International
The difficult fight against bloodletting on the roads in Peru
Shreed buses, frontal collisions of vehicles, invaded lanes… The scenes are repeated mainly on weekends.
Between 2021 and 2023 there was an annual average of 3,000 deaths on the roads, according to the National Road Safety Observatory of the Ministry of Transport (ONSV), which links the high accident with three main causes: recklessness at the wheel, speeding and drunkenness.
By the beginning of May, 970 people had died on the slopes. And there is still a lack of the school holiday season and several holidays, including the end of the year, when accidents usually increase.
In Peru, the mortality rate from traffic accidents was 14 people per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019, compared to the average of 17 victims per 100,000 in the Americas, according to the World Bank.
In 2023, 87,172 accidents were officially reported that left 3,138 dead.
The efforts of the authorities to improve control managed to reduce the rate to 9.5 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants last year, but the bloodlet on the roads continues.
Cornelio lost his family in March. A bus invaded the opposite lane of the Panamericana Highway and hit the family van, 147 km north of Lima.
This 36-year-old farmer was going ahead in another vehicle along with some workers. His wife, his two children, two brothers and a sister-in-law never arrived at the meeting place.
“My soul broke, we will never recover from this, for pleasure we have made the house. Now we have a void,” he tells AFP in a choppy voice.
Last month, in only four accidents there were 60 deaths, a figure not included in the count until the beginning of May.
“It is true that there are contributory factors, for example, the climatic issue, the state of a vehicle or a road, the human factor is predominant and determining,” Larry Ampuero, spokesman for the Superintendence of Transport (Sutran), tells AFP.
According to that organization, 70% of accidents occur in cities and 30% on roads.
“There is informality due to lack of control, but also there is no good road network, we have an infrastructure in poor condition and lack of maintenance,” said Martín Ojeda, manager of the interprovincial transport guild to RPP radio.
The human factor is in many cases related to the fatigue of the drivers of the public transport service. The law establishes a limit of ten hours a day for driving buses.
“Drivers generally suffer from drowsiness or tiredness because they work more hours than allowed,” Luis Quispe, director of Luz Ámbar, an NGO that studies the phenomenon of the high accident rate, tells AFP.
The interprovincial service guild maintains that it complies with the rules and that each bus travels with a spare driver, but the drivers question it.
“It is the fault of certain factors, both of the driver or the company that suddenly makes us work too many hours, practically 24 hours,” bus driver Julio Camarena tells AFP.
“They also have to see the state of the roads, which is terrible at the national level, we would say for the most part,” adds Camarena, 51, from the Yerbateros bus terminal in Lima.
On its side, the Association of Victims of Traffic Accidents (Aviactran) points to the indolence of the authorities and the lack of justice as the biggest problems on the roads.
“The State is not worried that accidents will increase, it does not want to solve the problem,” Carlos Villegas, president of that organization, tells AFP.
According to Villegas, so far this year there are “more than 36,000 accidents.”
“The authorities are responsible for all traffic accidents, that’s why we are going to sue them,” he emphasizes.
80% of the injured – he adds – do not receive justice in their lawsuits against companies and authorities “for corruption” of the system.
“We feel very disappointed with the State,” says Villegas, who created Aviactran because a drunk doctor at the wheel seriously injured his nine-year-old son in 2006.
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
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