Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 29 november 2017

Peru's abundant ruins feel the squeeze of urbanization

ing pace of urbanization in around that time guerrillas
Peru's bustling capital. used dynamite to attack
An estimated 46,000 pre- an electric tower standing
colonial sites dot Peru's on a pyramid.
landscape. Today, a small group of
About 400 of them are in archeologists and officials
Lima, which is home to the are stepping up efforts to
biggest number of pre- reverse course and pre-
colonial archaeological serve sites being squeezed
zones of any city in South by urban sprawl.
America. "The idea is for Peruvians
Yet Peru spends only to feel that heritage is
enough to protect just 1 something that is enjoyed,"
percent of those sites, ac- Deputy Minister of Heritage
cording to official data, Jorge Arrunategui told The
leaving hundreds of ruins Associated Press.
abandoned or relegated A public awareness cam-
to becoming public trash paign he has helped lead
dumps."Since the founding since July grants free ad-
of Lima, there has been no mission to related muse-
relationship between the ums and dozens of ar-
people and the huacas, chaeological sites across
beyond seeing them as the country, with the hope
mounds of earth or places of reconnecting Peruvians
to search for treasures," with their heritage.
Lima-based archaeologist The campaign to bring
In this Oct. 10, 2017 photo, the pre-Columbian archeological site Pucllana is surrounded by ur-
ban sprawl in the Miraflores district of Lima, Peru. An estimated 46,000 pre-colonial sites mark the Hector Walde said. new protections hasn't
country’s landscape, and about 400 of those are located in Lima, which has the largest number He spoke while excavating brought a heated debate
of pre-colonial archaeological zones in South America. carefully at a 3,500-year- over what needs to be
(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) old temple that has walls done.
painted with ancient reliefs Officials say a new antiq-
By F. BRICENO this," she said. ings tower around one depicting mythological uities law will preserve the
RODRIGO ABD The pyramid is just one of site. Highway traffic bar- animals. nation's cultural legacy by
Associated Press thousands of historic sites, rels through a pair of tun- Lima's first urban explosion giving historical sites stron-
LIMA, Peru (AP) — or "huacas," that are being nels newly burrowed un- in the 20th century was ac- ger legal protections.
From her small home near crowded out or destroyed der an adobe palace at a companied by large-scale Activists fear it will diminish
two golf courses and three as roads, schools, residen- 900-year-old cemetery. destruction of pre-colonial protections for thousands
slums, Gianina Rojas gazes tial neighborhoods and One of the few well-pre- sites. of sites because the law
up at a crumbling adobe stadiums are built to meet served pyramids sits across The walls of one temple affects only those desig-
pyramid, remnants of the the population's growing from the mansion of Presi- were pulverized to make nated as archaeologically
vast Inca empire that flour- demands. dent Pedro Pablo Kuczyn- bricks for new homes be- significant by Peru's minis-
ished more than six centu- High-rise apartment build- ski, highlighting the creep- ginning in the 1980s, while ter of heritage.q
ries ago.
ern-day Peru, Rojas was EU observers worried by silence on Honduran election
Like many people in mod-
born and raised among
Incan sites that were built MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Eu- elections were generally lowing the 2013 elections, five-point lead to challeng-
before the Spanish colo- ropean Union electoral ob- peaceful and that results compared to just one this er Salvador Nasralla over
nized South America. servation mission in Hondu- are being processed in time. The mission says that incumbent President Juan
Now 26, she recalls trea- ras is criticizing the country's front of party representa- citizens have a right to Orlando Hernandez.
sure hunting as a child — electoral court for a lack of tives. more frequent communi- Both have declared them-
hiding away pieces of ce- communication about the But Tuesday's report notes cation. selves the winner, but the
ramic pots, textile scraps results. that the electoral court The preliminary results with electoral court says final re-
and even human bones. The mission says in a prelimi- made five announcements about 58 percent of the sults will not be announced
"Lima is full of places like nary report that Sunday's of preliminary results fol- ballots tallied give a nearly until Thursday.q