International

Thousands of protesters expected in Peru’s capital

Photo: Diego Ramos / AFP

January 19 | By AFP | Carlos Mandujano / Luis Jaime Cisneros |

Thousands of protesters were expected to descend on Peru’s capital Lima on Thursday, defying a state of emergency to express their anger with President Dina Boluarte after weeks of unrest.

One demonstrator was killed on Wednesday in clashes with police in the country’s south, raising tensions and bringing the death toll from the protests to 43, according to Peru’s human rights ombudsman.

The South American country has been rocked by more than a month of protests, mostly in the southern and eastern areas, since the ouster and arrest of Boluarte’s predecessor Pedro Castillo in December.

On Wednesday, a 35-year-old woman was killed in the southern Puno region, according to a hospital statement. At least one other person, a 30-year-old man, was injured in the demonstrations, the statement said.

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Thousands of protesters from rural areas are expected to descend on Lima this week to keep up pressure against the government, defying a state of emergency declared to maintain order.

“We are coming to make our voices heard. We are tremendously forgotten,” villager Edwin Condori, 43, from the Cusco region, told AFP.

Demonstrators in Lima are expected to call for Boluarte’s resignation, the dissolution of parliament and fresh elections.

Although protestors across the country have vowed to meet in the capital, it is difficult to determine how many will arrive.

Counter-protests are already underway in a sign of divisions wracking the country.

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One of Peru’s biggest labor unions, the General Confederation of Workers, has called a strike for Thursday.

‘She doesn’t represent us’

On Tuesday, many poor and Indigenous demonstrators made their presence felt in Lima, where police used smoke canisters against marchers who had gathered ahead of larger mobilizations.

Dozens marched through the capital’s streets to Plaza San Martin, the historic epicenter of demonstrations.

Boluarte urged protesters flooding into Lima to gather “peacefully and calmly.”

“We want Dina Boluarte’s resignation. We don’t feel that she represents us,” said Jesus Gomez, an agricultural engineer from Chumbivilcas in the Cusco region.

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“We have come in an organized way to take over Lima, to paralyze Lima, to be heard,” he said.

But the president warned protesters that “the rule of law cannot be hostage to the whims” of a single group of people.

“Dina Boluarte should leave because she does not represent the coast, the mountains, or the jungle,” said teacher Edith Calixto, 45 from the Andes.

Residents of the northern city of Cajamarca carried signs that read “National Insurgency.” Some held “rondero” whips of the type used by local patrols in rural areas.

“Dina, please, resign so that this town calms down because the town is not going to give up,” Antonia Riveros, a 55-year-old native of Huancavelica, said.

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Rival protests

A rival “march for peace” was also underway in Lima, with dozens of members from community groups and political parties wearing white T-shirts in rejection of the protests against Boluarte.

“We do not want violence in our country. I know that now there is a group that disagrees with the current government, but nevertheless it is not the way to carry out a protest,” 56-year-old merchant Cesar Noa told AFP.

Protesters have maintained almost 100 roadblocks across Peru.

Castillo was removed from office and arrested on December 7 after attempting to dissolve the country’s legislature and rule by decree, amid multiple corruption investigations.

Boluarte, who was Castillo’s vice president, succeeded him. But despite Boluarte belonging to the same left-wing party, Castillo supporters have rejected her, even accusing her of being a “traitor.”

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International

Germany says football bodies alone will decide on possible World Cup boycott

The German Football Association (DFB) and FIFA will decide with full “autonomy” whether to boycott the upcoming World Cup, which will be hosted mainly by the United States in six months, following threats made by former U.S. president Donald Trump, the German government told AFP on Tuesday.

Trump has threatened to seize Greenland and impose higher tariffs on European countries that oppose the plan, raising political tensions between the United States and Europe.

“This assessment therefore lies with the relevant federations, in this case the DFB and FIFA. The federal government will respect that decision,” Sports State Secretary Christiane Schenderlein said in a statement emailed to AFP.

AFP had asked the German government about the possibility of a boycott of the World Cup to be jointly hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

“The federal government respects the autonomy of sport. Decisions regarding participation in major sporting events or possible boycotts fall exclusively within the responsibility of the relevant sports federations, not the political sphere,” said Schenderlein, a member of the conservative CDU, the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

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International

Daily Mail publisher insists reports relied on legitimate sources amid privacy trial

Two British tabloids accused of phone hacking and other forms of “unlawful information gathering” against Prince Harry and six other individuals, including singer Elton John, insisted on Tuesday that their reporting relied on legitimate sources.

Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, sought to rebut allegations of privacy violations through illegal methods on the second day of trial at London’s High Court, following a lawsuit filed by the seven claimants.

Prince Harry, 41, who attended court hearings on both Monday and Tuesday, could be called to testify starting Wednesday in a trial expected to last up to nine weeks.

Lawyers for the claimants said the alleged illegal activities took place between 1993 and 2011, with some incidents reportedly extending as late as 2018. They argue that the tabloids hired private investigators to intercept phone calls and obtain confidential information, including detailed phone records, medical histories, and bank statements.

However, Anthony White, counsel for ANL, told the court that the trial would show the company presents “a compelling account of a pattern of lawful source acquisition” for its articles.

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White added that the claims would require the court to believe that journalists and staff at the tabloids had engaged in widespread dishonesty, which the company strongly denies.

International

Death toll from southern Spain train crash rises to 40

The death toll from the train accident that occurred on Sunday in southern Spain has risen to 40, according to investigative sources cited by EFE on Monday afternoon.

Since early Monday, search operations have focused on the damaged carriages of a Renfe train bound for Huelva, which collided with the last derailed cars of an Iryo train traveling from Málaga to Madrid after it left the tracks.

The crash has also left more than 150 people injured. Of these, 41 remain hospitalized, including 12 in intensive care units at hospitals across the Andalusia region.

More than 220 Civil Guard officers are working at the site, searching the railway line and surrounding areas for key evidence to help identify victims and determine the causes of the accident.

The tragedy has revived memories of the deadliest railway disasters in Europe in recent decades. In Spain, the most severe occurred on July 24, 2013, when an Alvia train derailed near Santiago de Compostela, killing 80 people and injuring 130 others.

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At the European level, the worst rail disaster took place on June 3, 1998, in Eschede, northern Germany, when a high-speed train struck a bridge pillar at 200 kilometers per hour, resulting in 98 deaths and 120 injuries.