PERU | Still going strong. The economy grew by 6.92% in 2011, according to the national statistics institute (Inei). This is almost two percentage points less than in 2010, but still impressively high even by strong regional standards. Growth was led by the fishing sector which jumped by 29.73% year-on-year. GDP growth surpassed the 6.5% projection of the IMF and the government’s own estimation of 6.75% growth. The mining and hydrocarbons sector contracted by 0.22%: mining activity fell by 3.59% while hydrocarbons production increased by 18.10%. Exports reached a record US$46.27bn, up 13.15% in 2011 on the previous year.

Foreign press coverage of Ecuador this week was dominated by the judicial ruling coming down hard on the national daily El Universo. The widespread debate over press freedom in Ecuador is fully justified but what is really significant is President Rafael Correa’s attempt to discredit a potentially large protest march against his government, led by the umbrella indigenous organisation Conaie. During his weekend media broadcast, Correa claimed that “radical” indigenous movements were preparing to team up with “leaders of the extreme right”, backed by bankers and “the corrupt media”, enraged by the ruling against El Universo, to destabilise his government.…