International

Seven dead as Peru’s new leader fails to quell protests

Photo: Diego Ramos / AFP

| By AFP | Carlos Mandujano and Luis Jaime Cisneros |

Five more protesters died in Peru on Monday as violent demonstrations over the ousting of the former president showed no sign of calming, despite his successor’s efforts to quell the unrest.

Seven people, including three teenagers, have now died in escalating protests since the leftist Pedro Castillo was accused of an attempted coup, impeached and arrested last week.

New President Dina Boluarte tried to ease tensions on Sunday, announcing she would seek to hold elections two years early and declaring a state of emergency in flashpoint areas.

But that had little effect as protesters continued to demand her resignation, blocking roads in several cities around the country with logs, rocks and burning tires.

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Some 2,000 protesters smashed runway lighting, burned security booths and forced the closure of the airport in Peru’s second-largest city Arequipa for several hours on Monday before police dispersed them with tear gas.

Around 100 Castillo supporters were camped out in front of the police facility in Lima where he is being held, demanding he be released and returned to office.

“We have been sleeping here for four nights and we will continue until we get the president back to the (presidential) palace,” protester Ana Karina Ramos told AFP, with tears in her eyes.

Also Monday in Apurimac, demonstrators torched the public prosecutor’s office and a police station.

In Arequipa, protesters occupied one of the largest factories in the country, owned by the dairy company Gloria.

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Train services between Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru’s best known tourist site, will be suspended from Tuesday to ensure passenger safety ahead of a national strike called for by Castillo supporters, the rail operator said.

Cusco’s international airport was also closed after protesters attempted to “violently enter” it on Monday, aviation authorities said.

Seven people have been killed since Sunday, a source from the public defender’s office told AFP on condition of anonymity.

UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado warned that “the situation may escalate further” and urged “all involved to exercise restraint.”

Hurtado also called on authorities to “allow people to exercise their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of opinion and expression.”

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‘Political prisoner’

Castillo has been in detention since last Wednesday, and is facing charges of rebellion and conspiracy after he dissolved Congress and vowed to rule by decree.

The former president met with his lawyers in Lima ahead of a hearing Tuesday in which he will seek his immediate release.

Meanwhile, the leftist governments of Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Bolivia released a joint statement in support of Castillo, saying he had been “the victim of antidemocratic harassment” since his election.

Castillo’s 17-month rule was overshadowed by six investigations against him and his family, mass protests demanding his removal, and a power struggle with the opposition-controlled Congress.

Boluarte, a former prosecutor who had served as Castillo’s vice president, was quickly sworn in to replace him following his impeachment and arrest.

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On Sunday, she tried to appease citizens in a televised address saying she would seek “to reach an agreement” with Congress to bring forward elections from July 2026 to April 2024.

The country’s right-leaning Congress convened an emergency session on Sunday afternoon to discuss the crisis, but it had to be suspended after fighting broke out.

On Monday, the government fired the 26 regional prefects who had been appointed by Castillo, accusing them of “inciting protests.”

‘Indefinite strike’

With his background as a rural teacher and union leader, and with little contact among the nation’s elites, Castillo has always drawn his strongest support from Andean regions, while struggling to find backing in coastal Lima.

Rural unions and organizations representing Indigenous peoples have called for an “indefinite strike” beginning Tuesday in support of Castillo, himself the son of a peasant family.

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They demanded the suspension of Congress, early elections and a new constitution, as well as Castillo’s immediate release, according to a statement from the Agrarian and Rural Front of Peru, which groups about a dozen organizations.

Peru is no stranger to political instability and is now on its sixth president since 2016.

International

Hiroshima survivor who embraced Obama dies at 88

The emotional embrace between Barack Obama and Hiroshima survivor Mori—who was eight years old when the United States dropped the atomic bomb in 1945—resonated around the world.

According to Asahi Shimbun and other local media, Mori died on Saturday at a hospital in Hiroshima.

Mori, known for his research on the fate of American prisoners of war in Hiroshima, was thrown into a river by the force of the explosion on August 6, 1945, during the atomic bombing of the city.

In a past interview with AFP, ahead of his meeting with Obama at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in 2016, Mori recalled the chaos and desperation that followed the blast.

He described how, after emerging from the water, he encountered injured civilians seeking help amid the devastation, an experience that stayed with him throughout his life.

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In 2016, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he paid tribute to the victims of the first atomic bomb used in warfare. During the visit, Mori was visibly moved as he met the president, sharing a brief but powerful moment that symbolized remembrance and reconciliation.

The bombing of Hiroshima resulted in the deaths of approximately 140,000 people, including those who succumbed to radiation exposure in the aftermath.

Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people and contributing to the end of World War II.

International

Colombia seeks ‘total suffocation’ of armed groups with regional support

Colombia is advancing a strategy aimed at the “total suffocation” of illegal armed groups, seeking to corner them in border regions with the support of Ecuador and Venezuela, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said in an interview with AFP.

According to the minister, coordinated pressure from neighboring countries—backed by United States—aims to dismantle criminal networks that use cross-border routes to traffic Colombian cocaine toward North America and Europe.

For decades, armed groups involved in Colombia’s internal conflict have relied on border territories as strategic rear bases to evade military operations and maintain logistical support.

However, Sánchez said that dynamic is beginning to change.

“We expect a total suffocation between both nations so they have no spaces where they can live or feel safe […] to close off any room they might have,” he stated during the interview in Bogotá, less than five months before the end of President Gustavo Petro’s term.

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Regional developments have reinforced this strategy. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation, Washington has increased its influence in Caracas, where interim leader Delcy Rodríguez has implemented a renewed anti-narcotics policy.

Meanwhile, in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa—a key U.S. ally in the region—has launched a two-week security plan under strict curfews to combat criminal gangs, with U.S. support.

Sánchez argued that these combined efforts leave illegal organizations with fewer escape routes and operational spaces, effectively placing them in a “dead end.”

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.