's quake left
more than 500 dead and tens of thousands homeless. Garcia publicly
thanked Chavez despite their well-known mutual antipathy.

There was no indication how many cans of the tuna had been handed out.

The tuna-can caper was first reported in the right-wing Lima daily
Expreso, which has an anti-Chavez editorial line. And the heated
exchange reflects what some analysts view as a division of South
America into pro-Chavez and anti-Chavez camps. Peru's Garcia, a strong
ally of Washington, is at the forefront of a U.S.-backed bloc cool to
the Venezuelan leader.

Garcia was elected president last year in a runoff against Ollanta
Humala, a former army officer whom Garcia repeatedly branded a Chavez
lackey.

During the campaign, Garcia accused Chavez of interference in Peru's
affairs, and the two exchanged a round of nasty insults. The two
presidents have since reconciled to some extent, but Garcia has
remained extremely wary of Chavez.

Humala remains a political force, especially in the impoverished Andean
highlands.

Humala's image appeared alongside Chavez's on the tuna tins. The labels
also bore the logo of Humala's Nationalist Party.

There was no immediate reaction from Humala. But a Nationalist Party
spokesman, Carlos Tapia, emphatically denied on Peruvian radio that
Humala or Chavez had done anything fishy. He blamed a "dark hand,"
possibly the government itself looking to deflect criticism of its
reaction to the disaster.

The labels' text acclaimed the "solidarity" of Chavez and Humala with
quake victims, while bemoaning the "looting, road blockages,
desperation and chaos" in Peru, according to Expreso, which published a
photo of a can and the text of a label.

"The Peruvian government acts in an inefficient, slow and heartless
manner, notwithstanding the pain of the victims, leaving them to the
mercy of hunger, thirst and delinquency," the label said, according to
the newspaper.

The Garcia government has come under fire at home for what critics call
a slow and chaotic distribution of earthquake relief aid, especially in
rural areas.

Cabinet chief Jorge del Castillo has acknowledged shortcomings but
blamed the problem on the poor state of the region's roads, many of
which were damaged in the magnitude 8 temblor.

Garcia has labeled the criticism "exaggerated" and vowed that no
Peruvian would "die of hunger or thirst" because of a lack of aid.

Thousands still remain without shelter, running water and electricity
in the vast swath of Peru where the quake caused damage. The government
has posted hundreds of extra police officers and troops in what
officials have called a successful effort to reduce looting and highway
robbery.

                                 ***

El Universal - August 20, 2007
http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/08/20/en_pol_art_venezuela-sends-addi_20A931717.shtml

Venezuela sends additional 20 tons in humanitarian aid to Peru

The Venezuelan government is to send Monday to Peru another Hercules
cargo aircraft with 20 tons of input for humanitarian aid of the
victims of an earthquake that stroke south Peru, authorities reported.

"Water, tents, blankets, beans, canned food, milk, coffee, pasta,
cereal and other food (?) will be sent in this second outpost for the
earthquake survivors, and also materials to remove the rubble,"
reported Antonio Rivero, the head of the Venezuelan Civil Protection
and Disasters Management.

The official explained that within 15 days, they would complete a
shipment of 120 tons, as promised by the government of President Hugo
Chávez, AFP quoted.

The remaining 100 tons are expected to be sent in chartered aircraft.
Each flight will carry 50 tons.

The cities of Pisco, Ica and Chincha, all of them in southern Peru,
were seriously damaged by an earthquake that hit the country last
Wednesday, resulting in 540 deaths and thousand homeless.