International

Military espionage uncovered in Ayotzinapa normalistas case

Photo: EFE

October 19 |

The Commission for Truth and Access to Justice in the Ayotzinapa Case (CoVAJ) released on Wednesday a series of documents showing that the Mexican Army possessed information on the possible whereabouts of the missing normalista students in Ayotzinapa, Mexican state of Guerrero.

The mechanism created to support the clarification of the disappearance of 43 students between September 26 and 27, 2014, revealed at least 18 declassified documents derived from the monitoring carried out on criminal actors in the region, such as the Guerreros Unidos, linked to the disappearance of the young people.

Several of these texts reveal the transfer of a group of 17 students from Iguala to the city of Chilpancingo, some 100 kilometers away, and that they were allegedly held in a cave, but it is not known if this has been included in the investigations or if the families have been informed.

According to the report, the Army “had knowledge of what was happening (…) That is to say, they had information in real time about the possible destinations of the missing students, as well as the people involved, their relationship with ministerial authorities and places where they were possibly sheltered.”

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For its part, Mexico’s Interior Ministry stated in a press release that these files presented were already known to the investigation teams, such as the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), but have now been published in full.

However, this report hints that the Army may have much more information about the case of the missing Ayotzinapa normalistas, but that it has not been handed over to the victims’ families and investigators despite numerous requests.

One of the proofs of this is that the documents were numbered consecutively. Thus, it can be concluded that between the documents ‘CRFI 1202’, ‘CRFI 1203’ and ‘CRFI 1204’, referring to communications tapped on September 27, 2014 and the following ‘CRFI 1212’, from the other day, a skip can be described in which papers are missing.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra dies in campaign road accident

Presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra, representing the Partido de los Trabajadores y Emprendedores (PTE) in Peru, died in a traffic accident while traveling to a campaign event, local authorities confirmed Sunday.

Becerra, who also served as president of the centrist political party, ranked among the lowest in opinion polls in a crowded field of more than 30 candidates competing in the presidential election scheduled for April 12.

Recent surveys place Rafael López Aliaga at the top of voter preferences.

The accident occurred near the town of Ayacucho, in southern Peru, when the vehicle carrying the candidate overturned for reasons that remain under investigation.

“The candidate Becerra has died,” Balvin Huamani, mayor of the district of Pilpichaca, told RPP radio.

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According to Huamani, he personally transported the 61-year-old candidate to a local health center, where doctors confirmed his death.

The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) expressed condolences over Becerra’s passing and wished a speedy recovery to the three people who were traveling with him and were injured in the crash.

International

Noboa intensifies anti-cartel crackdown as violence persists in Ecuador

A close ally of Washington, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has pursued a hardline security strategy against cocaine cartels for more than two years, yet homicide, disappearance and extortion rates remain high across the country.

Between Sunday night and the morning of March 31, Ecuador’s armed forces will launch a “very strong offensive” with “advisory support” from the United States, Interior Minister John Reimberg announced Tuesday.

The government has kept details of the operation confidential and has not confirmed whether U.S. troops will be deployed on Ecuadorian soil, as has occurred at times during Noboa’s administration.

As part of the security measures, residents in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro will be subject to a nightly curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for the next two weeks.

“We are in a war,” Reimberg said, urging citizens to remain indoors. “Do not take risks. Stay home and allow the security forces and our allies to do the work that must be done.”

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Although Ecuador does not produce cocaine, it has become a major departure point for drugs heading to the United States. Meanwhile, the violence associated with trafficking has increasingly affected the local population.

Bordering the world’s largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has gone from being considered a relatively peaceful country to recording one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America—52 killings per 100,000 inhabitants—according to the **Observatory of Organized Crime.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate proposes death penalty amid crime surge

Peru is facing an unprecedented surge in crime ahead of its presidential election scheduled for April 12, with violence fueled by extortion networks and a wave of contract killings linked to organized crime.

Police data show that 2,200 homicides tied to organized crime were recorded in 2025, while extortion complaints increased by 19%, underscoring the growing security crisis in the South American nation.

Amid this backdrop, presidential candidate Álvarez has proposed reinstating the death penalty if elected, arguing that extreme measures are needed to curb the violence.

To implement the proposal, Álvarez said Peru would withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights—also known as the Pact of San José—which the country signed in 1978. The agreement prevents member states that have abolished capital punishment from reinstating it.

Currently, Peruvian law only allows the death penalty in cases of treason during wartime.

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“We have to leave the Pact of San José and apply the death penalty in Peru because those miserable criminals don’t deserve to live,” Álvarez told AFP during a campaign stop at a market in Callao, the port city neighboring Lima.

“An iron fist against those criminals,” he added, proposing to declare hitmen as military targets.

During the campaign event, Álvarez walked through stalls selling vegetables, groceries, and fish, greeting vendors while musicians played cumbia music nearby.

The 62-year-old candidate, who spent more than four decades working in television as a comedian, is a newcomer to politics and is running for president under the País para Todos party.

Polls place him fifth in voter preference with nearly 4% support in a fragmented race featuring 36 candidates.