International
Peru militarizes its borders in response to the arrival of migrants
April 27 |
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte decreed on Wednesday a state of emergency on its borders and ordered the deployment of the military to reinforce controls in the face of the arrival of hundreds of migrants, mostly from Chile.
The troops will support surveillance at border crossings with Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia.
In principle, the state of emergency will be in force as of Thursday. However, the executive has not specified its duration nor whether rights will be restricted at the border crossings.
Relying on press reports stating that “those who commit daily assaults, robberies and other criminal acts are foreigners”, Boluarte claimed that his decision is aimed at combating insecurity.
“That is why we have to speak almost in unison of migration and citizen insecurity”, he said.
In this sense, his Minister of Defense, Jorge Chavez, said that the state of emergency has the “purpose” of avoiding “the irregular and illegal entry” of people.
Under the desert sun and cold, hundreds of migrants who left Chile have been crowded for weeks at the border crossing between the Peruvian city of Tacna and the Chilean city of Arica, where the Peruvian authorities are preventing them from passing for lack of a stamped passport and valid visa.
Women, men and children are trapped between Chilean and Peruvian police officers guarding the border crossing, 1,500 km south of Lima.
The Peruvian government cut them off and sent 200 troops to reinforce migration controls, which had already been tightened by Chile.
According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the majority are Haitians and Venezuelans. The migrants claim that they only intend to cross Peruvian territory to their countries of origin or to the United States, in order to reunite with their families.
“We are between a rock and a hard place, we are doing this because we have our needs, but waiting here for a week, two weeks (…) nobody would want to do that”, said Venezuelan Yosier Canelón to AFP.
UNHCR issued a statement on Wednesday night where it advocated for a humanitarian solution to the situation of migrants on the border with Chile because while “it is the legitimate duty of States to control their borders; it is also important to have regular channels for people in need of international protection, family reunification and other humanitarian issues to access the territory through checkpoints”.
The UN agency welcomed some of the measures announced by Lima, including an “amnesty of fines that will allow 100,000 refugees and migrants in the country to regularize and update their data.”
“Regularization is a lifesaver: regular status is a door to local integration”, he added.
Between Tacna and Arica there has been a daily average of 150 to 200 people.
“They are changing flows, there has been a peak of about 400 people, of different nationalities,” Federico Agusti, UNHCR’s representative in Peru, told AFP on Friday.
Migrants rejected by Peru have improvised camps at an intermediate point, in a sort of geographical limbo between the two countries, and others have returned to Arica.
With the measures announced by Lima “it is going to be more difficult for people to pass (to Peru), and we are going to have a situation of encampment at the border, which is what we have been warning about”, assured Gerardo Espíndola, mayor of Arica, to Biobío radio.
In addition to the state of emergency, Boluarte also announced that those who have entered Peru irregularly in recent years “will have a period of six months to go to the Peruvian authorities to regularize their situation”.
It is estimated that the Venezuelan population in Peru, which represents almost 9 out of 10 foreigners, is close to 1.3 million people, of which one third do not have a migratory permit to stay in the country, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INEI).
International
Canada faces another record-breaking wildfire season amid climate crisis
Wildfires in Canada have already burned more than 5.5 million hectares so far this year—an area roughly the size of Croatia—authorities reported on Friday, as the country endures one of its most destructive wildfire seasons.
In 2023, Canada experienced the worst wildfire season in its history, with 17.4 million hectares scorched, a staggering figure that captured global attention and underscored the growing threat of wildfires fueled by human-driven climate change.
As of 2025, Canada has recorded around 3,000 wildfires, with 561 still active as of Friday, according to official data.
“This is one of the largest total burned areas for this time of year, second only to the record-breaking 2023 wildfire season,” said Michael Norton, an official from Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources, during a press briefing.
Based on data compiled since 1983, Canada’s second most destructive wildfire season was in 1995, when 7.08 million hectares were burned—a benchmark that could be surpassed this year.
International
Trump orders release of grand jury testimonies in Epstein case
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he has instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all grand jury testimonies related to the formal indictment of financier Jeffrey Epstein on charges of child sex trafficking.
“Given the ridiculous amount of publicity surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all relevant grand jury testimonies, subject to court approval. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, must end—right now!” the president wrote on his social network, Truth Social.
Trump’s directive to Bondi comes as the Epstein scandal has resurfaced in the United States, following a recent investigation by the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ), which concluded that the financier did not possess a “client list” of prominent figures he was allegedly blackmailing.
The FBI and DOJ also reaffirmed that Epstein died by suicide, rejecting conspiracy theories suggesting he was murdered to protect high-profile acquaintances. Authorities stated they do not intend to release further findings on the case.
International
Dina Boluarte avoids prosecution again as lawmakers dismiss sixth complaint
A congressional committee in Peru dismissed yet another constitutional complaint against President Dina Boluarte on Friday, blocking a potential investigation into her alleged responsibility for the deaths that occurred during the 2022 protests following her rise to power after the ousting of former president Pedro Castillo.
This marks the sixth time that Congress — with the support of allied parties — has halted legal efforts to hold Boluarte accountable. In June, lawmakers shelved three similar complaints filed by members of the small opposition bloc. Two other complaints had already been dismissed in 2023 and 2024.
Almost immediately after taking office in December 2022 — following Castillo’s removal after he attempted to dissolve Congress to avoid impeachment — Boluarte faced a wave of protests in southern Peru. These demonstrations resulted in the deaths of 50 civilians. According to autopsy reports, over half of the victims were killed by gunfire.
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