International

María Corina Machado asks Norway to give her extreme support to guarantee free presidential elections

Opposition leader María Corina Machado asked Norway – a mediating country in the negotiations between the Government of Venezuela and the majority opposition – for its maximum support to ensure that “free and fair” presidential elections will be held in the Caribbean country on July 28, according to a communication released on Monday.

The letter, addressed to the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr, aims to urge his Government, in “its capacity as a facilitator of the process of dialogue and negotiation between political actors in Venezuela, to maximize the diplomatic resources at its disposal” so that the Barbados agreement – signed by both parties in October and which establishes electoral guarantees – is “fully complied with.”

In the communication, dated this Sunday, Machado, winner of the opposition primaries last October, assured that the agreement “has been completely violated by the regime presided over by Nicolás Maduro.”

The former liberal deputy, who became a presidential candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – the main opposition coalition – after winning in the primaries, recently announced the decision of this bloc to appoint the historian Corina Yoris as a candidate for the upcoming elections in the face of the disqualification that prevents her from competing for public office in these and other elections until 2036.

Likewise, Machado condemned the “regimen” decision to also block the registration of Yoris’ candidacy and added that “there is no political or legal cause that prevents” such registration.

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Machado denounced that the head of state “has sought to prevent, by all means,” his “participation as a presidential candidate,” despite the fact that the Barbados agreement established – he pointed out – that “each party could freely choose” its standard-bearer, in addition to “electoral guarantees for all the actors who participate in said elections” and the “promotion of a favorable political climate.”

Among the “most flagrant violations of the agreement,” Machado mentioned the ratification of his disqualification in January by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), the arrest of “at least eight people linked” to his party, Vente Venezuela (VV), and Maduro’s qualification of this formation as a “terrorist” organization.

“To accuse us, they have forged evidence and forced some detainees to accuse their own companions of false armed conspiracies,” said the opponent, who warned that teams in her country “are at risk of upcoming forced disappearances” and that she herself “could be subject to unjustified detention.”

On Tuesday, the PUD reported the registration, on a provisional basis, of Edmundo González Urrutia, a candidate who can be replaced from this April 1, as long as he does not have any administrative sanction or impediment contemplated by the law, and that the National Electoral Council (CNE) admits the candidacy that replaces it.

Machado said on Sunday that the electoral schedule of the presidential elections establishes the replacement of candidates up to ten days before the process, so he asked for confidence from his followers.

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International

Peruvian presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra dies in campaign road accident

Presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra, representing the Partido de los Trabajadores y Emprendedores (PTE) in Peru, died in a traffic accident while traveling to a campaign event, local authorities confirmed Sunday.

Becerra, who also served as president of the centrist political party, ranked among the lowest in opinion polls in a crowded field of more than 30 candidates competing in the presidential election scheduled for April 12.

Recent surveys place Rafael López Aliaga at the top of voter preferences.

The accident occurred near the town of Ayacucho, in southern Peru, when the vehicle carrying the candidate overturned for reasons that remain under investigation.

“The candidate Becerra has died,” Balvin Huamani, mayor of the district of Pilpichaca, told RPP radio.

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According to Huamani, he personally transported the 61-year-old candidate to a local health center, where doctors confirmed his death.

The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) expressed condolences over Becerra’s passing and wished a speedy recovery to the three people who were traveling with him and were injured in the crash.

International

Noboa intensifies anti-cartel crackdown as violence persists in Ecuador

A close ally of Washington, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has pursued a hardline security strategy against cocaine cartels for more than two years, yet homicide, disappearance and extortion rates remain high across the country.

Between Sunday night and the morning of March 31, Ecuador’s armed forces will launch a “very strong offensive” with “advisory support” from the United States, Interior Minister John Reimberg announced Tuesday.

The government has kept details of the operation confidential and has not confirmed whether U.S. troops will be deployed on Ecuadorian soil, as has occurred at times during Noboa’s administration.

As part of the security measures, residents in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro will be subject to a nightly curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for the next two weeks.

“We are in a war,” Reimberg said, urging citizens to remain indoors. “Do not take risks. Stay home and allow the security forces and our allies to do the work that must be done.”

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Although Ecuador does not produce cocaine, it has become a major departure point for drugs heading to the United States. Meanwhile, the violence associated with trafficking has increasingly affected the local population.

Bordering the world’s largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has gone from being considered a relatively peaceful country to recording one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America—52 killings per 100,000 inhabitants—according to the **Observatory of Organized Crime.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate proposes death penalty amid crime surge

Peru is facing an unprecedented surge in crime ahead of its presidential election scheduled for April 12, with violence fueled by extortion networks and a wave of contract killings linked to organized crime.

Police data show that 2,200 homicides tied to organized crime were recorded in 2025, while extortion complaints increased by 19%, underscoring the growing security crisis in the South American nation.

Amid this backdrop, presidential candidate Álvarez has proposed reinstating the death penalty if elected, arguing that extreme measures are needed to curb the violence.

To implement the proposal, Álvarez said Peru would withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights—also known as the Pact of San José—which the country signed in 1978. The agreement prevents member states that have abolished capital punishment from reinstating it.

Currently, Peruvian law only allows the death penalty in cases of treason during wartime.

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“We have to leave the Pact of San José and apply the death penalty in Peru because those miserable criminals don’t deserve to live,” Álvarez told AFP during a campaign stop at a market in Callao, the port city neighboring Lima.

“An iron fist against those criminals,” he added, proposing to declare hitmen as military targets.

During the campaign event, Álvarez walked through stalls selling vegetables, groceries, and fish, greeting vendors while musicians played cumbia music nearby.

The 62-year-old candidate, who spent more than four decades working in television as a comedian, is a newcomer to politics and is running for president under the País para Todos party.

Polls place him fifth in voter preference with nearly 4% support in a fragmented race featuring 36 candidates.