International

Peru’s Castillo shakes up police leadership after raid of govt headquarters

AFP

Leftist Peruvian President Pedro Castillo replaced the leadership of the country’s national police Saturday, two weeks after anticorruption officials searched government headquarters in search of the leader’s wanted sister-in-law.

During the raid earlier this month, which Castillo has called “illegal,” investigators looked for Yenifer Paredes, who is accused of taking part in a corruption ring which prosecutors allege is run by the president and his wife, Lilia Paredes.

Among others, Castillo is now seeking to dismiss the head of that operation, Harvey Colchado, whom he says violated presidential immunity.

Deputy Internal Order Minister Abel Gamarra Saturday the turnover is a “natural change” as part of regular personnel switch-ups at the Interior Ministry.

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“Norms (on appointment requirements) have not been violated,” Gamarra told RPP radio, adding that the “police command is not being crushed.”

Nevertheless, right-wing opposition lawmaker Jorge Montoya, who sits on the Internal Order parliamentary committee, on Twitter called the changes an “indiscriminate abuse of authority” by Castillo.

According to human rights lawyer Carlos Rivera Paz, Castillo “seems to want a police force that accommodates his interests,” which could include obstructing any investigations of which he is a target.

The ordeal is the second scandal Castillo has faced in regards to personnel changes at the top of Peru’s security forces.

In January, he was forced to name a new cabinet head after controversy over promotions in the Peruvian National Police (PNP) and the armed forces.

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Those promotions are under investigation by prosecutors, which alleges that Castillo and former secretary of the presidency Bruno Pacheco engaged in influence peddling.

Castillo is currently the subject of an unprecedented six investigations for offenses including organized crime, obstruction of justice and plagiarism, though he carries presidential immunity through the end of his term in July 2026.

And Castillo’s family also faces legal trouble — his daughter risks three years of preliminary detention for her role in the corruption plot, while his wife could be banned from leaving the country.

Castillo, who has faced two impeachment attempts in his 13 months in office and currently has a disapproval rate around 70 percent; he has denied involvement in any crimes and claims he is a victim of a campaign trying to remove him from power.

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International

Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.

Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.

Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.

However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.

Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.

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He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.

His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.

Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.

International

U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince

The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.

Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.

“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.

Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.

According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.

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International

Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations

The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.

“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”

The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.

The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”

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Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.