International

As Peru unrest ebbs, stranded tourists make way to safety

Photo: MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP

| By AFP | Carlos Mandujano and Moisés Ávila |

Protests dwindled in intensity in Peru on Saturday and thousands of tourists trapped in the interior boarded planes to escape unrest as President Dina Boluarte again vowed that she would not step down.

Some 4,500 tourists, many of them European and North American, rushed to the international airport in Cusco to catch flights after being stranded much of the week by simmering political unrest.

“By Sunday at the latest, all the stranded tourists will leave,” Tourism and Commerce Minister Luis Fernando Helguero told the Andina state news agency.

The state human rights ombudsman reported 70 roadblocks around the South American nation, and the toll from the unrest rose to 19 dead and 569 injured.

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But the minister of defense and the head of the armed forces both said protests were diminishing in intensity.

“We have gradually been recovering normality along the roads, at the airports, in the cities. Normality is returning but it is not yet achieved,” said General Manuel Gomez de la Torre, head of the military joint chiefs of staff.

Defense Minister Alberto Otarola cautioned that “organized violent acts” were aimed at damaging airports, highways, natural gas pipelines and hydroelectric installations.

“The trend is downward. But we remain on alert. The situation of violence hasn’t passed and the crisis goes on,” Otarola said.

‘What is solved by my resignation?’

Boluarte, the lawyer who assumed the reins of the country December 7 after leftist President Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, only to be ousted and thrown in jail, again insisted that she would not bend to protesters and step down.

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“What is solved by my resignation? We will be here, firmly, until Congress determines to bring forward the elections,” Boluarte told Peruvians.

On Friday, House speaker Jose Williams said the vote on the election schedule could be revisited during a forthcoming session of Congress.

In her televised address, Boluarte expressed regret for the protests that swelled across the country and the deaths, most of which came in clashes with security forces including the military, under a state of emergency.

If armed troops were on the streets, “it has been to take care of and protect” Peru’s citizens, Boluarte said, adding that the protests were “overflowing” with violent elements that were coordinated and not spontaneous.

“These groups did not emerge overnight. They had tactically organized to block roads,” she said.

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Protesters are calling for the release of Castillo, the resignation of Boluarte and closure of Congress, and immediate general elections.

Initially detained for seven days, Castillo was on Thursday ordered to spend 18 months in pretrial detention.

The leftist former schoolteacher stands accused of rebellion and conspiracy, and could be jailed for up to 10 years if found guilty, according to public prosecutor Alcides Diaz.

Boluarte declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency and said she wanted to bring forward elections as a way to calm the uproar, but Friday’s measure fell short of passage in Congress.

Tourists in limbo

Several airports have been closed, but the international terminal in Cusco, the gateway city to the jewel of Peruvian tourism, the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, managed to reopen on Friday, allowing for some 4,500 stranded tourists to begin boarding outbound flights.

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Cusco’s airport is the third largest in Peru, and armed soldiers were seen Saturday standing guard outside.

Protesters tried to storm the terminal on Monday, and the airport remained closed for nearly four days.

Good news also came Saturday to some 200 tourists stranded in a town in the deep valley below Machu Picchu. They were able to board a train and travel as far as Piscacucho, where a boulder blocked the railway.

The tourists, many from Europe and North America, then walked two kilometers (a little more than a mile) to where waiting vehicles took them on to Cusco, AFP learned.

Rail service to Machu Picchu had been suspended since Tuesday.

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‘Criminal investigation’ needed

Some of the greatest bloodshed of the week occurred Thursday at the airport in Ayacucho, where soldiers protecting the terminal shot at protesters.

Soldiers “found themselves surrounded with the masses closing in,” rights ombudsman Eliana Revollar told AFP.

The army says its soldiers would have first raised their weapons and then fired into the air, but Revollar said shots were fired at protesters and an investigation is warranted.

International

Colombia Earthquake Leaves at Least 22 Dead as Rescue Efforts Continue

At least 22 people were killed and dozens more were affected by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck Colombia on Monday, with the epicenter located near the municipality of San José del Palmar in the northwestern department of Chocó, authorities reported in a preliminary assessment.

The city of Pereira has so far recorded the highest number of fatalities. Mayor Mauricio Salazar told local media that 18 people had died in the city and warned that a large number of buildings had been damaged.

“The situation is critical, and we are moving forward with assessments while assisting people who remain trapped,” Salazar said.

Authorities in Manizales reported two additional deaths, while two more fatalities were confirmed in the department of Valle del Cauca. Several people were also injured, and structural damage was reported in different communities.

“We are just beginning to establish radio communication with the hospitals. We know that we have three injured people in El Cairo, two deaths in Zarzal, the collapse of an academic structure in Calima Darién, and minor structural damage in Cali,” said María Cristina Lesmes, Valle del Cauca’s health secretary.

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Emergency teams were continuing rescue and assessment operations as authorities worked to determine the full extent of the damage and update the number of casualties.

International

Record 230 Migrants Cross English Channel to UK in Single Boat

A record 230 migrants crossed the English Channel overnight Sunday aboard a small inflatable boat bound for the United Kingdom, according to French maritime rescue services and British media, highlighting the growing number of people being packed onto vessels attempting the dangerous crossing.

More than 20 children were among those aboard the inflatable boat when it departed from the northeastern French coast on Sunday night amid chaotic scenes, France’s maritime rescue service SNSM said in an online statement.

The figure surpasses the previous record for the number of people aboard a single boat, set last month when 165 migrants successfully crossed the busy maritime route.

The latest incident comes just days after an inflatable boat carrying more than 150 people capsized in the Channel after its engine caught fire, triggering a major search-and-rescue operation.

Britain’s Home Office did not confirm the exact number of people aboard Sunday’s vessel but condemned what it described as the “reckless and dangerous tactics” used by criminal gangs facilitating the crossings.

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A spokesperson for Prime Minister Andy Burnham described images of the operation as “shocking,” particularly those showing very young children being placed aboard boats that were not suitable for the journey.
The United Kingdom has spent years attempting to curb these dangerous and politically sensitive Channel crossings. Tens of thousands of migrants have reached the southeastern English coast annually in recent years, keeping the issue at the center of the country’s immigration debate.

International

Joe Biden’s Prostate Cancer Has Spread to His Bones, Son Hunter Reveals

Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer has worsened and spread to his bones and other parts of his body, his son Hunter Biden revealed in a recent interview with the BBC.

Biden disclosed in May 2025, just four months after leaving office as the oldest sitting U.S. president in history, that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had already spread to his bones.

The former president subsequently began treatment, including radiation and hormone therapy. In July, while announcing the publication of his memoirs, Biden said the treatment was going “really well.”

However, in an extensive interview broadcast Friday night on the BBC’s Newsnight, Hunter Biden said his father’s condition had progressed despite treatment.

“The cancer has spread and metastasized to his bones and other places,” Hunter Biden said.

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He added that the illness has been “very painful” and, in many ways, “very debilitating,” but said his father continues to remain active.

“He’s still out there. He’s still doing his thing,” Hunter Biden said, emphasizing that his father remains deeply committed to the United States.
The former president’s diagnosis has remained a subject of public attention since it was first announced, particularly because of his age and his decision to continue a public life after leaving the White House.