On Feb. 28, Peru's government sent a protest note to Chile, claiming an unauthorized incursion by Chilean troops into its territory five days earlier. The Chilean soldiers reportedly entered the country while performing landmine-clearing work, after heavy rains shifted anti-personnel mines in the area. "The findings suggest the presence of Chilean troops in an area of Peruvian territory, between Milestone [Hito] No. 1 and the sea, carrying out signaling work of the land shift that reached the territory of Peru," a government press statement said. This set off a flurry of press accounts of further such incursions over the next month, prompting that Foreign Ministry to release a statement March 26 denying any new incursions. The dispute comes as the International Court of Justice at The Hague has scheduled oral arguments in Peru's case against Chile over their longtime maritime border dispute. (Peruvian Times, March 23; RPP, March 16; Peru This Week, Feb. 28)

The US State Department's 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy report contains harsh words for Peru, lamenting the country's "slow advance" in coca leaf eradication. The report says the country has 53,000 hectares under coca cultivation. Colombia has 100,000 hectares—but Peru's total has increased in recent years, while Colombia's has dropped. (Although Peru has challenged these claims.) The report calls out Peru's Customs Service, Coast Guard, Port Authority and Public Ministry as blocking progress in the anti-narcotics struggle. State Department analyst Pedro Yaranga told Lima's La Republica that "there does not exist a decision to attack the coca source areas [cuencas cocaleras]." He particularly named the Upper Huallaga Valley and Apurímac-Ene River Valley (VRAE).

The former head of Peru's National Water Authority (ANA) and current water consultant to the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB), Abelardo de la Torre, warned March 19 that Peru faces at least 70 social conflicts related to control of water, and that these are likely to worsen if urgent action is not taken to address them. He said ANA's Hydraulic Resources Management Modernization program, launched under his leadership, was aimed at eliminating inefficiencies in the national irrigation networks, and pointed to the environmental impacts of informal mining as contributing to the degradation of watersheds. (Reports did not indicate that he mentioned the impacts of formal mining.)

Peru's President Ollanta Humala told TV program Panorama March 25 that his government is "one step away" from reaching a deal with the consortium developing Block 88, one of the main blocks in the Camisea field—following through on a campaign promise that gas from that block would be reserved for domestic use. "This has been a renegotiation with the Camisea consortium, without using any force or without kicking over the table in any way," Humala said. He said that under the deal, the gas will be "recovered" for the people of Peru.

Retired Peruvian Gen. Jorge Aquiles Carcovich Cortelezzi, now serving as chief of the firearms control agency DICSCAMEC, is being investigated by the special human rights prosecutor for Ayacucho region, Andrés Cáceres Ortega, for his involvement in the massacre of 25 schoolchildren and five campesinos by a military patrol in the village of Umasi (Canaria district, Fajardo province) on Nov. 27, 1983.

A day of pitched street-fighting on March 14 left three dead, some 35 wounded and 60 detained in Puerto Maldonado, capital of Peru's lowland Madre de Dios region, as small-scale independent gold miners continued their paro (civil strike) to oppose the government's announced crackdown on their activities. Thousands of miners blocked the city's streets, and attempted to seize the airport and the newly built Continental Bridge over the Rio Madre de Dios. Protesters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at helmented National Police troops in full military gear, who responded with tear gas and live rifle fire.

Colombia's ambassador to Peru resigned March 14 after the Prosecutor General's Office ordered his arrest for alleged ties to paramilitary groups. Jorge Visbal Martelo Hannibal has been accused of working with paramilitaries while he was president of the National Rancher's Federation (FEDEGAN) from 1998 until 2004. He is specifically accused of collaborating with Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, AKA "Jorge 40"—notorious commander of the AUC paramilitary network's Northern Bloc. Martelo's defense assured the Prosecutor's Office that he will appear before the court in Bogota this week. President Juan Manuel Santos appointed Martelo as ambassador to Peru in February 2011. (Colombia Reports, La Republica, Lima, March 15)

Thousands of demonstrators led by Paúl Carrasco, prefect of Azuay province, filled the streets of Cuenca, Ecuador, on March 11, to launch the regional feeder march of the cross-country Walk in Defense of Water, Life and Dignity, which is to coverge on Quito from several points around the country later this month. Carrasco, addressing the crowd of protesters, aimed his comments at President Rafael Correa, demanding that plans for be dropped for massive new mineral development in the region. "Señor Correa, the mineral project in Cuenca will not go ahead," he said. Although the march was peaceful, many protesters wore masks, saying they feared retribution from the authorities. (Hoy, Quito, March 11, El Comercio, Quito, March 10).