International

Peru’s Minister of Education says about the deaths in the protests: “Human rights are not for rats”

The Minister of Education of Peru, Morgan Quero, said on Wednesday that human rights are not “for rats,” when asked about the 49 people who died from the repression of law enforcement in the anti-government protests of late 2022 and early 2023.

“Human rights are for people, not for rats,” Quero replied when asked by a journalist why the Executive had not pronounced on the deaths of demonstrators on International Human Rights Day, which is commemorated on December 10.

“Yesterday was human rights day, the Government has not pronounced on the 50 deaths of the protests,” asked the journalist of the newspaper La República, before the minister burst in with his response.

Controversial statement by the Minister of Education of Peru

The minister had attended an official event, at the end of which the press asked him about the debate opened yesterday by the president, Dina Boluarte, about applying the death penalty to rapists of minors.

In this regard, Quero said that his ministry has removed more than a thousand teachers involved in cases of sexual abuse of minors.

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The video with the minister’s statement was widely spread on social networks and generated numerous criticisms and requests for resignation.

I reject

“My rejection of Mr. Morgan Quero’s expressions. Only a government without any moral taste like that of Boluarte can have a minister of Education who only demonstrates ignorance and contempt, equating the lives of victims of human rights violations with rats,” said Congresswoman Ruth Luque on the social network X.

The explanation of the Peruvian minister

Shortly after, Quero held a telephone interview with Channel N to clarify “the unfortunate circumstance” resulting from his statement, and initially maintained that his words “had been misrepresented”.

But when asked where the misrepresentation was, he acknowledged that he assumed that the question was about the previous topic that he was dealing with with the press.

“I assumed that the question was about the same thing (the rape of minors), because we were in a wide corridor and, perhaps, my mistake was to assume that the question was also about the issue of the death penalty,” said the minister, adding that, believing that he was being asked about the rights of pedophiles, it was “that forceful.”

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When the Canal N journalist asked him if his words deserved a public apology, the minister said no.
“No, I repeat again, I assumed it was a question within the context in which this dialogue with the media had evolved (…) I deeply regret the pain of the victims and families who were affected in these circumstances,” he said.

The Peruvian Minister of Education already starred in a controversy a few months ago by calling the violations suffered among schoolchildren in Awajún communities, in the Peruvian Amazon, as “cultural practice.”

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.