Home Alone: Rule By Might Brings Peru to its Knees
NEED TO KNOW
Home Alone: Rule By Might Brings Peru to its Knees
PERU
On March 16, renowned Peruvian singer Paul Flores was shot to death by hitmen who attacked a bus he was on with his Armonia 10 group bandmates after a concert outside the capital of Lima.
The musicians had been threatened by a criminal gang who had attempted to extort them for money.
That’s not uncommon anymore, however – extortion and murder are now an everyday occurrence in Peru.
“We’ve been abandoned and left to fend for ourselves,” local resident Pedro Quispe, 48, of Lima, told the Associated Press. “If you get on a bus, you can get shot; if you go to work, you can get asked for extortion payments.”
Between 2019 and 2024, reported extortions increased sixfold to almost 23,000 incidents. In 2025, one out of every three Peruvians said they knew someone who had been extorted. Homicides, meanwhile, have doubled since 2019 to almost 2,000 in the country of 34 million. In 2025, more than 75 percent of Peruvians reported being scared to leave home.
And yet, for years, the government downplayed the situation, say observers.
“Well, homicides aren’t a simple problem, and they’re not unique to this country,” said Peru’s health minister César Vásquez in January. “Violence has increased dramatically around the world, and other nearby countries are much worse off.”
Still, soon after Flores’ murder, the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in Lima and sent soldiers onto the streets. Protests broke out soon after with Peruvians outraged over the killing of the Cumbia musician and also the government’s inability to stop the crime wave that is bringing Peru to its knees.
As a result, in a country that has grappled for years with deep political and economic instability, it’s the crime wave that has now become the top priority for voters, according to recent polls. Many are calling for a strongman leader, such as President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, who has filled prisons with thousands of suspected gang members to stop the criminal gangs but has also repeatedly violated civil rights to bring order to the streets.
The government of deeply unpopular President Dina Boluarte – her approval ratings are around 5 percent, while Congress’ is at 4 percent – has moved to institute states of emergency – three in the past year – which allow the government to use the military for civilian purposes and suspend civil liberties, for example making arrests without a warrant.
The government says they have dismantled more than 60 criminal gangs. Meanwhile, in March, lawmakers designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization.
Yet the murders and violence continue, wrote Bloomberg.
The northern city of Trujillo is known for its economic ties to organized crime and illegal gold mining and is a good example of how out of control the situation is, say analysts.
Trujillo has been under a state of emergency for months due to high levels of criminal activity. One reason for that is that organized crime gangs are cashing in on a boom in illegal mining supported by high gold prices.
Protests have been breaking out since last year over a rise in extortion demands there. Then, in January, the prosecutor’s office was bombed as it was investigating cases against organized criminals.
Still, analysts say that if Peru doesn’t do more to address the obstacles in stamping out the crime wave, it won’t be able to halt the slide into gang totalitarianism. Meanwhile, Boluarte’s announcement of fresh elections next year won’t stop that slide, they add, without addressing corruption and collusion by politicians.
“In 2024, the Peruvian Congress passed laws and adopted other decisions that undermined judicial independence, weakened democratic institutions, and hindered investigations into organized crime, corruption, and human rights violations,” wrote Human Rights Watch. “President Dina Boluarte made little or no effort to stop these congressional attacks against democracy and the rule of law, and her administration also pursued policies that contributed to the erosion of democratic norms and civil rights. These included efforts to suppress protests and a growing disregard for judicial independence.”
Last year, Boluarte herself came under investigation for corruption and bribery: She allegedly received illegal contributions to her political campaign and failed to declare the many Rolexes and other expensive watches and jewelry she sports – some of which were allegedly on loan from a provincial governor – in a scandal known as “Rolexgate.” Meanwhile, more than half of all 130 members of Congress were also under criminal investigation for corruption and other offenses, local media reported.
As officials come under investigation, they have also acted to blunt investigation tools necessary by police and prosecutors that are also being used against themselves, say observers. For example, the legislature passed a law in 2024 narrowing the definition of “organized crime,” hindering investigations into corruption and extortion while weakening the Attorney General’s office in a move the Lima Bar Association called “a setback” in the fight against organized crime.
Also, the president vetoed a bill in 2024 that would have made it easier to detain suspected criminals.
Still, Peruvian analyst Martin Cassinelli of the Atlantic Council warned that a crackdown on crime or a change in government might not be the panaceas that voters hope for unless there is institutional change along with them. After all, Peru has had six presidents in seven years, some of them currently jailed.
For example, he said Peru might soon fall into the same trap it did in 2021 – when angry voters elected populist Pedro Castillo as president and then, afterward, as public corruption ran rampant, the president tried to undermine democracy with an unsuccessful “self-coup,” for which he was later impeached and imprisoned.
“Yet, while authorities focus on crackdowns against violent crime, they risk ignoring the deeper cause of the crisis: a decade of institutional decay marked by jailed presidents and pervasive corruption,” he wrote, “(and) any real solution must also tackle crime’s institutional roots. Candidates (for office) should promote a comprehensive political reform that reduces organized crime’s influence in the country’s political bodies.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Playing With Fire: Israeli Prime Minister Defies Court Over Shin Bet Official
ISRAEL
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday appointed a new head of Israel’s domestic security agency, in spite of a Supreme Court ruling that suspended the dismissal of the current director, with some warning the move could trigger a constitutional crisis, Agence France-Presse reported.
On Monday, Netanyahu’s office announced the appointment of a former navy chief Vice-Admiral Eli Sharvit to lead Shin Bet. He will replace Ronen Bar, who was fired in mid-March by Netanyahu due to an “ongoing lack of trust.”
Bar had clashed with Netanyahu and his cabinet over security failures ahead of Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in southern Israel. His agency is also investigating alleged covert payments involving a Netanyahu aide and Qatar.
The firing of Bar led to protests over the past few weeks.
Israel’s opposition and non-governmental groups filed a petition against the move, prompting the Supreme Court to temporarily freeze Bar’s dismissal. The court said the suspension would remain in place until the appeal is heard, likely next week.
As a result, Sharvit’s appointment sparked questions about the legality of Netanyahu’s move to defy the court.
Critics, including opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, accused the prime minister of defying legal norms and deepening tensions between the executive and judiciary.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara previously ruled that Netanyahu was prohibited from naming a new Shin Bet chief during the legal freeze, warning of a potential conflict of interest.
Other legal analysts said that while Netanyahu had “not violated” any laws, his decision could be labeled “an attempt to influence the court.”
Monday’s announcement came amid a broader political clash over judicial authority.
Last week, Israel’s parliament passed a law expanding the power of elected officials to appoint judges, a key part of Netanyahu’s long-sought judicial overhaul, according to France 24.
Under the new law, which takes effect in the next legislative term, the nine-member committee selecting judges will include three Supreme Court justices, two ministers, two coalition lawmakers, one opposition lawmaker, and two public representatives – one chosen by the governing coalition and one by the opposition.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin said the new legislation restores the balance between branches of government, adding that the court had usurped legislative authority by voiding laws and hindering government actions.
Critics, however, warned that the change gives the government undue control over the judiciary and undermines democracy.
The law’s passage reignited mass protests last week in key cities across Israel, mirroring the mass unrest seen in 2023 when the reform package was first unveiled.
‘Farewell, Junk Food!’ – Mexico Bans High Caloric Snacks in Schools
MEXICO
The Mexican government moved to ban junk food in schools over the weekend in an attempt to combat one of the world’s worst obesity rates and a diabetes epidemic, the Associated Press reported.
The health guidelines, first published last fall, immediately targeted sweet or salty processed foods common among schoolchildren, such as sugary fruit drinks, potato chips, artificial pork rinds, and soy-encased, chili-flavored peanuts.
Under Mexico’s new regulations, schools must gradually eliminate foods and beverages with even just one black warning label indicating high levels of salt, sugar, calories, or fat. Such labeling on the front of packaging has been compulsory in the country since 2020.
Schools are now ordered to serve nutritious alternatives to junk food and offer plain drinking water.
Mexico’s Education Ministry wrote on X: “Farewell, junk food!” He also invited parents – the majority of whom seem to agree with the law – to also provide healthy food at home.
According to UNICEF, Mexican children consume more junk food than any other children in Latin America. The childhood obesity epidemic in the country was recently classified as an emergency, with one-third of Mexican children considered overweight or obese, according to government statistics.
Forty percent of Mexican children’s total calorie intake consists of sugary drinks and highly processed foods.
While school administrations violating the new order can be fined from $545 to $5,450, it remains unclear how the ban will be enforced. Previous bans on junk food have struggled to gain traction, while monitoring has been spotty across Mexico’s 255,000 schools – many of which lack water fountains altogether, along with reliable Internet and electricity.
It was also unclear how Mexico plans to prevent street vendors from selling junk food on sidewalks outside schools during recess or after classes end.
Mexico’s ambitious plan to change its population’s eating habits and promote a healthy food culture among the next generations of consumers has attracted attention around the world amid a global obesity pandemic, the newswire wrote.
French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Barred From Presidential Race
FRANCE
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been banned from running in the 2027 presidential elections after a Paris court on Monday found her guilty of embezzling European Union funds to finance her National Rally (NR) party’s local operations, Le Monde wrote.
Le Pen – along with other 24 party members – was accused of hiring four fictional assistants when she was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) between 2004 and 2017. In reality, these people were working for her party but were being paid by the European Parliament, the court said.
“There was no personal enrichment … but there was the enrichment of a party,” said Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis, according to Euronews.
Le Pen – who left the courtroom before the judge finished delivering the sentence – was also convicted to four years in prison but will not go to jail; two years of the term are suspended. She will serve the other two years free but with an electronic bracelet.
She also received a $108,000 fine and is banned from running for office for five years.
France’s constitutional court ruled last Friday that elected officials can be barred from office immediately upon conviction for a crime. As a result, the verdict bars Le Pen from running for office, even if she appeals.
The three-time presidential candidate must resign as a councilor for the northern French election district of Pas-de-Calais but will remain a member of parliament, though she cannot run in upcoming legislative elections if parliament is dissolved and new elections are held as a result.
Nine current or former members of parliament from the NR and 12 assistants were also found guilty of concealing a crime and barred from office, while the party was fined $2.16 million.
The court estimated the European Parliament’s total loss at $3.13 million, with Le Pen personally embezzling around $512,000.
Besides the fictitious employment, the court suspects Le Pen of being at the center of an organized and centralized “embezzlement scheme” involving money paid by the EU to her party between 2004 and 2016.
During the trial last fall, Le Pen had denied the very existence of a scheme, saying there was no evidence, and criticized the “lies” spread by former colleagues motivated by “vengeance.”
Le Pen received support from fellow far-right politicians, while Russia commented that more and more “European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms,” and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán writing “Je suis Marine” (I am Marine) on X.
RN party leader Jordan Bardella said French democracy was being “executed” with the “unjust” verdict.
DISCOVERIES
Glassified in Time
In 2020, researchers found pea-sized chunks of black glass inside the skull of a young man who died when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and engulfed entire villages in southern Italy.
They realized that the glass was actually the remains of the brain of a man of about 20 years of age. But they couldn’t explain how organic matter became glass.
Now they can, thanks to a new study in which researchers show how an extremely hot cloud of ash enveloped the brain and immediately cooled down, turning the organ into glass.
“This is a unique finding,” lead study author Guido Giordano told the BBC, adding that it is the only known instance of an organic material naturally turning into glass.
Scientists now believe that the initial surge of hot ash from Vesuvius was the primary cause of most deaths in the area of Pompei and Herculaneum, near modern-day Naples, where as many as 20,000 people lived about 2,000 years ago.
As the volcano erupted, a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic material – a pyroclastic flow – then swept through the area, burying it. Experts suggest that the intense heat of the initial ash cloud is what caused the man’s brain to turn into glass, as the pyroclastic flow would not have been hot enough and would have cooled too slowly.
Glass requires specific temperature conditions to form and rarely occurs naturally, which is why researchers think it is unlikely, but not impossible, to find other similar remains.
To vitrificate – namely, turn into glass – a substance must cool rapidly from its liquid state to avoid crystallization, and it must be at a much higher temperature than its surroundings.
Using X-ray and electron microscopy, the researchers determined that the brain had been exposed to temperatures of at least 950 degrees Fahrenheit before undergoing rapid cooling.
“The glass that formed as a result of such a unique process attained a perfect state of preservation of the brain and its microstructures,” explained researchers.
This process occurred in the brain because only materials containing some liquid can undergo vitrification. As a result, the bones could not have vitrified. Meanwhile, the extreme heat likely destroyed other soft tissue before it could cool enough to turn into glass.