Postcard from Lima: The curse of black gold

The images in January from the once-pristine beaches of Ventanilla, north of Lima, shocked Peru and the world: dozens of workers in hazmat suits shovelling oily foam into wheelbarrows; oil-drenched seabirds being removed from black coastal waters; a local woman scrubbing the tar-stained rocks with a scouring pad and a washing-up bowl.     

In mid-January, more than 10,000 barrels of crude oil gushed into the sea when an underwater pipeline ruptured during a routine discharge into La Pampilla, the country’s largest oil refinery, managed by the Spanish energy giant Repsol. It . . .