International
Peru leads global mortality rate after adjusting Covid toll
AFP/Editor
Peru on Monday more than doubled its official coronavirus death toll, becoming the country with the highest Covid-19 mortality per capita anywhere in the world.
The government said it had raised the count from 69,342 to 180,764 on the advice of a panel of health experts, which found there had been an undercount.
With the adjustment, Peru now has the highest coronavirus mortality per capita of any country, with 5,484 deaths per million inhabitants, according to an AFP count.
The country of about 33 million people previously ranked 13th in the world with 2,103 deaths per million, according to AFP’s data.
Hungary is in a distant second place with 3,077 deaths per million.
Peru has registered more than 1.9 million infections to date, and has in recent months suffered acute shortages of oxygen to treat coronavirus patients.
Prime Minister Violeta Bermudez said the toll was adjusted on the advice of a panel which suggested modifying Peru’s record-keeping criteria.
– Change in methodology –
The panel said in a report the existing methodology generated “an under-representation in the number of deaths due to Covid-19.”
The criteria were broadened beyond people who tested positive for the virus to include “probable” cases with “an epidemiological link to a confirmed case.”
They will also now include people thought to be infected with the virus who present “a clinical picture compatible with the disease.”
The panel, convened in April, was composed of experts from public and private health entities in Peru and from the World Health Organization.
“Thanks to the work of this team… we will have more exhaustive figures and figures that will be very useful to monitor the pandemic and take the appropriate measures to confront it,” Bermudez said.
Peru started its vaccination campaign on February 9, but it has been slow and has so far reached five percent of the adult population with at least one shot.
The Andean nation has battled a second pandemic wave since December, with a record of almost 13,000 infections on April 1.
There are nearly 12,000 Covid-19 patients in hospital, but the health system has been able to breathe a little since the peak of 15,547 occupied beds recorded on April 20.
The adjustment of the death toll came six days before Sunday’s presidential runoff race between right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori and leftist Pedro Castillo, both of whom have promised to speed up Peru’s immunization campaign.
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
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