International

Leslie Voltaire assumes the presidency of the Council of Haiti and promises transparency

Leslie Voltaire took office as president of the Transitional Council (CPT) of Haiti and will succeed Edgard Leblanc Fils, in a ceremony held in Port-au-Prince in which the new leader promised to work with transparency, dedication and efficiency to change the living conditions of the Haitian people.

“The moment is serious. The time has come to reconcile the great nation of Haiti with itself so that future generations can escape the horrors of this inconceivable brutality, the time has come to unite. We have to govern in another way. The Haitian people are fed up with violence, lies and corruption,” Voltaire said at the act of transfer of power in the Villa d’Accueil.

The ceremony took place in the absence of Leblanc Fils, who left the Villa d’Accueil hours before the inauguration of Voltaire, appointed to be part of the Presidential Council of Transition (CPT) by the Fanmi Lavalas party.

Call to solve the challenges of Haiti

In his speech, Voltaire pledged to work in common agreement with the other members of the CPT and called for the unity of all to solve the challenges that the country has, especially the restoration of security because the “great change” that Haiti needs “cannot be achieved through violence and conflict.”

“We are mobilizing to ensure the success of the transition. We will move forward to restore security, strengthen the police and the prison system, create the conditions for (the holding of) elections, organize the national conference and the referendum on constitutional reform,” he added.

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Modification of the rotating presidency

On that date, the official newspaper Le Moniteur published a resolution on the changes in the rotating presidency of the CPT that modifies the document of last May 7 in this regard.

This resolution is released days after the official Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) asked for action to be taken against three members of the Council – Louis Gérald Gilles, Emmanuel Vertilaire and Smith Augustin – for abuse of functions, payment of bribes and passive corruption.

In principle, it was Smith Augustin who was to succeed Leblanc Fils, but the three defendants have been removed from the rotating presidency of the Council, although they remain in the institution.

Under the new agreement, from October 7 to March 7, 2025 the presidency of the CPT will be occupied by Voltaire, from March 7 to August 7, 2025 it will be exercised by Fritz Alphonse Jean and from then to February 7, 2026 (date on which a president of Haiti elected at the polls should take office) it will be Laurent Saint-Cyr’s turn.

Haiti has not had a president since on July 7, 2021, he was murdered in his Jovenel Moise residence by a group of mercenaries, mostly Colombians.

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Crisis in the Council

In his last speech to the nation published a few hours ago, Leblanc Fils said that he hoped that the three involved in the alleged corruption would agree to move away from the CPT until justice clarified the matter, but this did not occur: “unfortunately they did not understand that it was the right decision, this scandal affects the image of the entire Presidential Transition Council.”

“I cannot accept to participate in any process that weakens and further devalues the country’s justice system,” Leblanc said, explaining why he was the only one of the nine members of the CPT who did not sign the new resolution on the rotating presidency.

In his opinion, “the majority of the Council is taking the wrong path. He runs the risk of plunding the country into instability. It will worsen the situation and prolong the transition period.”

The change in the presidency of the CPT occurs when Haiti is still shocked by the massacre last week at the hands of the armed group Gran Grif in Pont Sondé (artibonite department) of more than 70 people, despite the fact that part of the Multinational Security Support Mission led by Kenya is on the ground to try to curb the violence.

In 2023, the violence caused, between deaths and injuries, 8,000 victims in Haiti and in the first half of this year alone it already rose to about 3,900, according to UN data.

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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.