International
Peru president insists ‘I will not resign’ as protests continue
January 14 | By AFP | Luis Jaime Cisneros |
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte insisted Friday she will not step down, after another day of protests and roadblocks throughout the country saw calls for her resignation and the arrest of a trade union leader with supposed links to Maoist rebels.
Supporters of ousted president Pedro Castillo have marched and barricaded streets around the South American country since December, demanding new elections and the removal of Boluarte, his successor and former vice president.
“Some voices that have come from the violent and radical factions are asking for my resignation, provoking the population into chaos, disorder and destruction,” Boluarte said in an address broadcast on state TV Friday night.
“I will not resign. My commitment is with Peru.”
Boluarte lamented that the protests have at times turned violent, as at least 42 people have been killed in clashes with security forces, including a police officer burned alive in a vehicle, while hundreds more have been injured.
“I cannot stop reiterating my regret for the deaths of Peruvians in these protests,” she said. “I apologize for this situation.”
But she rejected the possibility of calling a constitutional assembly as demanded by protestors, pointing to the difficulties Peru’s neighbor Chile has had in drafting and approving a new constitution.
“That cannot happen overnight,” Boluarte added.
Earlier on Friday, police in Peru announced the arrest of Rocio Leandro, a union leader from the south-central Ayacucho region with supposed links to Maoist rebels, who is accused of financing protests and recruiting demonstrators.
Police spokesman Oscar Arriola claimed the arrest of Leandro proved that remnants of the Shining Path Maoist rebels were involved in the protests.
Arriola claimed Leandro was a former Shining Path member known as “Comrade Cusi.”
Roadblocks and border closures
Protests and roadblocks have been registered in the capital Lima, and several southern and Andean regions.
Authorities say there are roadblocks in 10 of the country’s 25 departments.
A protest in the border city of Tacna, 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) southeast of Lima, led neighbor Chile to temporarily close the crossing between the two countries.
The city of Arequipa in the south — the second-largest in the country and one of Peru’s main tourist hotspots — had been practically blocked off from all transport links with the neighboring regions of Cusco and Puno.
On Thursday, authorities closed air and rail links to Peru’s famed Machu Picchu tourist site for the second time as protests flared up leading to clashes with police.
Several regional governors and professional associations, including lawyers and teachers, joined the calls for Boluarte to resign.
“How many more deaths will Dina Boluarte’s presence in the presidency cost?” asked Puno governor Richard Hancco, whose southern department has become the epicenter of clashes between protesters and security forces.
That region, close to the border with Bolivia, was where 18 people died following violent clashes on Monday night.
“No position can be above human life,” said Hancco.
Ministers resign
Opposition legislator Susel Paredes told local radio that time was running out for Boluarte and that the resignation of labor minister Eduardo Garcia on Thursday was “the beginning of the end” for the president.
Two other ministers resigned Friday, with the head of the Ministry of the Interior Victor Rojas and the head of the Ministry of Women Grecia Rojas immediately replaced by retired general Vicente Romero and Nancy Tolentino, respectively, at a swearing-in ceremony with Boluarte.
Garcia’s replacement Luis Alfonso Adrianzen was also installed.
Peru has been riddled with political instability in recent years.
Boluarte, 60, is the sixth person to hold the presidency in five years.
Castillo, who was being investigated in several fraud cases during his tenure, has been remanded in custody for 18 months, charged with rebellion.
International
Pope Francis meets former Gaza hostages
Pope Francis met on Thursday at the Vatican with 16 Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza for months by the Islamist group Hamas, according to the official Vatican news website.
The group consisted of ten women, four men, and two children, as reported by the same source. Several of the former hostages showed the Argentine pontiff banners or photos of their loved ones who remain in captivity.
Francis had previously met with the families of hostages in April this year and November 2023, but this was the first time he had met with individuals who had personally endured captivity.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the pope has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, while also condemning the suffering of the Palestinian population.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,206 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity.
Of the kidnapped, 97 are still being held in Gaza, but the Israeli military estimates that 34 of them have died.
The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 43,736 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-governed territory.
International
Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and its surroundings on Thursday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 16 injuries, according to Syria’s Ministry of Defense and state television.
The ministry stated that around 3:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT), the Israeli military launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood in western Damascus and the Qudsaya suburb to the northwest of the capital.
The airstrikes “resulted in the death of 15 people and injuries to 16 others, including women and children,” based on initial estimates, in addition to significant damage to private property and civilian buildings, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, state television reported Israeli airstrikes on three buildings in Mazzeh and another on a building in an educational complex located in a residential area of Qudsaya.
Following the strikes, loud explosions were heard throughout the city, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted locations. Ambulances and emergency services rushed to the scene to attend to the victims.
International
Drug trafficker dies after boat collision with Guardia Civil Vessel in Sanlúca
Three people were on the boat that collided with a Guardia Civil vessel around midnight at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the Andalusian city of Cádiz, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard reported.
Two officers sustained “contusions,” the spokesperson explained.
The drug traffickers managed to bring the boat to shore, where one of them was “abandoned” severely injured. The other two fled.
The Civil Guard officers attempted to resuscitate the victim before transporting him to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but he ultimately died early in the morning.
The other two suspects took advantage of the officers’ absence while they were taking the victim and returned to set their boat on fire.
The collision occurred very close to the site of another accident on September 1, where a drug trafficker died following a Guardia Civil pursuit.
The suspects’ boat traveled “400 meters” before crashing head-on and “at full speed” into the riverbank, where a hundred bundles of hashish were found.
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