The Ghosts of Leaders Past

NEED TO KNOW

The Ghosts of Leaders Past

PERU

The recent death of Alberto Fujimori, 86, who served as president of Peru in the 1990s, was a milestone in the South American country’s political history. Fujimori gained respect when he first took office for his neoliberal economic policies and his tough stance against left-wing terrorists who waged a war against the central government from 1980 to 2000.

Eventually, as the Washington Post reported, Fujimori’s oppressive governance and corruption caught up with him. In 1998, he was convicted of human rights violations and sent to prison for 25 years. He was released from jail in 2023 due to his advanced age and health, but he was still facing charges dating back to his years in power.

Even with his passing, however, Fujimori’s legacy lingers. Peru’s government recently passed a law, for example, giving legal immunity to Fujimori and members of the security forces for human rights abuses committed before 2002. The law was a gift for the president and his allies, the Associated Press wrote.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk panned the legislation. “Lack of accountability for these crimes, whenever committed, risks endangering the rights to truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence for thousands of victims of grave violations in Peru,” Türk said, according to Agence France-Press.

Interestingly, lawmakers who passed the law and President Dina Boluarte, who signed it, arguably lack the legitimacy to do so. Their popularity ratings are among the lowest in the world – 10 percent in Boluarte’s case, World Politics Review noted. Boluarte took office because she was vice president when ex-President Pedro Castillo was impeached. Small, fragmented parties dominate the Peruvian Congress.

Boluarte began her administration ignominiously when security forces killed 50 demonstrators who had taken to the streets to protest the ousting of Castillo. She claims she was not involved in the decision-making that led to those deaths. Amnesty International disagrees.

Before Boluarte, incidentally, Peru had six different presidents in six years, underscoring how all managed to violate the law while none had sufficient popular backing to remain in office.

Meanwhile, the true leaders of the country, according to the Economist, are right-wing and centrist lawmakers in Congress. Because Boluarte has no vice president, they don’t want to oust her because the country’s constitution states that new elections must be held if she leaves office. Voters would almost certainly fire these lawmakers if they had a chance.

The result is a bevy of laws, like the amnesty legislation, that critics say are eroding Peruvian democracy, Al Jazeera explained – just like Fujimori did.

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

Opening Doors

GERMANY

Germany signed two major migration agreements with Kenya and Uzbekistan this week, in an attempt to address labor shortages in the country and strengthen migration policies to combat the rising influence of the far-right, Bloomberg reported.

The deal with Uzbekistan, sealed Sunday during a visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the Central Asian nation, is aimed at attracting skilled workers to Germany and facilitating the return of migrants without legal residency.

The two countries also announced a commitment to deepen collaboration on mining and supplying critical raw materials, such as copper, and strengthen supply chains.

The agreement came two days after Scholz and Kenyan President William Ruto inked a similar deal in the German capital Berlin, allowing skilled and semi-skilled Kenyan workers access to the German labor market, CNN wrote.

Although the exact number of Kenyan workers has not been disclosed, officials in the African nation previously said they looking at employment opportunities for up to 250,000 Kenyans.

The Kenya deal also focuses on controlling irregular migration, including ensuring that undocumented Kenyans in Germany are repatriated.

Observers said that both accords are part of a broader effort by Berlin to fill in gaps in the labor market and shore up its workforce as its population ages, especially in sectors needing skilled workers.

But they also highlight Scholz and his ruling coalition’s tougher stance in tackling migration amid rising anti-immigrant sentiment and the growing popularity of the opposition far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party.

In recent weeks, Germany has introduced stricter immigration policies and border checks in an effort to combat irregular migration and cross-border crime, Reuters added.

The changes also follow a series of attacks by migrants and asylum seekers in recent months, including last month’s fatal attack in Solingen by a Syrian man due for deportation.

Gold Rush

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Violence between rival tribes killed at least 20 people in Papua New Guinea this week, the United Nations said Monday, the latest conflict among tribal members over the control of mining access in the gold-rich Enga province, Al Jazeera reported.

UN and government officials said the violence started days ago in the province’s Porgera Valley, home to one of Papua New Guinea’s largest gold deposits, with up to 50 people reported killed.

On Saturday, police declared an emergency in the region after the violence escalated. Authorities have also received permission to “use lethal force” to quell the unrest.

Hundreds of tribal members have been fighting in the Porgera Valley since clashes spiraled last month following an attack on a landowner by unauthorized miners. Police officials alleged that illegal miners from the Sakar clan have been squatting on land owned by the Piande tribe.

Tribal conflicts in Papua New Guinea are not uncommon, but the influx of modern, high-powered weapons has made these confrontations far more deadly. The recent unrest follows a similar pattern, with gunfights between rival clans near the Porgera mine in 2022 leaving at least 17 people dead.

The conflict has disrupted the operations of the Porgera gold mine, which had previously accounted for around 10 percent of Papua New Guinea’s annual export earnings.

A disaster management team, led by the national government in coordination with the UN, is trying to address both the violence and the wider humanitarian crisis, the Associated Press noted.

However, efforts to stabilize the region have been hampered by the challenging terrain and the need for security escorts to protect relief workers.

During a recent visit, Pope Francis urged Papua New Guinea to put an end to the cycle of tribal violence that has plagued the nation.

Meanwhile, the Porgera Valley is still reeling from the aftermath of a devastating landslide in May, which buried villages and killed around 2,000 people, according to government estimates.

No Entry

ITALY

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini may be facing up to six years in prison for a 2019 decision that blocked a ship assisting migrants from docking in Italy, the Associated Press reported.

Salvini is charged with the kidnapping of the migrants on board the ship and dereliction of duty. A decision in the trial, which began in 2021, could be made as early as next month. If convicted, Salvini could be barred from holding public office.

Salvini has denied the charges. He said on X that “defending Italy is not a crime and I will not give up, not now, not ever.”

At the time, the ship, operated by the charity Open Arms, was carrying 147 migrants from Libya, and was hoping to dock on the small Italian island of Lampedusa, halfway between North Africa and mainland Europe.

Salvini, who was interior minister at the time, adopted a “closed ports” policy to deter migrants from entering Italy, turning away charity ships rescuing migrants at sea and accusing humanitarian organizations of encouraging human trafficking. The ship at the center of the case was stranded at sea for 19 days before a court order allowed it to dock.

During the trial, crewmembers have testified that the sanitary conditions of the migrants on board deteriorated during those 19 days in limbo, even resulting in a scabies outbreak, according to BBC news.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ruling Brothers of Italy party is currently in a coalition with Salvini’s right-wing League party. She wrote on X that “turning the duty to protect Italy’s borders from illegal immigration into a crime is a very serious precedent.”

Meanwhile, the verdict will affect not only Salvini, but the rights of migrants and humanitarian organizations to access Italian ports, the AP wrote.

DISCOVERIES

The Good Learners

Scientists know that some dogs are just more skilled than others when it comes to learning and remembering the names of various objects.

Known as Gifted Word Learners (GWL), these special pooches can grasp the names of new objects a little faster and a little easier than their counterparts, according to Psychology Today.

Now, a new study found that these animals can remember these names after a two-year hiatus.

“We know that dogs can remember events for at least 24 hours and odors for up to one year, but this is the first study showing that some talented dogs can remember words for at least two years,” head of the research group and co-author, Claudia Fugazza, said in a statement.

Their study began in 2020 when Fugazza and her team asked owners to teach their dogs the names of 12 new toys within a week. The six GWL dogs that participated were from different countries, including Brazil, Hungary and the United States.

Two years later, the researchers followed up with the canines and found that four out of five of them – one passed away in the interim period – still remembered the names of 60 to 75 percent of the toys.

The average success rate was 44 percent, which is significant given the “chance level” was only 20 percent, according to researchers.

These findings are important because they help scientists understand how animals, like dogs, remember things and how this might connect to the way humans learn and remember words. It could lead to new insights into how animals think, especially when it comes to memory and learning through association.

Still, finding GWL canines is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

In more than five years of research, around 40 special dogs have been identified and they are not easy to spot, explained co-author and cognitive researcher Shany Dror.

“That’s the interesting thing,” she told Newsweek. “Most owners, when we found them, didn’t intentionally train their dogs (to remember) the names of their toys – they just kind of picked up on the names.”

In the meantime, scientists are continuing to search for these special dogs, asking owners with remarkable canines to reach out to the Genius Dog Challenge team via email, Facebook or Instagram.