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Hackers push historic Peru-Chile rivalry into cyberspace
By RICK VECCHIO
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
The historic rivalry between Peru and Chile has spilled into cyberspace after hackers from both countries struck at government Web pages and posted nationalistic claims to ocean territory, seafood and grape brandy, officials said Tuesday.
The Chilean National Emergency Office's Web page was inaccessible Tuesday, a day after a suspected Peruvian hacker known as Cyber Alexis allegedly broke into the site and posted anti-Chile missives.
An official at the Chilean agency, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, confirmed local media reports that the hacker left messages proclaiming: "We do as we like with our policy and our ocean," and "Nobody can match ceviche and Pisco or equal their quality," referring to a local delicacy made with citrus-cured fish, and a kind of brandy.
The Chilean Web site displayed a message Tuesday that it was "under maintenance."
A spokesman for Peru's judiciary, who also asked not to be identified by name, told The Associated Press that the incident in Chile provoked a counter-strike later Monday by a suspected Chilean hacker.
One message left on the judiciary's Web site read: "We are not obscene. We fight for what is ours. The ocean and Pisco are Chilean!" There also were insults directed at Cyber Alexis and Peruvians in general.
The Peruvian site was also out of commission Tuesday.
The judiciary was trying to reconfigure the Web site's server to avoid being hacked again, the spokesman said.
The two nations are currently embroiled in a diplomatic dispute over 38,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of rich Pacific fishing waters controlled by Chile but also claimed by Peru.
Nationalistic rancor has smoldered between the nations since the 1879-84 War of the Pacific, in which Chile seized a swath of Peru's mineral-rich southern coast. Chile has largely eclipsed Peru economically and militarily ever since.
Peru and Chile have quarreled over issues large and small -- including culinary prowess and the name rights to the brandy Pisco, which Peru claims as its own, but is trademarked, produced and marketed in greater volume by its business-savvy neighbor.
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Associated Press writer Eduardo Gallardo in Santiago, Chile, contributed to this report.
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