International

The president of Peru calls on opponents to establish “a pact for governance”

The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, invoked her political opponents this Sunday to establish “a pact for the governance” of her country that allows, as she said, to fulfill “the historical responsibility” of meeting the needs of the 33 million Peruvians.

“Away from the voices that divide, that expect us to give up, that we go back on this road for the struggle for the progress of the homeland, he invoked a pact for Peru, a pact for governability, for democracy,” Boluarte said during a ceremony held at the Government Palace of Lima.

The president made this approach two days after the plenary of Congress refused to admit to processing three motions for vacancy (dismissal) that had been presented against her by opposition legislators, mostly from left-wing political groups.

Boluarte added that “a divided, intolerant country, even if it is a minority group that moves these aspects that I indicate, affects unity.”

“The country demands the unity of its authorities to move forward,” he emphasized.

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The head of state also remarked that “all” politicians have “a historical responsibility with the more than 33 million Peruvians.”

“Therefore, work in unity, as I always say, in a single patriotic heart, will make our homeland bigger, and that within it Peruvians have greater rights,” he concluded.

Last Friday, the Prime Minister of Peru, Gustavo Adrianzén, said that the Executive “will not allow governance to be broken in his country,” referring to the three motions of dismissal presented against Boluarte.

“We tell that small group of benches and parliamentarians that they are not going to make it, that we are not going to allow someone to want to break the governance of the country to lead us to instability and chaos,” he said.

The three motions, which were rejected by a simple majority, called for the dismissal of Boluarte for an alleged moral inability to exercise the head of state and demanded that he offer explanations for the latest complaints that have been made against him, which are also investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office.

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Among the arguments was an alleged “abandonment from office,” which a journalistic complaint pointed out by Boluarte for 12 days between the end of June and the beginning of July 2023 to undergo alleged aesthetic procedures.

Also, his alleged involvement in the investigation against one of his brothers, Nicanor Boluarte, by deactivating a police team that supported a prosecutor’s group that specifically prosecutes the crimes of corruption committed by senior public officials a day before his preliminary arrest.

In this case, the Public Ministry opened a preliminary investigation of the president for the alleged commission of the crime against the administration of justice, in the form of personal cover-up.

International

Five laboratories investigated in Spain over possible African Swine Fever leak

Catalan authorities announced this Saturday that a total of five laboratories are under investigation over a possible leak of the African swine fever virus, which is currently affecting Spain and has put Europe’s largest pork producer on alert.

“We have commissioned an audit of all facilities, of all centers within the 20-kilometer risk zone that are working with the African swine fever virus,” said Salvador Illa, president of the Catalonia regional government, during a press conference. Catalonia is the only Spanish region affected so far. “There are only a few centers, no more than five,” Illa added, one day after the first laboratory was announced as a potential source of the outbreak.

Illa also reported that the 80,000 pigs located on the 55 farms within the risk zone are healthy and “can be made available for human consumption following the established protocols.” Therefore, he said, “they may be safely marketed on the Spanish market.”

International

María Corina Machado says Venezuela’s political transition “must take place”

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said this Thursday, during a virtual appearance at an event hosted by the Venezuelan-American Association of the U.S. (VAAUS) in New York, that Venezuela’s political transition “must take place” and that the opposition is now “more organized than ever.”

Machado, who is set to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10 in Oslo, Norway — although it is not yet known whether she will attend — stressed that the opposition is currently focused on defining “what comes next” to ensure that the transition is “orderly and effective.”

“We have legitimate leadership and a clear mandate from the people,” she said, adding that the international community supports this position.

Her remarks come amid a hardening of U.S. policy toward the government of Nicolás Maduro, with new economic sanctions and what has been described as the “full closure” of airspace over and around Venezuela — a measure aimed at airlines, pilots, and alleged traffickers — increasing pressure on Caracas and further complicating both air mobility and international commercial operations.

During her speech, Machado highlighted the resilience of the Venezuelan people, who “have suffered, but refuse to surrender,” and said the opposition is facing repression with “dignity and moral strength,” including “exiles and political prisoners who have been separated from their families and have given everything for the democratic cause.”

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She also thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for recognizing that Venezuela’s transition is “a priority” and for his role as a “key figure in international pressure against the Maduro regime.”

“Is change coming? Absolutely yes,” Machado said, before concluding that “Venezuela will be free.”

International

Catalonia’s president calls for greater ambition in defending democracy

The President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Salvador Illa, on Thursday called for being “more ambitious” in defending democracy, which he warned is being threatened “from within” by inequality, extremism, and hate speech driven by what he described as a “politics of intimidation,” on the final day of his visit to Mexico.

“The greatest threat to democracies is born within themselves. It is inequality and the winds of extremism. Both need each other and feed off one another,” Illa said during a speech at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City.

In his address, Illa stated that in the face of extremism, society can adopt “two attitudes: hope or fear,” and warned that hate-driven rhetoric seeks to weaken citizens’ resolve. “We must be aware that hate speech, the politics of intimidation, and threats in the form of tariffs, the persecution of migrants, drones flying over Europe, or even war like the invasion of Ukraine, or walls at the border, all pursue the same goal: to make citizens give up and renounce who they want to be,” he added.

Despite these challenges, he urged people “not to lose hope,” emphasizing that there is a “better alternative,” which he summarized as “dialogue, institutional cooperation, peace, and human values.”

“I sincerely believe that we must be more ambitious in our defense of democracy, and that we must remember, demonstrate, and put into practice everything we are capable of doing. Never before has humanity accumulated so much knowledge, so much capacity, and so much power to shape the future,” Illa stressed.

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For that reason, he called for a daily defense of the democratic system “at all levels and by each person according to their responsibility,” warning that democracy is currently facing an “existential threat.”