The Society of Foreign Trade (ComexPer�) criticized Colombia's decision to impose safeguards on agricultural exports from Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, countries of the Andean Community (CAN).

Sales of Peruvian agricultural products to South Korea are expected to rise by 43 per cent in 2013 following intensive efforts by Peru to increase and diversify its exports to the Asian market. Ruy Bo Won of South Korean trade office Kotra, said consumer demand for Peruvian asparagus, mangoes and grapes has grown strongly in the past year.  

Peru's Interior Minister Wilfredo Pedraza signed a Declaration of Intention with his French counterpart Manuel Valls for strengthening bilateral cooperation on internal security issues between the two countries.

The star attraction at The Chicken House, which has its flagship eatery in Newark and recently opened a second location in Penny Hill, is an aggressively seasoned chicken served with an addictive, creamy, spicy yellow chile pepper (aji amarillo) sauce. 

The Peruvian government believes it has a diplomatic solution to a spirited problem.

The problem? Not enough Americans are familiar with pisco, a Peruvian liquor that has been riding a popular wave of trendy South American cuisines to become an up-and-comer on the cocktail scene. The solution? Appoint 10 U.S. bartenders to serve as official pisco ambassadors for the grape brandy.

The new world of pisco goes well beyond the classic pisco sour and pisco punch cocktails. At the PISCO Latin Lounge in San Francisco, which opened five years ago and is believed to be the first modern U.S. bar devoted to pisco, guests get an authentic version of pisco punch, which was invented in 1880s San Francisco. 

As anyone who has been to Ecuador's Galapagos knows, a trip to those islands is the journey of a lifetime. But with per-person prices that can start at $3,000, it might have to be a trip of the next lifetime.

Fortunately for Galapagos-aspirers like me, my wife and our twin 12-year-old daughters, there are the Ballestas Islands, which are known as the Poor Man's Galapagos. The Ballestas lie just 10 miles off the southern coast of Peru and are easily accessible by boat from Paracas, a small, sun-drenched working port and tourist center.

Peru's tourism industry is projected to grow by 12 percent in 2013 compared to last year, driven by increasing foreign tourist arrivals.

According to Peru's Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism Magali Silva, about three million tourists have visited the South American country so far this year and the number is expected to rise to 3.2 million by the year-end. 

A bill proposed by the Nationalist Party that would establish a reciprocal visa policy is being discussed. To put it simply, proponents of the bill want to require visas for tourists entering Peru from any country that requires Peruvians to have a visa in order to enter their territory. For example, under a reciprocal visa system, tourists entering Peru from the United States would have to apply for a tourist visa, just like Peruvian tourists must get a visa in order to travel to the United States. According to an official from the chancellery office, such a policy would be an "act of dignity." 

It was the first time in weeks that the 5am alarm woke me up. For a long time, I've been awake from 4-5 am, as I had too much work and too many ideas that I needed to write down during the night, but this morning it was time to go to Cusco.

Miryam Yataco-educator, language rights advocate and an expert in intercultural bilingual education-has been involved in crafting language recovery efforts for the Indigenous Parliamentary Group in the Peruvian Congress, and as a consultant to Peru's Vice-Ministry of Intercultural Affairs. The daughter of a Quechua-speaking mother originally from the �ncash region and a Spanish-speaking father of Quechua background from Ica region, she grew up in Lima, where her experiences with language discrimination shaped her life's work. She currently divides her time between Peru and New York. ICTMN spoke with her at her apartment on Manhattan's Lower East Side. 

A pop-up show of Peruvian Chicha posters is coming to London with the aim of raising funds for art workshops for underprivileged young people in Lima.

Chicha describes the fusion of Peruvian cultures which resulted from the mass migration of people from the provinces to the capital Lima in the second half of the 20th century. It has influenced music, art and design, the latter mainly through brilliantly coloured concert posters created using unique hand-drawn lettering and fluoro inks. 

In the late 70s, the Chicha scene exploded in the popular neighbourhoods of Lima. Its rise in popularity was so abrupt that there were not enough venues to meet demand and car parks became improvised concert halls. This surge of activity and commercialisation led to extreme competition between bands who fought for the attention of audiences. Their chief weapon was the poster, whose signature style of hand-drawn type and day-glo colours soon evolved into a visual language in its own right. 

An exhibition featuring the most outstanding work of the Peruvian photographer Martin Chambi is on display in a virtual gallery launched by the Embassy of Peru in the United States.

The exhibit is entitled "Martin Chambi, the Perennial Light" and brings together a series of vivid portraits which showcase a testimony of a society and era under the natural light of the Peruvian Andes.  

A young Peruvian designer is making an international splash with her beautiful, unprecedented jewelry designs.

In a recent interview with El Comercio, Lima Fashion Week organizer Efrain Salas said that "[Peruvian] fashion has never been so fashionable as it is now." And he couldn't be more right- between the highly-lauded runway shows by a trio of Peruvian designers at Madrid's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and the arrival of another edition of of Lima's own Fashion Week in November, Peruvian designers are having a very stylish moment in the sun. There's no question that Peru has a lot to offer the world in terms of fashion design- and jewelry designer Andrea Bocchio is no exception. 

A new campaign sponsored by the Ministry of Culture is looking to eliminate racial harrassment from Peruvian soccer games. The campaign, called "Alerta Contra el Racismo" ("Alert Against Racism") is meant to discourage Peruvians from resorting to racial insults in the heat of a game.

The word "tusan" comes from the Chinese word meaning "local born" and refers to people of Chinese descent born in Peru. Chinese immigrants began arriving in Peru in large numbers in the 1800s, when young men came from Macau to work in the guano mines that contributed to the Peruvian boom of the mid-19th century. Approximately 5% of the total population of Peru is of Asian descent, comprised mostly of people whose ancestors emigrated from Japan, China, and Korea.

Peru is planning to open the market to new mobile operators that will provide 4G services and compete with Movistar and Americatel.

Pope Francis' promise of a more humble, tolerant Catholic Church may have earned rave reviews around the world, but in Latin America, a string of child sex scandals has left some wondering what's really changed in the Vatican.