Peru celebrates 2 decades of a fast-growing breed of guinea pigs eaten as a delicacy

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru on Thursday celebrated two decades since the creation of a genetically modified breed of guinea pig, a rodent whose meat has formed a part of the diet of people in the Andean nation for thousands of years.

The genetically modified breed of guinea pig — known as cuy locally — is called “Peru.” It was created in 2004 at the National Institute of Agrarian Innovation, Juan Solórzano, a research zootechnician, said in the middle of one of the institute’s farms where thousands of guinea pigs are raised for study.

What characterizes the “Peru” breed is that grows faster, reaching a weight of 1 kilogram in 56 days, rather than the 160 days that was needed before, Solórzano said.

“It is a precocious breed,” said Solórzano.

Guinea pigs are native to the Andes Mountains and are raised in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, areas where the Inca Empire spread almost 500 years ago.

There are more than 25 million guinea pigs in Peru, according to official figures. The rodent is so popular in the South American country that authorities have decreed the second Friday of October as National Guinea Pig Day to encourage its consumption.

Internal migration from Peru’s Andes in the 20th century brought the custom of eating guinea pigs to the country's Pacific coast.

“It is eaten at sporting events or religious festivals. Guinea pig is a festive dish,” Solórzano said. It is also used in ritual healing practices by being rubbed over the body of a sick person.

Marina Isabel Briceño, an employee at an air conditioning supply company, said she has eaten guinea pigs since she was a child, calling them a delicacy served at “special events.”

Born in the Cajamarca region, Briceño said that at baptisms the parents often give the godfather and godmother a tray with more than a dozen guinea pigs that have been fried and are “crispy and ready to eat.”

“I know it is a rodent, a distant relative of rats, but those animals eat garbage, whereas guinea pigs eat something else, tender corn leaves which is why they are tasty,” she said.

Juan Carlos Solorzano holds a newborn Peru Guinea Pig at an agricultural research farm where breeding animals are raised for distribution to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Butchers hold guinea pigs behind the glass of a refrigerator at a market in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Costumers eat guinea pig at a restaurant in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Peru Guinea Pigs are bred at an agricultural research farm to distribute to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

A cook fries guinea pigs at a restaurant in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Peru Guinea Pigs are bred at an agricultural research farm for distribution to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

A guinea pig dish is ready to be served to a customer at a restaurant in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

A Peru Guinea Pig stands at an agricultural research farm where breeding animals are raised for distribution to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman who says she worked as a hair-and-makeup stylist for Garth Brooks alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday that he raped her in a Los Angeles hotel in 2019.

The woman does not use her name and goes by Jane Roe in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Brooks forcefully denied the allegations in a statement and acknowledged he tried to get a court to stop Thursday's lawsuit from being filed.

The woman says in the lawsuit she had worked for Brooks' wife, country singer Trisha Yearwood, since 1999, and had started also working for Brooks in 2017.

She said the assault occurred when she traveled from Nashville to Los Angeles with Brooks, who was performing with soul singer Sam Moore at a Grammy Awards tribute to Moore in October 2019.

Brooks normally traveled with an entourage, but the two were alone on his private jet, and he booked just one hotel suite for both of them, the lawsuit says.

The woman alleges that in the suite, he appeared naked in the doorway to the bedroom and raped her.

The suit says that he then proceeded as though nothing had happened and expected her to do his hair and makeup immediately after.

The woman's lawsuit alleges that earlier in 2019, when she was at Brooks' home, he had appeared naked in front of her, grabbed her hands, and put them on his genitals.

Brooks filed a preemptive lawsuit in federal court in Mississippi last month, in which both him and the woman are anonymous.

In court filings in that case, the plaintiff, going by John Doe, says the allegations are “wholly untrue,” and he first learned of them in July when she threatened to publicly sue him unless he gave her millions of dollars.

He asked a judge to stop the woman from “intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and false light invasion of privacy.”

“For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars,” Brooks’ statement said. “It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face."

Brooks said he filed the case anonymously “for the sake of families on both sides.”

“I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be," his statement concluded.

The woman's suit also says Brooks exposed himself to her many other times and talked about sexual fantasies with her and sent her explicit text messages.

She said she was forced to keep working for Brooks because of financial hardship, which he knew about and took advantage of.

An email to the woman's attorney asking whether she had reported her allegations to police was not immediately answered.

The 62-year-old Oklahoma-born Brooks was the biggest star in country music of the 1990s, with hits including “Friends in Low Places" and “The Thunder Rolls.” He brought arena-rock theatrics to his concerts and a pop-music sensibility to his recordings. He had huge success that went beyond typical country audiences.

He married fellow country star Yearwood in 2005. There was no immediate response to a message to a Yearwood representative seeking comment on the lawsuit.

FILE - Garth Brooks speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Tennessee Titans new NFL football stadium, Feb. 29, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)