International

Orbán will meet again with Trump at his Florida residence, after meeting Putin

The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, will meet this Thursday with former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) in his private club in Mar-a-Lago, in Florida, after the NATO summit in Washington and just a week after the first met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US media report.

The meeting in Mar-a-Lago, the third they will hold, has not been officially confirmed, but specialized media such as Politico cite unidentified sources that confirm the possible meeting between the two leaders.

Trump has been a strong supporter of Orbán, and the meeting comes after others that the Hungarian leader has held this month, including one with Putin who took many by surprise.

Different NATO countries today expressed their dissagreement about Orbán’s recent trips to Moscow and Beijing, coinciding with the beginning of his country’s presidency in the Council of the European Union, trips in which he has tried to negotiate peace in the war in Ukraine.

During the allied summit that concludes in Washington, Orbán has been seen on different occasions isolated from the informal conversations between the leaders, or also during his participation in the gala dinner offered on Wednesday night at the White House by US President Joe Biden.

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At the meeting last March in Mar-a-Lago, both leaders analyzed the mechanisms to restore peace in Europe and end the war in Ukraine, a military conflict that, according to Orbán in the past, would not have erupted if Trump had followed in the White House.

A few days after assuming the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on July 1, Orbán, the member of the community club closest to the Kremlin Government, has visited Kiev, Moscow, Beijing and Washington in what he has described as a “peace mission” for the war in Ukraine.

Orbán and Trump have maintained a good relationship for years and the first time they met was in August 2022, at a Republican golf club in the state of New Jersey.

The Hungarian Prime Minister was the only head of government of the European Union who supported Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, as well as during the trials initiated against the now Republican presidential candidate last year.

The Republican pre-candidate for the presidential elections is an admirer of Orbán, whom he describes as “the toughest politician in Europe.”

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In turn, the Hungarian Prime Minister criticizes that the trials against Trump apply a “communist method” while he considers the Republican candidate as the only person who can save the West and humanity in general.

On March 1, Orbán said in a forum in Turkey that Trump’s eventual return to power, after the presidential elections next November, is a necessary condition to end the war in Ukraine.

And he pointed out that former President Trump could also have avoided an escalation in the Gaza war, because “without the United States it is impossible to make peace in the Middle East.”

EFE has tried to confirm the alleged meeting with Orbán’s entourage, but has not obtained a response.

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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.