International

Mujica says that in Venezuela “it seems that they play democracy but they don’t play”

The leftist and former Uruguayan president José ‘Pepe’ Mujica said that the situation in Venezuela is “unfortunate” because in the Caribbean country “it seems that they play democracy but they do not play democracy.”

Within the framework of an act of its political force, the left-wing coalition Frente Amplio (FA), and consulted about the concern expressed by governments of various Latin American countries after the disqualification of the opposition candidate Corina Yoris, Mujica declared to the press that “Venezuela is regrettable.”

“It seems that they play democracy but they do not play democracy,” he said, who in turn warned that it is “mistaken” to use the term dictatorship to refer to the government of Nicolás Maduro with a comparison with countries in the Middle East.

“The term dictatorship is ambiguous, what’s in Afghanistan? What do the Taliban have? Are they dictatorships or are they theocracies? And what is there in Saudi Arabia? That is, we use the terms without specifying,” said the former guerrilla who ruled Uruguay between 2010 and 2015.

To this he added that “what is clear is that in Venezuela there is no elementary respect for the opposition and that disturbs and creates a situation that cannot be called democracy.”

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Mujica’s statements come after the pre-candidate for the FA he supports for the internal elections in June was criticized by official pre-candidates for saying that the disqualification of candidates in Venezuela is like “cheating” in a horse race for not letting everyone run.

The Uruguayan vice president, Beatriz Argimón, said last Thursday that in Venezuela there was “a process of recrudescence in what is the dictatorship” to which she defended the decision of the president, Luis Lacalle Pou, to maintain an ambassador in the Caribbean country.

Earlier, the Foreign Minister, Omar Paganini, assured that Venezuela is consolidating itself as “a dictatorship” and that its electoral process “has been completely distorted.”

Paganini thus stressed the importance of the statement in which Uruguay expressed, together with Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay and Peru, its “serious concern” in the face of the “persistent impediments” in the registration of presidential elections before the National Electoral Council.

The presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and France, Emmanuel Macron, also sent a strong message on Thursday to Maduro, whom they urged to hold democratic elections “with the participation of all” after describing as “serious” the disqualification of Yoris, chosen to replace the already banned María Corina Machado.

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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.