Free Republic

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s new government imposed a police state Wednesday in response to violent protests following the ouster of President Pedro Castillo. The 30-day national emergency declaration suspends the rights of “personal security and freedom” across the Andean nation. Acts of vandalism, violence and highway blockades “require a forceful and authoritative response from the government,” Defense Minister Luis Otarola Peñaranda announced. The declaration suspends the rights of assembly and freedom of movement and empowers the police, supported by Peru’s military, to search people’s homes without permission or judicial order. Otarola said it has not determined whether a curfew...

Peru has a female president for the first time, after ex-president Pedro Castillo was impeached - hours after he tried to dissolve parliament. Dina Boluarte - previously the vice-president - was sworn in after a dramatic day in Lima on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Mr Castillo had said he was replacing Congress with an "exceptional emergency government". But lawmakers ignored this, and in an emergency meeting impeached him. He was then detained and accused of rebellion. Ms Boluarte, a 60-year-old lawyer, said she would govern until July 2026, which is when Mr Castillo's presidency would have ended. Speaking after...

LIMA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Peru barred Bolivia's socialist former president, Evo Morales, from entering its territory on Monday, Peru's government announced in a statement, a decision Morales later derided as an attack meant to distract from rights violations. The move to ban Morales, along with eight other unidentified Bolivians, follows weeks of deadly protests in Peru targeting President Dina Boluarte... ...The statement from Peru's interior ministry said Bolivian citizens have entered the country in recent months to carry out political activities, violating immigration laws while undermining national security.... ...Shortly after the ban was announced, Peru Prime Minister Alberto Otarola...

Jeanine Áñez was detained in the early morning in her hometown of Trinidad and was flown to the capital, La Paz. She had earlier warned that officials were searching for her, terming it “abuse and persecution” in Twitter posts. The arrest of Áñez and warrants against numerous other former officials further worsened political tensions in a South American country already torn by a cascade of perceived wrongs suffered by both sides. Those include complaints that Morales had grown more authoritarian with nearly 13 years in office, that he illegally ran for a fourth reelection and then allegedly rigged the outcome,...

The US Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 in the country’s coastal Guayas region. Its centre was about 50 miles (80 kilometres) south of Guayaquil, which has a metropolitan area of more than 3 million people. The Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, in a televised address said the earthquake killed 12 people. In a tweet, he also asked people to remain calm. The Peruvian prime minister, Alberto Otárola, said a four-year-old girl had died from head trauma she suffered in the collapse of her home in the Tumbes region, on the border with Ecuador. Cristian Torres, head...