International
Peru’s Minister of Education says about the deaths in the protests: “Human rights are not for rats”
The Minister of Education of Peru, Morgan Quero, said on Wednesday that human rights are not “for rats,” when asked about the 49 people who died from the repression of law enforcement in the anti-government protests of late 2022 and early 2023.
“Human rights are for people, not for rats,” Quero replied when asked by a journalist why the Executive had not pronounced on the deaths of demonstrators on International Human Rights Day, which is commemorated on December 10.
“Yesterday was human rights day, the Government has not pronounced on the 50 deaths of the protests,” asked the journalist of the newspaper La República, before the minister burst in with his response.
Controversial statement by the Minister of Education of Peru
The minister had attended an official event, at the end of which the press asked him about the debate opened yesterday by the president, Dina Boluarte, about applying the death penalty to rapists of minors.
In this regard, Quero said that his ministry has removed more than a thousand teachers involved in cases of sexual abuse of minors.
The video with the minister’s statement was widely spread on social networks and generated numerous criticisms and requests for resignation.
I reject
“My rejection of Mr. Morgan Quero’s expressions. Only a government without any moral taste like that of Boluarte can have a minister of Education who only demonstrates ignorance and contempt, equating the lives of victims of human rights violations with rats,” said Congresswoman Ruth Luque on the social network X.
The explanation of the Peruvian minister
Shortly after, Quero held a telephone interview with Channel N to clarify “the unfortunate circumstance” resulting from his statement, and initially maintained that his words “had been misrepresented”.
But when asked where the misrepresentation was, he acknowledged that he assumed that the question was about the previous topic that he was dealing with with the press.
“I assumed that the question was about the same thing (the rape of minors), because we were in a wide corridor and, perhaps, my mistake was to assume that the question was also about the issue of the death penalty,” said the minister, adding that, believing that he was being asked about the rights of pedophiles, it was “that forceful.”
When the Canal N journalist asked him if his words deserved a public apology, the minister said no.
“No, I repeat again, I assumed it was a question within the context in which this dialogue with the media had evolved (…) I deeply regret the pain of the victims and families who were affected in these circumstances,” he said.
The Peruvian Minister of Education already starred in a controversy a few months ago by calling the violations suffered among schoolchildren in Awajún communities, in the Peruvian Amazon, as “cultural practice.”
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
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Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction