International

Peru says army, police to clear protester roadblocks

Photo: Lucas Aguayo / AFP

January 27 | By AFP | Carlos Mandujano |

The Peruvian government said Thursday that police and soldiers would soon move to dismantle roadblocks on the nation’s highways erected by protesters who have demanded for weeks the resignation of President Dina Boluarte.

The move announced by the defense and interior ministries comes as shortages of basic goods including food and fuel have escalated in the South American country, with freight deliveries to the south compromised.

“The Peruvian national police, with the support of the armed forces, will unblock the national network of highways that have been the subject of a state of emergency,” the ministries said in a joint statement.

Authorities said that traffic was blocked in eight of Peru’s 25 regions on Thursday, which has also complicated medical treatment in some areas, with doctors unable to access needed medicines.

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Protests, which broke out after the ouster and arrest in early December of former president Pedro Castillo, have repeatedly turned violent, with 46 people dying in clashes between security forces and protesters.

The government ministries said the right to protest “does not justify the obstruction of roadways” or trump the rights of people who need chemotherapy or deliveries of oxygen canisters.

It blamed the roadblocks for 10 deaths, including those of several children who did not receive medical care in time.

Protests have been fueled by anger in poor rural regions in the south where inhabitants — mainly Indigenous — felt that Castillo, who has Indigenous roots himself, represented their interests rather than those of the Lima elite.

Castillo’s ouster followed an attempt by him to dissolve congress and rule by decree, in what appeared to be a bid to avoid an impeachment vote and stave off corruption investigations.

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On Thursday, protesters tossed stones and security forces responded with tear gas and rubber bullets in central Lima after hundreds had staged a march against Boluarte, who had been Castillo’s vice president.

‘Unprecedented’ repression

Earlier in the day in the mining town of Juliaca, relatives of those killed in the weeks of protests demanded justice.

Rights organizations have accused the government of repressing protesters and the disproportionate use of force.

“All I ask for please is justice. I am asking them for help because no one is going to bring back my brother,” said a tearful Maria Samillan.

Her 31-year-old brother Marco Antonio Samillan, a doctor, was killed during protests earlier this month in the southern Andean town.

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On January 9, 18 people were killed after protesters tried to storm the airport. One of the dead was a police officer burnt alive in his vehicle. Marco Antonio was shot dead while trying to save injured protesters.

“Every day I feel that I also died. I cannot live any more,” said Samillan, talking via video from Juliaca at a press conference by a national rights group.

Lawyer Mar Perez accused authorities of extrajudicial killings and claimed security forces used machine guns.

“We are seeing levels of repression that are unprecedented in Peruvian democracy,” Perez told AFP.

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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.