Garcia fights for Peru votes with 'responsible' pledge

[Judi Lynn]

Garcia fights for Peru votes with 'responsible' pledge
Wed May 24, 2006 1:17 PM ET

By Robin Emmott
PISCO, Peru, May 24 (Reuters) - Alan Garcia, who left Peru economically ruined when he led the country two decades ago, is now ahead in polls for the June presidential runoff but is still fighting hard to convince voters he wants "responsible change."

Canvassing for votes along Peru's southern coast, Garcia pledged to renegotiate Peru's recently signed free-trade accord with the United States to benefit farmers, offered credit for the region's depressed industries and said he would create thousands of better-paid jobs for day laborers.

"A free-trade deal is all very well, but we don't want it if it's going to crush our farmers and peasants," he told reporters near Pisco, some 190 miles (300 km) south of Lima.

"Our proposal will be to renegotiate that deal," he added as poor Peruvians thronged around him during a walkabout in the rubbish-strewn streets of the impoverished port town.
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http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-05-24T171759Z_01_N24303574_RTRIDST_0_PERU-ELECTION-PICTURE.XML



Alan Garcia

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Gas From the Rain Forest
Pipeline Backers See Energy Potential, but Opponents See Environmental Peril

By David B. Ottaway
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 21, 2006; Page D01



A Machiguenga Indian child holds a parrot in Timpia, one of the communities directly affected by the pipeline.

Photo Credit: By Antoine Bonsorte -- Amazon Watch Photo


Backers of a multibillion-dollar proposal to ship vast stores of liquid natural gas from Peru's Amazonian rain forest to the United States are seeking Bush administration support for international financing, but environmental questions are complicating the bid.

Leading the project is Hunt Oil Co., a private Texas firm whose owner has close ties to President Bush. It is seeking administration backing for as much as $800 million from the District-based Inter-American Development Bank, which has already agreed to consider it. If approved, it would be the largest project the bank has financed in Latin America. In addition, the project's backers say they intend to ask for financial help from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, a federal agency.

The Hunt-led project involves an investment of $2.7 billion to build a pipeline, a gas liquefaction plant, marine terminal and other facilities to export 4.4 million tons of liquid natural gas annually. The bank is required to investigate its environmental impact before voting on it.

The Inter-American bank, however, is already looking into problems with an earlier phase of the project -- two gas pipelines it helped finance in 2003 with a $75 million loan. Hunt Oil has a stake in the consortium operating the lines, which were built by an Argentine company.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/20/AR2006042002123.html