During the Guru Purnima celebrations on July 9, Javier Ortiz Cabrejos, a Governor of the Age of Enlightenment and the leader of Maharishi's movement in Peru, was awarded the Medal of Merit of Maharishi’s Global Administration through Natural Law.

Mr. Ortiz received the award for establishing a group practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs in the Peruvian city of Puno, thereby protecting that part of Peru from the effects of El Niño.In his acceptance speech, Mr. Ortiz told the story of his success:

"Knowing that the El Niño climate phenomenon was coming to Peru, we approached various governmental authorities and mayors, offering to establish coherence-creating groups that would avert the destructive effects of El Niño. The government did not respond, but in Puno, a city of 120,000 people, three schools did. At a school for Native Indian orphans, and one government and one private school, students learned the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs.

"When El Niño came it was a great disaster for the country—floods in the north and drought in the south. Fifty thousand homes were destroyed and 100,000 more were damaged, eighty bridges were washed out, 300,000 hectares of arable land were damaged, and the country suffered more than $3 billion in losses. But in Puno the predicted severe drought never came. It was the only area of Peru not affected by El Niño, and still today the experts are saying that what happened was a miracle.

Since our project started, the level of Lake Titicaca, which had been falling sharply, has risen 70 percent. Pollution in the bay at Puno City has decreased. Crime rate in Puno had dropped, agriculture has improved, and the amount of cultivated land has doubled. President Fujimore visited the area to award the local officials for this progress in agriculture.
Puno was the only area of Peru not affected by El Niño, and still today the experts are saying that what happened was a miracle.

"Ours was a small project, but it was effective. Many lives were saved. The work we did there followed the Vedic principle of Heyam Dukham Anagatam, 'Avert the danger before it arises.’

Javier Ortiz Cabrejos received the Medal of Merit of Maharishi’s Global Administration through Natural Law on July 9, 1998.