International

Peruvians call for popular mobilization against Boluarte’s government

Photo: Escuela Saúl Cantoral

July 3 |

Peruvian social organizations concluded this Sunday in Lima the First National Meeting of Regions and Organized People, space in which they agreed to carry out new days of struggle between July 19 and 28 against the government of the appointed president, Digna Boluarte.

According to reports disseminated through social networks, delegates from all Peruvian regions participated in the meeting, including Puno, Cusco, Apurimac, Arequipa, Ucayali, Pasco and Junin, among others that stood out in the mobilizations carried out since last December 7, which also demanded the release of former President Pedro Castillo.

The participants stressed the urgency of recovering the sovereignty of the people and demanded the exit of Boluarte, the closing of the Congress, a Constituent Assembly, the freedom of the detainees and justice for the civilians murdered by the Army and the Police during the mobilizations.

The new cycle of protests will be called National Day of Permanent Popular Mobilization and will have its epicenter in Lima, where representatives of regional, union and agrarian organizations, among others, will converge.

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It is foreseen that the commands of struggle organized in each province will send delegations of demonstrators to the Peruvian capital, where food, tents, blankets, medicines and other supplies are already being stockpiled.

In the mobilizations, which will coincide with Peruvian Independence Day (July 28), they will also demand that the US troops, whose entry was approved by Congress and the Executive, leave the country.

Previously it was denounced that the arrival in Peru of the first contingents of these troops coinciding with the reactivation of the popular protests is no coincidence.

After the parliamentary coup d’état against Castillo, last December 7, Peru became the scene of massive protests against the Executive of Boluarte, who is held responsible for the deaths of 70 civilians during those mobilizations.

The date of July 19 was not chosen by chance: on that day, in 1977, the Peruvian people staged a strike that put an end to the military government of Francisco Morales Bermudez, who came to power after a coup d’état against Juan Velasco Alvarado.

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International

MEPs Approve Plan That Could Fast-Track Rejection of Some Asylum Claims

With an overwhelming majority of 408 votes in favor, the European Parliament backed the creation of a list of safe countries of origin for asylum seekers.

People coming from Colombia, Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia who apply for asylum in the European Union could see their requests rejected on the grounds that the bloc’s 27 member states consider those nations safe. Applicants would have to prove their individual circumstances, showing evidence of persecution or specific risks if they were to return.

At the same time, while their applications are processed or their return is arranged, migrants could be transferred to third countries outside the EU if the bloc has an agreement with them, if the individuals previously transited through those nations, or if they have family or cultural ties there. The measure provides legal cover for the creation of processing centers beyond EU territory, similar to an initiative previously pursued by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Albania.

Tuesday’s vote reflects the tightening of European migration policy in recent years, despite asylum applications having fallen by more than 20% last year and the issue not ranking among citizens’ top concerns, according to recent surveys.

International

Chile Unveils Latam-GPT to Give Latin America Its Own AI Model

Chile on Tuesday launched Latam-GPT, an initiative aimed at providing Latin America with its own artificial intelligence model in a field largely dominated by U.S. companies, while seeking to reduce biases identified in existing systems.

The project is led by Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA), a private corporation funded with public resources.

Latam-GPT is backed by universities, foundations, libraries, government agencies and civil society organizations from across the region, including Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina.

“Thanks to Latam-GPT we are positioning the region as an active and sovereign player in the economy of the future. We are at the table — we are not on the menu,” President Gabriel Boric said during the presentation of the initiative on national broadcaster Televisión Nacional.

The tool aims to break down prejudices and prevent Latin America from being portrayed as a single, uniform reality, Chile’s science minister, Aldo Valle, told AFP.

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The region, he added, “cannot be merely a user or passive recipient of artificial intelligence systems. That could result in losing a significant part of our traditions.”

Despite its name, the initiative is not an interactive chatbot. Instead, it is a large regional database trained on Latin American information that can be used to develop technological applications, the minister explained.

International

Mexico Rises Slightly to 141st in Global Corruption Perceptions Index 2025

Mexico improved by one point in its rating and climbed to 141st place in the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published Tuesday by the anti-corruption organization Transparency International, which gave the country a score of 27 out of 100.

The slight increase in score comes after Mexico recorded its lowest CPI result in history in 2024 during the final year of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term, also scoring 27 out of 100. The CPI is widely regarded as the main global measure of perceived public-sector corruption, where 0 represents high corruption and 100 denotes very low corruption.

Within the region, Mexico ranks above only Guatemala (26), Paraguay (24), Honduras (22), Haiti (16), Nicaragua (14) and Venezuela (10), but trails key economic peers such as Brazil (35) and Chile (63).

Among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mexico ranks last. In the G20 grouping, it sits in the penultimate position, ahead of only Russia. Experts say Mexico’s persistently low score reflects ongoing challenges in curbing corruption and protecting public funds.

Transparency International’s report also highlights structural corruption issues that have allowed organized crime to infiltrate politics and weaken governance, as well as risks to journalists covering corruption.