Amazing Story of Courage, Resistance, Rescue and Survival from the Nazis

The Bielski Partisans

Holocaust Memorial Museum

JEWISH PARTISAN ACTIVITY IN EASTERN EUROPE, 1942-1944

Group portrait of former Bielski partisans from Nowogrodek taken in the
Foehrenwald displaced persons camp. Germany, April 3, 1948.
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Jack Kagan

Operating in Western Belorussia (Belarus) between 1942 and 1944, the Bielski partisan group was one of the most significant Jewish resistance efforts against Nazi Germany during World War II.

While its members did fight against the Germans and their collaborators, the Bielski group leaders emphasized providing a safe haven for Jews, particularly women, children, and elderly persons who managed to flee into the forests. Under the protection of the Bielski group, more than 1,200 Jews survived the war, one of the most successful rescue efforts during the Holocaust.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the Germans occupied Western Belorussia (before 1939 Western Belorussia had been a part of Poland; after Germany invaded Poland in 1939 it was annexed to the Soviet Union by previous agreement with Germany). There, German authorities killed tens of thousands of Jews in Nowogrodek (Novogrudok) District (including the cities of Lida and Nowogrodek) between July 1941 and the end of spring 1942, and confined those they did not shoot to ghettos throughout the District. When German SS and police units liquidated these ghettos in 1942-1943, they killed most of the remaining inhabitants.

Tuvia Bielski

After the Germans killed their parents and two brothers in the Nowogrodek ghetto in December 1941, three surviving brothers of the Bielski family—Tuvia (1906–1987), Asael (1908–1945), and Zus (1910–1995)—established a partisan group. Initially, the Bielski brothers attempted only to save their own lives and those of their family members. They fled to the nearby Zabielovo and Perelaz forests, where they formed the nucleus of a partisan detachment consisting at first of about 30 family members and friends.

The family members chose former Zionist activist Tuvia Bielski, a Polish Army veteran and a charismatic leader, to command the group. His brother Asael became his deputy, while Zus was placed in charge of reconnaissance. A fourth and much younger brother, Aharon (1927- ) was part of the group as well.

The Bielskis had been a Jewish farming family in the nearby village of Stankiewicze, and the brothers knew the region well. Their familiarity with its geography, customs, and people helped them elude the German authorities and their Belorussian auxiliaries. With the help of non-Jewish Belorussian friends, they were able to acquire guns. The Bielski partisans later supplemented these arms with captured German weapons, Soviet weapons, and equipment supplied by Soviet partisans.

Asael Bielski

Tuvia Bielski saw his principal mission as saving the lives of his fellow Jews. The Bielskis encouraged Jews in nearby Lida, Nowogrodek, Minsk, Iwie, Mir, Baranowicze, and other ghettos to escape and join them in the forest. Bielski frequently sent guides into the ghettos to escort people to the forest. In late 1942, a special mission saved over a hundred Jews from the Iwie ghetto just as the Germans planned to liquidate it. Bielski scouts constantly searched the roads for Jewish escapees in need of protection.

Many Jews hiding in the forests in smaller family groups joined the Bielski group; Jewish partisans serving in Soviet partisan organizations also fell in with the Bielskis in an attempt to escape antisemitism in their units. The stream of Jewish survivors increased the size of the Bielski group to more than 300 people by the end of 1942.

Alexander Bielski

Until the summer of 1943, the group led a nomadic existence in the forest. In August 1943, however, the Germans began a massive manhunt directed against Russian, Polish, and Jewish partisans in the region. They deployed more than 20,000 military personnel and SS and police officials. Moreover, they offered a reward of 100,000 Reichmarks for information leading to Tuvia Bielski’s capture. The Bielski group, which had increased to approximately 700 Jews, was especially vulnerable to discovery by the German patrols. The group feared in part that the local peasants from whom they obtained food might betray them. As a result, the Bielski group moved in December 1943 to what became a permanent base in the Naliboki Forest, a swampy, scarcely accessible region on the right bank of the Niemen River, east of Lida and northeast of Nowogrodek.

It was in this primitive and unlikely setting that the Bielski group created a community. Despite some opposition from within the group, Tuvia Bielski never wavered in his determination to accept and protect all Jewish refugees, regardless of age or gender. The Bielskis never turned anyone away, permitting the creation of a mobile family “camp”—in effect, a Jewish community in the forest. The group organized the skilled workers among the Jewish refugees into workshops, which employed at least 200 people, including cobblers, tailors, carpenters, leather workers, and blacksmiths.

In addition, the group established a mill, a bakery, and a laundry. The leadership managed a primitive infirmary, a school for the children, a synagogue, and even a courthouse/jail. Work groups supplied the camp with food and cleared the land where possible for the cultivation of wheat and barley.

Bielski Group at mass grave site 1948

COOPERATION WITH OTHER PARTISAN GROUPS

The Naliboki Forest was under the administration of Soviet partisans, wherever the Germans were not present. Although the Bielski group had no ideological orientation, Tuvia Bielski and the other leaders cooperated with the Soviet partisans: Bielski himself established a friendly relationship with the regional Soviet partisan commander, General Vasily Yefimovich Chernyshev (codenamed “Platon”). Despite the prevalence of antisemitic sentiment among several of the Soviet partisan detachments, General “Platon” protected the Bielski group. He recognized the vital role of the camp as a maintenance base for Soviet partisans. In 1944, the camp leaders received weapons from Soviet partisan headquarters.

Bielski refused Soviet requests to provide an operations unit from among the approximately 150 men in his group who engaged in armed operations. He did not wish to abandon the married men, the women, and the children, for he knew that they could not survive without the armed protection of the armed men in his group. This concern was another reason for him in 1943 to draw his entire group deeper into the most inaccessible regions of the forest. Subsequently, although the group remained de facto united and under Tuvia Bielski’s command, they formally split into the “Kalinin” and “Ordzhonikidze” detachments of the Kirov Brigade of Soviet partisans.

At the same time that it saved lives and protected the noncombatants in the camp, the Bielski group carried out several operational missions. It attacked the Belorussian auxiliary police officials, as well as local farmers suspected of killing Jews. The group disabled German trains, blew up rail beds, destroyed bridges, and facilitated escapes from Jewish ghettos. The Bielski fighters often joined with Soviet partisans in operations against German guards and facilities, killing many Germans and Belorussian collaborators.

LIBERATION

On June 22, 1944, Soviet troops initiated a massive offensive in Eastern Belorussia. Within six weeks, the Soviet Army had destroyed the German Army Group Center and swept westward to the Vistula River in Poland, liberating all of Belorussia. At the time of liberation, the Bielski group had reached its peak of 1,230 people. More than 70 percent were women, elderly persons, and children, who otherwise would have perished under the German occupation. An estimated 50 members of the Bielski group were killed, an unusually low casualty rate in comparison not only with other partisan detachments but also with Jewish groups in the region.

After World War II, in 1945 Tuvia and Zus Bielski emigrated with their families to Palestine. They both fought in the Israeli armed forces during the 1948 war that established the Israeli state. They subsequently immigrated to the United States. Asael was drafted into the Soviet Army. He died on the front in East Prussia in February 1945.

20 Year Old Sentenced to Beheading and Crucifixion in Saudi Arabia

After losing his final appeal, a young Saudi Arabian activist is due to be executed in Saudi Arabia, followed by the appalling mounting of his headless body on a crucifix for public display.

While news like this is not uncommon in Saudi Arabia, human rights’ groups and Saudi critics are shocked by the nature of the execution as well as the weak case made against Ali Mohammad al Nimr.

Ali Mohammed Al Nimr - sentenced to beheading and crucifixion

Accused of participation in anti-government demonstrations and possessing firearms, Al Nimr was arrested in 2012 at the age of seventeen in the largely Shia province of Qatif. Although Al Nimr repeatedly denied the latter charge, a confession was allegedly forced out of him after his arrest by means of torture.

Al Nimr spent a short time in a juvenile detention facility, from where he was moved to prison when he turned 18 and sentenced to death in 2014 according to Amnesty International.

Condemning the sentence, Maya Foa of the legal charity Reprieve said in a statement: “Ali was a vulnerable child when he was arrested and this ordeal began.

“His execution—based apparently on the authorities’ dislike for his uncle, and his involvement in anti-government protests—would violate international law and the most basic standards of decency. It must be stopped.”

US talk show host Bill Maher highlighted Al Nimr’s case on television saying:  “If you haven’t used up all your heroism hashtagging for the clock kid, maybe do it for this guy,” referring to the recent case of a Muslim kid getting arrested for inventing a clock.

Many have taken to the social media to condemn Al Nimr’s sentence and the recent appointment of Saudi Arabian ambassador to lead an influential human rights panel has also come under heavy criticism.

H E Faisal bin Hassan Trad presents his credentials to Michael Møller (right),
 the Acting Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
January 7, 2014. PHOTO: UN

Saudi Ambassador to UN to lead Human Rights panel

The United Nations has come under criticism over giving a key human rights role to Saudi Arabia despite the Kingdom’s notorious record on freedoms for women, minorities and dissidents.

Critics remarked the appointment is “scandalous”, observing it meant “oil trumps human rights.”

Ensaf Haidar, the wife of imprisoned liberal blogger Raif Badawi, said on her Facebook that handing the key role of a human right to Faisal bin Hassan Trad was but “a green light to start flogging [Raif] again.”

Raif Badawi
sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes
in 2013, then resentenced to 1,000 lashes and
ten years in prison plus a fine in 2014,
and upheld by the Supreme Court June 2015

Trad is Saudi Arabia’s ambassador at the United Nations in Geneva, who has been elected as chair of a panel of independent experts on the United Nations Human Rights Council, an NGO named UN watch discovered.

The Saudi Ambassador will now be able to select applicants from around the world for legion of experts hailing from countries where the UN has mandate on human rights.

The UN body for promoting human rights around the world has long been the subject of criticism because it granted membership to various countries that had dubious human rights records.

UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said selection made in June remained unreported until now. He said that it may have been a consolation prize for the Saudis after withdrew their bid to head the 47-nation council in the wake of international condemnation of the kingdom’s human rights record.

Neuer described the selection as scandalous and said, “Saudi Arabia has arguably the worst record in the world when it comes to religious freedom and women’s rights, and continues to imprison the innocent blogger Raif Badawi.

While Saudi Arabia enjoys some considerable influence in the world, and some degree of respect by other countries, it is only because they have vast oil reserves and hence, are very rich. But being rich doesn't automatically bring a society out of the middle ages and into civilization. The Saudis are still primitive barbarians and Islam contributes greatly to keeping this society brutal and backward.

When Political Correctness Implodes

What happens when the 2 darlings of political correctness collide?

Sweden Now Condemns Gay Pride March as Racist… 

Against Muslims?!

From Louder with Crowder

Gay pride march, Sweden

Last month the Swedish nationalists planned a gay pride parade (featuring everyone’s favorite day time entertainment, gay public kissing and/or heavy petting) and routed the parade through two Swedish Muslim districts of Tensta and Husby.

For those of you who’ve been living under a rainbow-painted rock, Muslims don’t like gay people. And not in the, “Ew it’s gross when two men kiss, make it stop,” kind of way. No, no, Muslims will kill gay people for being gay. Or because they’re jealous of their fashion sense. Just kidding, Muslims just kill gay people for all the gay reasons.

But as much as leftists champion equality and compassion, one group came out on top… Um, I mean one group won.

Three guesses as to which group got ahead? Yep, the group associated with beheadings, gay-hangings and slamming airplanes through skyscrapers. Whoops, I mean, the religion of peace. PEACE, yo.

Here’s where it gets rich: the gay marchers were branded racists by the ‘Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights.’ That’s right, a fellow group in gayness didn’t have the gay marchers’ backs. Whatever happened to gay solidarity, united under one glorious, oiled-up rainbow flag? Perhaps the Federation for LGBT were just a tweensy bit nervous about losing their heads… or getting blood on their boas.

Two residents of the Muslim area said the gay pride march, “pits two oppressed groups against each other.” Like that’s something liberals never do… Noted athiest blowhard Richard Dawkins also noted the homosexual vs. Muslim game:

‏@RichardDawkins
“To place an LGBT parade” [in a Muslim area of Sweden] “is an expression of pure racism.” Sums up the pathetic Left. 

What’s the takeaway from this liberal vs. liberal social experiment? If you want preferential treatment from liberals, be associated with the religion that repeatedly abuses women. Or be associated with the religious group that tries to kill you for drawing a cartoon. Or if you really wanted to fall into liberal favor, just be a gay Muslim. At least no one will accuse you of racism or homophobia as you’re strung up and hanged.

Want to play the gay vs. Muslim game at home? Try getting a gay wedding cake made in a Muslim bakery and witness the deafening liberal silence.

Does anyone else find this hilarious? I can think of lots or reasons to stop a gay pride parade, but that it's racist was not one I would ever have thought of. 

Sweden's frantic rush into cultural suicide will result in Muslim persecution of gays as more and more areas in Sweden add significant Muslim people. Soon there will be no place for a gay pride parade and left leaning Swedes will go apoplectic.

Now if we were talking Christian opposition to gay pride parades rather than Muslim, the Christians would be run right out of the country and Christian Sweden would no longer be Christian. Isn't that delicious irony?

2000% Increase in Cost of TB Drug to be Reversed

Tuberculosis drug price jumps 2,000%, shocks doctors

Cycloserine is a critical drug used to treat a rare form of tuberculosis
file photo of generic drug

CBC News

Front-line tuberculosis doctors in Canada were recently sticker shocked that the price of an essential medication for drug-resistant TB went through the roof for no apparent reason.

Cycloserine is a critical drug used to treat a rare and dangerous form of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Overnight in North America, cycloserine went from $15 US per pill to $360 US.

"Everyone in the TB community in North America has been going crazy over the last week or so when they realized the price had gone up by over 2,000 per cent," said Amir Attaran, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Ottawa who specializes in drug policy.

'It is people looking to make a quick buck.'

— Prof. Amir Attaran

It's part of a trend in the pharmaceutical industry of small companies buying up old, off-patent drugs and jacking up the price.

"It's people coming from hedge funds," said Attaran. 'It is people looking to make a quick buck."

The patent on cycloserine expired long ago. Elsewhere in the world, it sells for 22 cents US a pill. It is considered an essential medicine by the World Health Organization.

The drug company Lilly developed cycloserine in the 1960s. In 2007, the company gave the North American rights to sell the drug to the Chao Center, a non-profit associated with Purdue University in Indiana.

Last month, the Chao Center transferred the rights to Rodelis Therapeutics, which raised the price. On Monday following a New York Times story centred on the price increase for another infectious disease drug, the price fell of cycloserine fell to $35 US per pill.

The two organizations recently said the rights to the drug will be transferred back to the non-profit Chao Center. 

Dr. Dina Fisher, medical director of the Calgary Tuberculosis Centre,
originally thought an email about the price increase of cycloserine
must have been a typo. (CBC)

Ottawa urged to regulate

Dr. Dina Fisher, medical director of the Calgary Tuberculosis Centre, currently has two patients on the medication.

Fisher said when she originally saw an email on the 2,000 per cent increase, she thought it was a typo.

"I was shocked at the percentage increase in a drug that's really essential for some of our patients," Fisher said.

People with multidrug-resistant TB typically take five or six drugs and are treated for 18 to 24 months, she said. They take two to three tablets of cyloserine a day.

Attaran is writing up what happened for the medical journals because he thinks it's important for doctors to know that a medicine a patient depends on to live can increase in price so much and so quickly.

"Ottawa needs to regulate the price of those unpatented medicines … to prevent this happening again," he said.

So to answer the question I asked yesterday as to why a pharmaceutical company would dramatically raise the price of an unpatented drug - it appears they are focusing on specialty drugs with a very limited number of patients, consequently generic drug making companies don't bother to reproduce them as there is little profit to be made.

You have to wonder what happens in a board-room when a company decides to apply an astonishing increase in the price of a drug. It seems the dollar signs blind the board members to any form of human compassion or dignity. I'm glad Rodelis is reversing this price gouge, there may be a glimmer of humanity there.

The buying up of rights for a drug simply to raise the price and make a killing is incredibly immoral and ought to be illegal.

Deal being reversed

In an email to Attaran which was shared with CBC News, Lilly vice president Dr. Evan Lee said the company gave up all rights over cycloserine "including any pricing or access decisions" in its 2007 deal with the Chao Centre.

"The subsequent transfer to third parties is a decision over which we do not have control," Lee wrote.

The Chao Center, for its part, said in a statement to CBC News that, after the price of cycloserine went up, "it became clear that the Rodelis strategy was not consistent with the Chao Center's expectations or vision." 

The Chao Center and Rodelis now appear to be reversing the deal.

The latter said in an email late Monday that both organizations "agreed last week that it is in the best interests of the patients to return the rights of Cycloserine to The Chao Center."

If it weren't for all of the negative publicity, Attaran says he thinks the original, 2,000 per cent price hike would still stand.

There have been multiple problems with access to TB medications in Canada, which can lead to spread of disease, Fisher said. That's why it's important the drug supply is protected and not subjected to random increases in cost that the health-care system can't continue to take, she said.

In Canada in 2012, nine cases of multidrug resistant TB were reported, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

With files from CBC's Kelly Crowe

US Pharmaceutical Company Defends 5,000% Price Increase

Daraprim now sells for $750 (£485) a dose despite 

costing $1 to produce

Generic image of pharmaceuticals Thinkstock

From BBC US & Canada

The head of a US pharmaceutical company has defended his company's decision to raise the price of a 62-year-old medication used by Aids patients by over 5,000%.

Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the rights to Daraprim in August.

CEO Martin Shkreli has said that the company will use the money it makes from sales to research new treatments.

The drug is used treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic affliction that affects people with compromised immune systems.

After Turning's acquisition, a dose of Daraprim in the US increased from $13.50 (£8.70) to $750.

The pill costs about $1 to produce, but Mr Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, said that does not include other costs like marketing and distribution.

"We needed to turn a profit on this drug," Mr Shkreli told Bloomberg TV. "The companies before us were just giving it away almost."

On Twitter, Mr Shkreli mocked several users who questioned the company's decision, calling one reporter "a moron".


Turing now joins Alexion, Pfizer and Flynn as soulless dispensers of death. People in countries without pharmacare programs will simply have to stop taking it. The industrialized countries with pharmacare help will find their health care budgets ballooning. Health care budgets are, of course, funded by tax-payers. What this means is that a company like Alexion with only a few thousand customers, can now collect money from every single taxpayer in the industrialized world.

In August, Britain's competition watchdog accused Pfizer and Flynn Pharma of breaching UK and European law by ramping up the cost of an epilepsy drug, given to more than 50,000 British patients, by as much as 2,600 percent.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its provisional view was that Pfizer and Flynn Pharma each abused a dominant position by charging "excessive and unfair" prices for phenytoin sodium capsules.

Pfizer and Flynn said they were cooperating fully with the CMA and noted a final decision on any infringement of the law had not yet been made.

The CMA can fine companies up to 10 percent of annual worldwide sales if they are found to have breached competition law.

'Cost is unjustifiable'

The Infectious Diseases Society of America, the HIV Medicine Association and other health care providers wrote an open letter to Turning, urging the company to reconsider.

"This cost is unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population in need of this medication and unsustainable for the health care system," the groups wrote.

Dr Wendy Armstrong of HIV Medicine Association also disputed the need to develop new treatments for toxoplasmosis.

"This is not an infection where we have been looking for more effective drugs," she told Infectious Disease News.

On Wall Street, biotech shares fell sharply on Monday after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pledged to take action against firms hiking prices for specialty drugs.

"Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous," Mrs Clinton said, citing Daraprim.

There is no indication in this unfortunate article about the patent on Daraprim. One would think that it having been around for 62 years there would be no patent. But how does that make sense for Turing to raise their price ridiculously if there is no patent?

I'm with Hillary, something needs to be done, pharmaceuticals should not be operating on a supply/demand basis because it is governments who have to pay. Those who do should lose their patent rights. 

Supply and demand marketing only works when its participants have some measure of conscience, and some small amount of control over their rampant greed. Big pharma appears to be completely devoid of both. Turing bought the rights to Daraprim for the express purpose of gouging every health care system in the world.

28% of 11-15 Year Olds Using Pot in Canada - Highest Rate in the World

A whole generation of Canada's youth going up in smoke

A 2013 UNICEF report found that the prevalence of self-reported cannabis use among youth aged 11, 13 and 15 in the preceding year was highest in Canada at 28 per cent. Findings in other countries included:

Norway — 4%.
Spain — 24%.
The Netherlands — 17%.
United Kingdom — 18%.
U.S. — 22%.

At 28%, more Canadian kids are lighting up than those in countries where pot is legal!

In the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Journal) paper, the authors also compare the experiences with marijuana policies in the Netherlands, Spain, Uruguay and three U.S. states, where cannabis is legal for recreational use.

For example, Spithoff said Uruguay has a model that could be adapted for use in Canada, because it puts public health first. In contrast, the Dutch model hasn't solved the "back door" illegal supply problem.

Uruguay has licensed producers and a government commission that purchases cannabis from growers. The government sells it to individuals through pharmacies. The commission has control over production, quality and prices and has the ability to undercut the illegal market. Uruguay has also set a cutoff for cannabis-impaired driving.  

Education, Suicide, Sanity, Maturity

Frequent pot use by teens is linked to a greater likelihood of incomplete education, suicide attempts and other harmful effects, say researchers in Australia and New Zealand, who suggest their findings should be considered as countries move to decriminalize or legalize cannabis.

Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug worldwide, and statistics suggest that adolescents in some countries are starting to use it at a younger age and more heavily.

In 2013, about 23 per cent of students surveyed in Ontario said they’d used cannabis at least once in the previous year, according to an annual report from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

The prevalence of past-year cannabis use among Canadians aged 15 years and older was 10 per cent in 2012, the Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey suggested.

Cannabis use is more common among those with low educational attainment, but there’s a debate about whether marijuana use is a marker or a cause. In other words - does it make you stupid or were you stupid in the first place for using it? A study published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry helps to answer some questions.

Long-running studies

Researchers analyzed data on up to 3,765 participants who used marijuana from three long-running studies in Australia and New Zealand. The studies compared those who had never used pot with those who had and their developmental outcomes, which were assessed for the participants up to 30 years of age.

"Study findings suggest that adolescent cannabis use is linked to difficulties in successfully completing the tasks that mark the transition to adulthood," study author Richard Mattick, a professor of drug and alcohol studies at the University of New South Wales and his co-authors concluded.

This is more confirmation of what I have been saying since the late 1970s - pot retards, or stops cold the maturing process of regular users. In my observations this effect is not restricted to any age group. 

"Prevention or delay of cannabis use in adolescence is likely to have broad health and social benefits."

Not even mentioned in this article is the frightening research on use of pot by young teens and a dramatic increase in the likelihood of developing full-blown, permanent schizophrenia.

The findings are relevant given the move in some countries to decriminalize or legalize cannabis, which raises the possibility that the drug might become more accessible to young people, the researchers said.

In the study, those who used marijuana daily before age 17 were less likely to complete high school or earn a degree compared with those who’d never used it.

Cannabis use was associated with increased risk of suicide attempts and later cannabis dependence and use of other illicit drugs, said Merete Nordentoft, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Copenhagen, in a journal commentary published with the study.

Harms of frequent cannabis use

Nordentoft said the "convincing results" are valuable and appropriate given several U.S. states and countries in Latin America and Europe have decriminalized or legalized cannabis and allow unrestricted marketing of the drug.

Increasing evidence shows that brain development during adolescence can be harmed by frequent cannabis use and cognitive functions can be permanently reduced, she said.

Young people need to develop and mature and prepare themselves to meet demands in adult life.

"Cannabis use, especially frequent use, impairs this development and reduces the likelihood that a young person will be able to establish a satisfactory adult life," Nordentoft concluded.

The researchers acknowledged that the measurements were based on self-reported data, which could lead to over-reporting or under-reporting of cannabis use. They said rates of cannabis use by young people in their study are similar to those in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., but the social and legislative context of cannabis varies between regions.

The study was funded by the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council.

Peru to Give Free Solar Panels to 2 Million People

Peru is taking a big step in the green energy direction by promising to provide electricity to 2 million of the poorest residents in the country completely for free using solar panel technology.

Jorge Merino, the Energy and Mining Minister of Peru explains that the National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Program will facilitate access to electricity in the households of the country’s poorest citizens using photovoltaic solar panels.

Latin America Herald Tribune reports that the first recipients of this expansive project will be 500,000 extremely low income households where the solar systems will be provided. These installations will be given to homes that lack access to the power grid.  Not only will power be provided to those without, it will also majorly bolster the industry of domestic solar installers. Merino has stated that the contract for installing the panels in this project will be opened to bidders later in the year.

The project is already underway and so far it has found its beginnings in Contumaza- a province in the northeast part of Cajamarca.  There have been 1,601 solar power panels installed already, according to the most recent reports.  The energy minister states that when the project reaches completion roughly 95% of Peruvians will have access to electricity by the end of 2016 in comparison to the current 66% who have power access.

Merino says:

“This program is aimed at the poorest people, those who lack access to electric lighting and still use oil lamps, spending their own resources to pay for fuels that harm their health.”

To go from 66% to 95% in less than 2 years is remarkable and inspiring.  Between European, Central, and South American countries, sustainable power sources are beginning to become the norm in many places around the world, rather than an unusual example of sustainability.