Ministry of Justice Breakfast

Last Friday was the breakfast at the Sheraton Hotel with the Ministry of Justice that I helped put together. There were about 80 people, including several senators and their assistants. The primary goal of the breakfast was to promote a bill that allowed for the more timely seizure of illicit assets. Although the Minister of Justice was officially the host, our office did most of the organizing. The three speakers were: my boss, a Columbian anti-corruption official and the head of the asset seizure unit within the Ministry of Justice. My boss, the legal expert of crime in Latin America for the UN, spoke about the general need to seize the assets of criminals to force them to cease their activities. The Colombian offical gave a parallel perspecive about what was being done in Colombia to address organized crime. The last speaker spoke about how many assets had been seized since 2001 when the original illicit asset seizure law as passed and the problems of the value of assets depreciating (like airplanes and cars loosing their value over time) in the course of lengthy litigation against the criminals. Above is a picture of me with the Minister of Justice in front of our office's anti-corruption poster.

Chimoc!

These ugly dogs are native to and famous in Peru. They have no hair on their bodies, except for a little white hair on their heads. This one had something of a mohawk. Supposedly being hairless makes them good snuggle-buddies.

Santiago, Chile

Several days are considered holidays for "semaña santa" leading up to Easter, so I decided to visit my Peruvian friend Jorge in Santiago, Chile. Jorge is a dentist studying for his specialization in dental implants, but he was able to take some time to hang out and travel with me. We met some of his dental friends and made an effort to discover the nightlife in Santiago. We explored areas like Las Condes, Barrio Bellavista and Calle Suecia in pursuit of making new friends. Since Peru and Chile have had a few conflicts in the recent past, Jorge preferred to introduce himself as Mexican to Chileans to avoid awkwardness.

While he studied, I explored the city, including visits to a contemporary art gallery, the Plaza de Armas, La Moneda and the natural history museum. The art gallery was a production of the University of Chile and I was struck by the extensive use of video media. I thought the city was very clean and pleasant, with architecture similar to what I noticed in Buenos Aires.

Throughout the trip, however, my dominant impression of Santiago became two things: cold and expensive. Being quite further south than Lima, Santiago has a much more temperate climate. I wore my only sweater nearly everyday. Also, Chile made itself expensive from the beginning. All citizens of the US, Canada, Mexico and Australia must pay $100 reciprocity upon arrival in the airport before immigration. Taxis and food were not cheap either.

We had something of an adventure in our trip to Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. We decided to go for two days to these beautiful seaside towns without making sleeping arrangements. We ended up meeting some of Jorge's friends and both managed to find places to sleep, but we were quite exhausted the next day when we had a tour planned.

I am very grateful for Jorge's hospitality and I hope I can join him for a trip to Brazil in late July.

Trujillo & Huanchaco

I visited my friend Katitza in a city along the north coast called Trujillo. Its city center had a lot of impressive old Spanish colonial buildings and cathedrals and a big square with a big marble monument. Near the city were some impressive ruins called the Temple of the Moon and of the Sun. Some of the old engravings and even the original paint were well-maintained in parts of the Temple of the Moon. Seeing where the Inca sacrificed humans to the Gods was quite astonishing. One of the pictures above is the platform where the sacrifices took place. You can just imagine the blood dripping down the stairs...

We also had a chance to visit a beautiful beach called Huanchaco. The banana shaped shadows in the picture are straw boats used by fishermen in the region.