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Sheraton Accused Of Building New Hotel On Top Of Inca Ruins

Building Cuzco's new Sheraton hotel
Building Cuzco's new Sheraton hotel

LIMA — The Sheraton hotel chain is being accused of threatening Peru's cultural patrimony by building a new hotel in protected parts of Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Inca empire and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Accusing Sheraton of violating the conditions of an earlier municipal permit, Peru's culture ministry has decided to appeal a local court ruling on July 18 that construction could continue on the hotel, Lima-based El Comercio reported.

Those conditions stipulated that modern buildings in the historical district should not exceed two floors and must include an open space amounting to 30% of the plot, Cuzco mayor Carlos Moscoso told the daily.

Meanwhile, China's Xinhua news agency cited the local cultural heritage chief, Daniel Maravi, as saying that the hotel that Sheraton was building with local contractors clashed with the traditional surroundings, adding that some parts even sat atop ancient Inca pathways.

He said the building could threaten Cuzco's status as a Heritage site. City prosecutors and UNESCO, which can remove damaged sites from its Heritage list, were expected to send teams at the site to assess the situation.

Cuzco is Peru's second leading tourist destination, after the citadel of Machu Picchu, and is expecting around 300,000 visitors for the long weekend beginning on 28 July, the daily Perú 21 reports.

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Economy

Lex Tusk? How Poland’s Controversial "Russian Influence" Law Will Subvert Democracy

The new “lex Tusk” includes language about companies and their management. But is this likely to be a fair investigation into breaking sanctions on Russia, or a political witch-hunt in the business sphere?

Photo of President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda

Piotr Miaczynski, Leszek Kostrzewski

-Analysis-

WARSAW — Poland’s new Commission for investigating Russian influence, which President Andrzej Duda signed into law on Monday, will be able to summon representatives of any company for inquiry. It has sparked a major controversy in Polish politics, as political opponents of the government warn that the Commission has been given near absolute power to investigate and punish any citizen, business or organization.

And opposition politicians are expected to be high on the list of would-be suspects, starting with Donald Tusk, who is challenging the ruling PiS government to return to the presidency next fall. For that reason, it has been sardonically dubbed: Lex Tusk.

University of Warsaw law professor Michal Romanowski notes that the interests of any firm can be considered favorable to Russia. “These are instruments which the likes of Putin and Orban would not be ashamed of," Romanowski said.

The law on the Commission for examining Russian influences has "atomic" prerogatives sewn into it. Nine members of the Commission with the rank of secretary of state will be able to summon virtually anyone, with the powers of severe punishment.

Under the new law, these Commissioners will become arbiters of nearly absolute power, and will be able to use the resources of nearly any organ of the state, including the secret services, in order to demand access to every available document. They will be able to prosecute people for acts which were not prohibited at the time they were committed.

Their prerogatives are broader than that of the President or the Prime Minister, wider than those of any court. And there is virtually no oversight over their actions.

Nobody can feel safe. This includes companies, their management, lawyers, journalists, and trade unionists.

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