International
Peru to debate advancing elections as protests boil
January 30 | By AFP | Carlos Mandujano |
Peru’s Congress is due on Monday to debate for the second time in days a bill to bring forward elections in a bid to end weeks of protests that have at times turned violent and left dozens dead.
The South American country has been embroiled in a political crisis with near-daily street protests since December 7, when then-president Pedro Castillo was arrested after attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree.
In seven weeks of demonstrations, 48 people — including one police officer — have been killed in clashes between security forces and protesters, according to the Ombudsman’s Office of Peru.
The unrest is coming mainly from poor, rural Indigenous people from southern Peru who had identified Castillo as one of their own who would fight to end poverty, racism and inequality from which they suffer.
President Dina Boluarte has urged Congress to act, warning that otherwise she will seek constitutional reform to make a vote happen.
Last month lawmakers moved up elections due in 2026 to April 2024, but as protests show no sign of abating, Boluarte now wants them held this year — a call that Congress rejected late on Friday.
“Vote for Peru, for the country, by moving the elections up to 2023,” the president said in an address to the nation on Sunday.
“Tomorrow you have a chance to win the country’s trust.”
Last week’s vote on bringing elections forward to October was defeated by 65 votes against and just 45 in favor, with two abstentions.
If lawmakers again refuse to advance elections, Boluarte said she will propose a constitutional reform so that a first round of elections will be held in October and a runoff in December.
Protesters are demanding immediate elections, Boluarte’s resignation, the dissolution of Congress and a new constitution.
First death in Lima
According to a survey by the Institute of Peruvian Studies, 73 percent of Peruvians are calling for elections this year.
“I urge parliamentarians to reflect responsibly on the decision to be made,” tweeted legislature leader Jose Williams, a right-wing retired military general who is the first in the line of succession if the president resigns.
Monday’s reconvening of Congress will coincide with the wake of Victor Santisteban, 55, a demonstrator who died Saturday after receiving blunt force trauma to his head according to a medical report.
Santisteban was the first recorded death from the protests in Peru’s capital Lima since nationwide demonstrations kicked off in December with Castillo supporters blocking highways, causing shortages of food, fuel and other basic supplies.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office, Saturday’s protest in Lima saw at least seven others wounded and hospitalised, after police deployed tear gas against protesters flinging stones and cement pieces.
Geronimo Lopez, leader of the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers, said protesters would “not cease their struggle” if Boluarte does not step down.
He called for a national march for Tuesday afternoon under the slogan “Dina resigns now.”
But Boluarte, who as Castillo’s vice president was constitutionally mandated to replace him, has insisted that “nobody has any interest in clinging to power.”
Analyst Giovanna Penaflor from research firm Imasen told AFP the situation is going to get worse.
“Today we are (seeing) an unstoppable number of deaths related to political issues and this cannot continue like this,” Penaflor said.
Apart from those who have died in protests, an additional 10 civilians, including two babies, died when they were unable to get medical treatment or medicine due to roadblocks, the Ombudsman’s Office said.
The protest movement has affected Peru’s vital tourism industry, even forcing the closure of the world-renown Machu Picchu Inca citadel ruins.
International
Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been diagnosed with skin cancer while serving a historic sentence for attempting a coup d’état. His medical team confirmed that the lesions have been removed and that, for now, he does not require further procedures, though he will need regular monitoring.
On Wednesday, September 17, Bolsonaro’s doctors confirmed the diagnosis. The announcement comes shortly after the former leader was convicted of orchestrating an attempted coup.
According to his physician, Claudio Birolini, Bolsonaro has “squamous cell carcinoma, which is neither the most benign nor the most aggressive form — it is intermediate.” Birolini warned, however, that this type of skin cancer “can carry more serious consequences.”
International
Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’
Argentine President Javier Milei praised Paraguay’s economic growth over the past two decades during a speech before the Paraguayan Congress on Wednesday (Sept. 17, 2025), crediting it to incentives that favored capitalism. At the same time, he contrasted that progress with what he described as Argentina’s deepening “decline” during the same period.
“If we compare the last 20 years of Paraguay with those of the Argentine Republic, we will find almost diametrically opposite results,” Milei told lawmakers during a special session of Parliament on the second and final day of his official visit to Asunción.
“While you have not stopped growing, we have deepened our decline. If we understand incentives as the engine of capitalism, Paraguay focused on preserving and strengthening them, while Argentina dedicated itself to chaining, directing, and suffocating them,” the right-wing leader stated.
International
Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump intensified a large-scale immigration operation in the Chicago area with the arrival of additional Border Patrol agents on Tuesday and the presence of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem during a raid.
Noem posted a video on her X account showing the immigration operation, in which DHS reportedly removed “violent criminals” from the streets. The footage shows Noem observing the arrest of a man taken into custody at his home early Tuesday morning at an undisclosed location.
“I was in Chicago today to make it clear that we will not back down,” the secretary wrote. “Our work is just beginning,” she added.
The warning from Noem was echoed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Gregory Bovino, who posted a video on X Tuesday showing multiple Border Patrol vehicles arriving in the city with the caption: “Chicago, we are here!”
Bovino, who led the immigration crackdown in Los Angeles implemented since last June, said the team will remain in Chicago to continue the mission they started in California.
Operation “Midway Blitz” is currently focused on the Chicago metropolitan area and its suburbs. Activists and residents have reported sightings of masked agents and unmarked vehicles in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.
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