International
Demonstrations return in Peru to demand Boluarte’s resignation
June 15 |
Some 300 Peruvians marched Wednesday in Lima to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and members of Congress, in a resumption of widespread protests from December to February that began in the Andes and left more than 60 dead.
The demonstrators moved peacefully through the streets of the capital’s historic center, where anti-government marches were banned in February by order of Mayor Rafael Lopez-Aliaga, an ultra-conservative and ally of the president.
Although the protests in the capital had calmed down, in the southern region of Puno, bordering Bolivia, marches have been recurrent.
A week ago, on local flag day, rural Peruvians marched with black and white flags to mourn the shooting deaths of 18 civilians in confrontations with police in early January.
Shirley Muñoz, a 51-year-old cosmetics saleswoman, waved a Peruvian flag alongside riot police on Wednesday. “If she is a mother, if she is a woman, let her think about the young people who have died and let her resign so she can be at peace with her conscience,” the woman said in reference to President Boluarte.
Angie Quispe, a 31-year-old domestic worker, was marching with her seven-month-old son Liam to demand the resignation of the president, but also to ask for an improvement in her salary. “Since Dina’s government began, there has been no improvement for workers,” she said.
The proposals to bring forward the presidential and parliamentary elections, which were debated at the beginning of the year in the midst of protests, do not seem to interest the Congress, which has sent to the file five plans that sought to shorten the mandate of Boluarte and the 130 legislators.
Both the unicameral Parliament and the president maintain high unpopularity ratings, according to all polls. The firm Ipsos Peru revealed a recent national poll in June where 81% of Peruvians reject the work of the Parliament, while 77% disapprove of the President’s administration.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations agreed in May that security forces used excessive force in repressing anti-government demonstrations that began after then President Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve Parliament on December 7 to avoid being removed from office.
Hours later, on the afternoon of December 7, Congress removed Castillo for moral incapacity. He was succeeded by Dina Boluarte, who was vice president.
Demonstrations against his administration began in the southern Andes, where much of the country’s mining and tourist wealth is concentrated, and in areas with strong identification with Castillo, now in preventive prison for three years while he is tried for alleged crimes of rebellion and corruption.
International
Trump: U.S. has hit three venezuelan narco boats in Caribbean
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that American forces have struck three suspected Venezuelan drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean so far, not two as previously reported.
“We took down boats. It was actually three boats, not two, but you only saw two,” Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a state visit to the United Kingdom.
The president was asked about remarks by Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who accused Washington of plotting to invade his country.
“Stop sending members of the Tren de Aragua to the United States. Stop sending drugs to the United States,” Trump responded.
The Republican leader mentioned this third vessel a day after announcing that U.S. forces had struck a speedboat in which, according to him, three “terrorists” were killed. Later, from the Oval Office, he claimed the boat had been carrying cocaine and fentanyl.
The attacks come amid escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas, as the U.S. military maintains a Caribbean deployment under the banner of counter-narcotics operations.
The Trump administration accuses Maduro of heading the so-called Cartel of the Suns, which the Venezuelan government denies. Washington has also offered a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture.
On Monday, Maduro said communications with the U.S. were “broken” in the face of what he called an “aggression” and declared that Venezuela is now “better prepared” in case of an “armed struggle.”
International
Ecuador’s Noboa declares State of Emergency in seven provinces amid fuel price protests
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in seven provinces due to what he described as “serious internal unrest,” as road blockades and demonstrations erupted in response to the elimination of the diesel subsidy and growing concerns over insecurity.
The 60-day measure applies to the provinces of Carchi, Imbabura, Pichincha, Azuay, Bolívar, Cotopaxi, and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.
Since Monday, partial protests have been reported in Pichincha, Carchi, Azuay, and Imbabura. On Tuesday, road blockades extended to northern Pichincha and routes in Carchi, near the Colombian border. In response, the Executive headquarters was temporarily relocated to Cotopaxi and the Vice Presidency to Imbabura.
The presidential decree states that the measure comes amid “strikes that have disrupted public order and provoked acts of violence, endangering the safety of citizens and their rights to free movement, work, and economic activity.”
According to the decree, the goal is to “prevent the radicalization of disruptive actions” in the affected provinces and to limit the impact on the population. It further emphasizes that the situation requires an “exceptional intervention by state institutions to safeguard security, guarantee citizens’ rights, maintain public order, and preserve social peace.”
Social organizations and labor groups, including the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), have strongly rejected the diesel price increase following the subsidy’s elimination.
The decree justifies the two-month duration as necessary “to ensure a strengthened state presence in the affected territories, restore order, and prevent further acts of violence against people, public, and private property.”
International
Colombia’s special peace tribunal hands down first sentence against former FARC leaders
Seven former rebel leaders, including their last known commander Rodrigo Londoño, alias “Timochenko,” have been handed the maximum penalty established in the 2016 peace agreement.
Under the ruling, they will face mobility restrictions and be required to carry out activities aimed at restoring the dignity of victims, such as helping locate missing persons and participating in landmine clearance in territories where they once operated. These alternative sentences to prison were part of the historic deal signed in 2016 between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) —once the most powerful guerrilla group in Latin America— and then-President Juan Manuel Santos, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) found the ex-commanders guilty of being responsible for the kidnapping of 21,396 people before laying down their arms and transitioning into a political party. “Investigations showed that kidnapping became a systematic practice. These crimes not only broke the law but also left open wounds that persist in families, communities, and the daily life of the country,” a magistrate told reporters in Bogotá, in the absence of the former commanders, who had accepted responsibility for their crimes back in 2022.
It took the tribunal more than seven years to deliver its first ruling, amid criticism from opponents of the peace deal who argue it is too lenient on the rebels. The former commanders still face charges for other crimes against humanity, including the recruitment of minors.
During their decades-long conflict, the FARC held hostage soldiers, police officers, businesspeople, and political leaders, including French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt. Images of emaciated captives chained in jungle camps shocked the world and became symbols of the conflict.
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