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Peru’s government has decided to extend to nine more regions a state of emergency called to cope with unusually cold weather and heavy snowfall.
Until now, at least two people have died and 33,000 others have been affected by the cold spell, local officials say.
Tens of thousands of animals have frozen to death over the past week.
Tens of thousands of animals have frozen to death in Peru over the past week
President Ollanta Humala has travelled to Apurimac, one of the worst-hit areas, to oversee the distribution of emergency aid.
The state of emergency would be in place for 20 days, an official statement said.
The heaviest snow fall to hit Peru in a decade has killed tens of thousands of llamas, alpacas, cattle and sheep, and left farmers destitute.
A man died when the roof of his hut caved in under the weight of the snow in southern Carabaya province but the circumstances of the second death were unclear.
Three people were rescued on Saturday from the same region after their home was cut off by snow.
Rescue workers said the three, two girls and an elderly woman, were suffering from frostbite and snow blindness.
The cold front has also hit Peru’s south-eastern neighbor, Bolivia, and Paraguay, where a combined total of five people have died.
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A court in Peru has sentenced Florindo Flores, the last of the original leaders of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) rebels to life in prison.
Judges in the Peruvian capital, Lima, found Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala, who’s known as Comrade Artemio, guilty of terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering.
Florindo Flores was also ordered to pay a fine of $183 million.
The Shining Path rebels were severely weakened in the 1990s after failing to install a Communist state, but some remain active in southern Peru.
After hours of sentencing, Judge Clotilde Cavero said: “It was proven that he (Artemio) ordered the execution of a number of civilians, police and soldiers.
“It was proven that he belonged to the Central Committee of the Shining Path.
“It was proven that he was the top leader in the (Alto) Huallaga (Valley),” she said.
During the trial which lasted six months, Comrade Artemio, 51, had denied the terrorism charges but referred to himself as a “revolutionary”.
A court in Peru has sentenced Florindo Flores, the last of the original leaders of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) rebels to life in prison
He was captured and wounded last year after a clash with troops in Alto Huallaga, a former rebel stronghold and cocaine-producing region.
Florindo Flores admitted in December 2011 that the Shining Path had been defeated, and told reporters in his jungle hideout that the remaining rebels were ready to have talks with the government.
But President Ollanta Humala has been adamant that his government will not “negotiate with terrorists”.
“They are cold-blooded killers, who kidnap children, don’t respect basic rights, and try to use terror and extortion to change the democratic nature of the country,” Ollanta Humala said last September.
Inspired by Maoism, the Shining Path tried to lead a “People’s War” to overthrow what they called “bourgeois democracy”.
Almost 70,000 people died or disappeared in more than a decade of internal conflict.
But the rebels were severely weakened after the capture of their founder Abimael Guzman in 1992.
They now remain active in the Ene-Apurimac Valley, a remote jungle region near Cuzco in southern Peru that is dominated by the cocaine trade.
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A senior doctor treating Peru’s ex-President Alberto Fujimori has said that the jailed former leader has severe and worsening health problems.
Dr. Alejandro Aguinaga said the former president had a condition that was eating away his stomach.
Alberto Fujimori, 74, is serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses, but his family says he is too frail to be in prison.
They have called for a presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds.
The doctor told AFP news agency that “the tests that were done show that the former president has gastroduodenitis”.
He added that the jailed ex-leader was unable to eat because the food he ingested was reaching internally damaged areas.
A senior doctor treating Peru’s ex-President Alberto Fujimori has said that the jailed former leader has severe and worsening health problems
Alberto Fujimori, in office from 1990 to 2000, was admitted to hospital on Friday for intestinal bleeding, but later released.
He was convicted in 2009 of ordering the killings of 25 people by a government-backed death squad during Peru’s internal conflict.
Correspondents say that the doctor’s diagnosis is likely to add more pressure on President Ollanta Humala to issue a pardon.
Last October, his family asked Ollanta Humala to commute his sentence.
Under Peruvian law, he can be pardoned only on health grounds.
But opponents argue that Peruvian jails are crowded with prisoners in worse health and for lesser crimes than those for which Alberto Fujimori was convicted.
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Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has unveiled plans for a new airport near Cusco which he says will boost tourism to the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu and the surrounding region.
The current airport, which is only able to handle limited daytime flights, was not sufficient, Ollanta Humala said.
The government will invest $460 million in the project, he said.
Machu Picchu is Peru’s top tourist attraction but there are concerns over the impact of high visitor numbers.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has unveiled plans for a new airport near Cusco which he says will boost tourism to the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu and the surrounding region
“This new airport will not only mean more tourists will be able to come, but it will generate more jobs… and help surrounding communities,” President Ollanta Humala said.
At a ceremony on Wednesday, he enacted a law that allows the expropriation of land in the town of Chinchero where the new international airport would be built.
The investment would help the government to tackle poverty, he said, “while always respecting ancient culture”.
Tourism is the main source of income in the region.
Machu Picchu is a world heritage site and the UN’s cultural agency, UNESCO, has previously warned about uncontrolled access and urged the authorities to make conservation a priority.
Currently, entrance to Machu Picchu is limited to some 2,500 visitors a day, amid concerns about the impact on the environment and citadel.
Cusco is the main starting point for visitors wishing to visit the site, who can make the 112 km (70 mile) journey either on foot or via bus and train.
The citadel of Machu Picchu, located 2,500 m (8,200 ft) above sea level, was built in the 15th Century by the Incas.
It was rediscovered in 1911 by US historian Hiram Bingham.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has marked his first year in office by pledging to increase social spending to help the country’s poorest people.
In the annual presidential speech to Congress, Ollanta Humala said he aimed to cut Peru’s poverty to 15% by the end of his term in 2016.
He said his government had not yet achieved all it set out to do.
The address comes days after Ollanta Humala reshuffled his cabinet amid unrest over a controversial mining project.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has marked his first year in office by pledging to increase social spending to help the country's poorest people
Ollanta Humala took the oath of office on 28 July 2011 vowing to eradicate poverty and social exclusion.
But many Peruvians complain that he has not done enough to share the wealth from the country’s exploitation of its natural resources.
“I stand at the core of my proposal,” Ollanta Humala told Congress.
“We have begun to lay the groundwork for the great transformation that most citizens of our country crave: inclusive growth… although we have not achieved everything we set out to achieve.”
He told Congress that “all beginnings are tough”, but vowed to extend social programmes to lift more people out of poverty.
Ollanta Humala’s first 12 months in office have been marked by disputes and conflict and his approval rating fell to a new low of some 40% this month.
Earlier in July, five people were killed in clashes with police during protests against a huge mining project in the Cajamarca region of northern Peru.
Last Monday, Ollanta Humala responded to the public anger at this and other social and environmental controversies by reshuffling his cabinet for the third time in his term.
He told Congress the government was “aware of the persistence of social discontent and unsatisfied hopes among a sector of the population that wants a better quality of life”.
But said that the country needed to “overcome this culture of conflict”.
