'Racist' Lima restaurant closed

By Dan Collyns
BBC News, Lima

The restaurant is located in the upscale suburb of Miraflores in Lima

A popular restaurant in Lima has been temporarily closed down after several complaints that people with darker skin were refused entry.

The Café del Mar in Miraflores, a wealthy district of the Peruvian capital, is the first restaurant to be shut for alleged discrimination.

It will be closed for 60 days and was fined about $70,000 (£35,000).

Campaigners hope this is a first step in tackling Peru's deep divisions along racial and economic lines.

Officials from Peru's consumer protection agency and the municipality of Miraflores sealed the doors and placed signs on the entrances.

'Symbolic sanction'

For many human rights campaigners the closure is an important step in combating Peru's racial and economic discrimination.

Wilfredo Ardito is one of them: "This is a symbolic sanction. It is the first time happily that this practice in this terrible act of racial selection of the customer has been closed and we consider that this is the first step."

"Racism is something permanent in our society but it's terrible that even a place open to the public is practising this kind of situation," he said.

The Peruvian government only began imposing fines for discrimination in 2004 but a bill which passed through Congress some months ago reinforces existing legislation with jail sentences for those convicted of racial discrimination.

For centuries the white elite in Peru has held onto wealth and power despite the majority of the population being of indigenous or mixed descent.

But now there is more social mobility in Peruvian society and it seems the government of President Alan Garcia realises that Peru's social and economic inequality is hindering its development.