Colombia's Leader Is Gambling On A Legacy

Time’s Up: Colombia’s Leader is Gambling on a Legacy Colombia Colombian President Gustavo Petro was in Haiti recently to highlight relations between the two countries. For Petro, a leftist and former insurgent who has fewer than 10 months left on the single term that he is allowed under the law, the visit was a chance to “elevate his international stature as a champion of social justice,” the Miami Herald wrote. Haiti spiraled into chaos after 17 former Colombian soldiers allegedly killed the late President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Now, Petro is trying to help the impoverished Caribbean nation rebound. Around 1,000 Haitians, for instance, are now training in Colombia in the hopes that they will help bring more security to their native land. Such international trips often occur when heads of state face uphill battles abroad and a lack of progress on their agendas at home, observers say. A proud member of a cohort of leftist leaders now in power in South America – think Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and President Gabriel Boric of Chile – Petro is a vocal critic of American President Donald Trump and US-style free-market capitalism, according to Colombia One. Since he was elected in 2022, however, Petro has failed to usher in the sweeping changes he promised. Still, in a rare victory in realizing part of his campaign pledge to overhaul pensions, the health-care system, and labor laws, and reduce inequality in the country, Petro recently enacted new labor reforms that tilted the balance of power to workers but drew the ire of the international business community, the Associated Press reported. The reforms included paying more for work on Sundays and late evening shifts, and a raft of worker protections, including requiring delivery apps to employ workers as full-time employees or contract-based freelancers rather than under the table. Employers warned that the reforms would increase costs and result in layoffs, noted Bloomberg. Analysts told the Dialogue that Petro steamrolled the reforms through Congress by threatening to bypass lawmakers, and now wants a referendum to achieve his aims. Petro also pledged to establish “Total Peace” by negotiating with all armed groups in the conflict-riven country. However, a surge in violence by illegal armed groups has gripped the country, added United Press International. This rise in violence comes despite a peace deal signed by the central government in 2016 with some rebel groups. In early June, Miguel Uribe, a right-wing senator and candidate for presidential elections next year, was shot in the head in the capital, Bogotá. Days later, armed groups killed at least seven people in and around Cali, the third-largest city. “We made a lot of sacrifices so that Petro could become president,” a local leader from Catatumbo, a violent region, told the Economist, adding that his sacrifices may have been in vain. In January, he was forced to flee his home due to the violence. “‘Total Peace’ looks battered,” wrote the Economist. Now, the president has less than a year to leave his successor with a country that secures, rather than discredits, his ideological vision and cements his legacy. In June, however, he announced that he would include a vote on whether to call a constituent assembly in next year’s general elections. Such an assembly hasn’t been called since the constitution was established in 1991, a document which enshrines many social rights. Yet Petro’s proposal to create an assembly to rewrite the constitution is unusual, analysts say, and many are worrying what he intends to change, possibly those reforms he couldn’t get lawmakers to approve. “If the institutions that we have in Colombia today are not capable of living up to the social reforms that the people, through their vote, decreed … then Colombia must go to a national constituent assembly,” he said in a speech last year. But lawmakers, justices, and many legal experts oppose such a move. “The Constitution of 1991 still works,” a legal analyst at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia told EFE, a Spanish-language news agency. “Rewriting it is not a legal shortcut, it’s a political gamble.”

Colombia: Former President Uribe Convicted of Bribery

Colombia: Former President Uribe Convicted in Paramilitary Bribery Case President George W. Bush congratulates President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia after presenting him with the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009, during ceremonies in the East Room of the White House President George W. Bush congratulates President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia after presenting him with the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009, during ceremonies in the East Room of the White House. (White House photo by Chris Greenberg) First Ever Criminal Conviction of a Former Colombian Head of State Declassified Documents Detail Uribe’s Alleged Ties to Paramilitaries and Narcotraffickers Published: Jul 29, 2025 Edited by Michael Evans For more information, contact: 202-994-7000 or nsarchiv@gwu.edu Subjects Crime and Narcotics Human Rights and Genocide Regions South America Project Colombia Alvaro Uribe ca. 1992 Alvaro Uribe ca. 1992 when he was a member of the Colombian Senate representing the Department of Antioquia. President-elect Alvaro Uribe (right) speaks during a Pentagon meeting with Donald H. Rumsfeld President-elect Alvaro Uribe (right) speaks during a Pentagon meeting with Donald H. Rumsfeld (back to camera) on June 18, 2002. (Defense Department photo by Robert D. Ward) President Álvaro Uribe addresses an audience at U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida, on March 4, 2004 President Álvaro Uribe addresses an audience at U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida, on March 4, 2004. SOUTHCOM commander Gen. James Hill is at left. (Photo by SPC Chris Allen, U.S. Army) Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld (left) listens as President Álvaro Uribe (right) speaks to a group assembled at the Colombian presidential residence on August 19, 2003 Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld (left) listens as President Álvaro Uribe (right) speaks to a group assembled at the Colombian presidential residence on August 19, 2003. (Photo by TSGT Andy Dunaway, U.S. Air Force) Washington, D.C., July 29, 2025 - In a historic decision, Alvaro Uribe Velez yesterday became the first former president of Colombia to be found guilty of a crime, a landmark ruling that could clear the way for him to be prosecuted for more serious violations. While the conviction is for bribery and procedural fraud, at its core the long-running case is about Uribe’s alleged support for paramilitary groups and narcotraffickers responsible for massacres and other acts of violence. On Monday, the former president, senator and governor from Antioquia Department was convicted of trying to bribe a paramilitary witness to change damaging testimony that incriminated him, a serious crime that could land the 73-year-old in jail for a decade or more. With his guilt now established by the court, it seems an appropriate time to review how the U.S. evaluated the many allegations that have been leveled against Uribe over the years. The first major National Security Archive revelation about Uribe came more than 20 years ago with the publication of a declassified U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report from 1991 on “Important Colombian Narco-Traffickers.” Listed on page 10 next to cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar and international arms trafficker Adnan Khashoggi is “Alvaro Uribe Velez,” who is identified as “a Colombian politician and senator dedicated to collaboration with the Medellin Cartel at high government levels.” Uribe is described as “a close personal friend of Pablo Escobar” who has “worked for the Medellin Cartel.” U.S. and Colombian media reported widely on the DIA report linking Uribe to Escobar, and subsequent Freedom of Information Act requests later revealed that the news reached the highest levels of the Pentagon. The September 2004 memo to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld from Peter Rodman, one of his top aides, informed the Pentagon chief that, “A recently declassified 1991 U.S. military intelligence report linked Colombian President Uribe to narcotraffickers, specifically Pablo Escober, head of the Medellin Cartel.” While Rodman seemed skeptical about Uribe’s alleged ties to Escobar, he wrote that, “Uribe almost certainly had dealings with the paramilitaries (AUC) while governor of Antioquia—it goes with the job.” Despite Rodman’s doubts, a collection of declassified State Department documents published by the National Security Archive in 2018 (and also featured in the New York Times) shows that for years U.S. diplomats harbored serious concerns about Uribe’s links to the narcos—listing him, for example, on a cable identifying suspected Colombian “Narcopols.” In another case, an Uribe ally told the Embassy that the notorious Ochoa Vásquez brothers, co-founders of the Medellín Cartel, had “financed” Uribe’s Senate campaign. In another cable, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Morris Busby, who coordinated U.S. efforts to help Colombia take down Pablo Escobar, said he believed there was “substance to the rumors” that Uribe and other politicians had ties to narcotics interests. A somewhat more vivid account from the U.S. Embassy in Colombia in 1997 tells the story of Jorge Valencia Cardona, a dentist, rancher, and congressional alternate who at the time represented a rural district in eastern Antioquia that was home to the AUC’s Metro Bloc and the Uribe family’s “Guacharacas” ranch. Though they represented rival political parties, Valencia said he admired then-governor Uribe for his hardline position on the guerrillas and his strong endorsement of the government-backed “Convivir” militias. Valencia also said that Uribe was among a group of cattle ranchers who paid paramilitaries “to go after guerrillas,” according to the cable. According to Valencia, Uribe strongly supports the Convivirs and hates the guerrillas, in part because the latter murdered his father. Uribe has ties to local cattle ranchers and other landowners, and was himself a cattle rancher. These landowners in turn pay paramilitaries to go after guerrillas. The congressman told the Embassy that some of the local Convivirs backed by Uribe “probably cooperate actively with paramilitaries” and were passing information to them instead of the Colombian Army. Valencia “drew a diagram to show the web of relationships between the governor, Convivirs, landowners, paramilitaries, and guerrillas.” Underlining his point, Valencia described a harrowing encounter with paramilitaries who threatened to kill him when he was unable to provide the information that they wanted. “What saved him,” according to the cable, “were some documents in his briefcase that showed he knew Antioquia Governor Alvaro Uribe Velez.” “Saying, ‘Oh, you know El Viejo,’ his captors released him and have not bothered him since,” according to Valencia’s account, using a nickname for Uribe that means “the old man.” Interestingly, “El Viejo” is the same moniker used by Uribe confidant Carlos Eduardo López to refer to the former president in his intercepted communication with Juan Guillermo Monsalve, the imprisoned paramilitary member whose testimony, and Uribe’s efforts to suborn it, are the central features of the current case. Accounts like Valencia’s are supported by the recollections of eyewitnesses who said the Uribe family ranch was the operational base of a deadly paramilitary group. Key testimony in that case was reviewed by the New York Times and the National Security Archive in 2018. Critics of Uribe celebrated the conviction and hope that the first-ever criminal conviction of a Colombian president will clear the way for Uribe to be held responsible for far more serious allegations, including the formation of a paramilitary group during the 1990s and the murder by Colombian Army soldiers of some 6,400 civilians in the so-called “false positives” scandal that tarnished his eight-year presidency. Even with the historic conviction, Uribe and his legal team are likely to appeal the ruling, guaranteeing that the process will drag on for years to come. The National Security Archive will continue to report on new developments in the case and to fight for the timely declassification and release of information pertinent to these and other human rights crimes in Colombia.

A Place In Patagonia To Survive During And After A Nuclear war

Next week is a happy/sad anniversary for the human race. Almost 80 years ago, Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were incinerated by low-yield nuclear bombs. The good news is that it was the last time that nuclear weapons were used in a war. Let us hope such an event never happens again. Last week, I saw an article talking about the ten countries one could move to avoid the terror of a nuclear war. Let me give you my choice of shelter from a nuclear holocaust. It is the town of El Calafate (The Spanish translation is a place to take shelter from the wind.), Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is deep in Patagonia. If you put it in Canada, it would be close to the Arctic Circle. One would expect frigid Arctic temperatures. The climate is quite similar to San Francisco, with some winter nights getting as cold as Houston. This charming town of 20,000 sits right on a huge freshwater lake. The countryside around the town is arid with scrub brush. One would never have a forest fire. There are no earthquakes. There are no volcanoes in the area. The town is full of charming restaurants and cafes. Let us see how Grok Artificial Intelligence graded my choice: How would the residents of El Calafate, Argentina, be affected by a nuclear war between Russia and the US? 23 / 23 A nuclear war between Russia and the United States would have profound global consequences, and while El Calafate, Argentina, is far from the primary conflict zones, its residents would still face significant indirect effects. Below is an analysis of how such a scenario could impact this small Patagonian town, based on available information and the likely global repercussions of such a conflict. Immediate Effects Direct Attack Unlikely: El Calafate, a remote town in Santa Cruz Province with a population of around 20,000, is not a strategic target for nuclear strikes. Major targets in a U.S.-Russia nuclear war would likely include military bases, industrial centers, and population hubs in the Northern Hemisphere, such as U.S. cities, Russian cities, and NATO countries. Argentina has no nuclear weapons and is not part of NATO or any military alliance likely to be targeted directly, so El Calafate would almost certainly avoid direct attack or immediate radioactive fallout from initial strikes.icanw.orghalcyonmaps.comnti.org Limited Initial Fallout: The Southern Hemisphere, including Argentina, would experience less immediate radioactive fallout due to its distance from likely detonation sites in the Northern Hemisphere. Atmospheric circulation patterns mean that most fallout would initially concentrate in the Northern Hemisphere. However, some fallout could eventually spread globally over weeks or months, depending on wind patterns and the scale of the conflict.reddit.com Medium- to Long-Term Effects Nuclear Winter and Climate Disruption: A full-scale nuclear war could inject massive amounts of soot into the stratosphere, causing a "nuclear winter." This would block sunlight, leading to global cooling and a significant drop in temperatures. Studies estimate a 90% reduction in global caloric production within 3–4 years in a worst-case U.S.-Russia nuclear war scenario, with mid- to high-latitude regions (like Patagonia) seeing crop yield reductions of 30–86%.nature.comcordis.europa.eu El Calafate’s cold, windy climate and reliance on agriculture (via regional production) would make it vulnerable to these changes. Local farming, already limited by the harsh Patagonian environment, could collapse, leading to food shortages. The town’s tourism-driven economy, heavily dependent on visitors to nearby Los Glaciares National Park, would also suffer as global travel would likely halt. Food Insecurity and Famine: A 2022 study in Nature Food suggests that a U.S.-Russia nuclear war could lead to over 5 billion deaths globally, primarily from famine due to reduced crop, livestock, and fishery production. Argentina, while a major agricultural producer (e.g., wheat, soy, beef), would face challenges:nature.comcordis.europa.eu Disrupted Exports and Imports: Argentina relies on global trade for fertilizers (95% of nitrogen and 75% of phosphate needs are imported, often from Russia or the U.S.). A nuclear war would disrupt these supply chains, crippling agricultural output.reddit.com Local Impact: El Calafate, dependent on regional food supplies, would face shortages as Argentina’s export-focused agriculture prioritizes global markets or urban centers like Buenos Aires. Residents might struggle to access staples, and prices would likely skyrocket. The study notes that even countries like Argentina, which grow resistant crops like wheat, would face mass food shortages, with adaptation measures (e.g., reducing food waste) offering limited relief.nature.com Economic Collapse: The global economy would crash due to the destruction of major economic centers in the U.S., Russia, and allied nations. El Calafate’s economy, heavily reliant on tourism, would be devastated as international travel ceases and global demand for Argentine exports (e.g., beef, grains) plummets.reddit.com Local businesses, such as hotels, restaurants, and tour operators, would face closure, leading to unemployment and economic hardship for residents. The town’s isolation could exacerbate these issues, as resupplying goods (fuel, medicine, etc.) would become difficult. Environmental and Health Impacts: Over time, radioactive fallout could reach the Southern Hemisphere, contaminating soil, water, and food supplies. While not as severe as in the Northern Hemisphere, low-level radiation could increase cancer rates and other health issues in El Calafate.reddit.comicanw.org The collapse of global healthcare supply chains (e.g., for medicines or equipment) would strain Argentina’s healthcare system, leaving El Calafate’s medical facilities under-resourced to handle any increased disease burden. Social and Political Instability: A global crisis of this magnitude could destabilize governments worldwide, including Argentina’s. Resource scarcity (food, fuel, etc.) might lead to social unrest, particularly in urban centers, which could indirectly affect El Calafate through disrupted supply chains or government services.quora.com The town’s isolation might offer some protection from urban unrest, but its dependence on national infrastructure (e.g., power, transport) would make it vulnerable to breakdowns in governance. Potential Mitigating Factors Geographic Isolation: El Calafate’s remote location in Patagonia, near the Andes, could shield it from some fallout due to the rainshadow effect, which might reduce radioactive deposition. Its distance from major conflict zones makes it a relatively "safer" place compared to Northern Hemisphere cities.reddit.com Agricultural Potential: Argentina’s wheat production could help buffer food shortages if prioritized for domestic use, though distribution to remote areas like El Calafate would be a challenge.theweek.com Non-Nuclear Status: Argentina’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation (e.g., via the Treaty of Tlatelolco and the Non-Proliferation Treaty) ensures it is unlikely to be drawn into the conflict directly, reducing the risk of targeted strikes.nti.orgicanw.org Critical Perspective While some sources suggest Argentina could be among the "safest" places due to its Southern Hemisphere location and agricultural capacity, this view oversimplifies the global interconnectedness of economies and food systems. The notion of any place being truly "safe" ignores the cascading effects of nuclear winter, supply chain collapse, and societal disruption. El Calafate’s small size and isolation might delay some impacts, but its dependence on tourism and external supplies would make it highly vulnerable in the long term. theweek.comnewsweek.com Conclusion Residents of El Calafate would likely avoid immediate destruction from a U.S.-Russia nuclear war but would face severe challenges from nuclear winter, food insecurity, economic collapse, and potential long-term radiation exposure. The town’s isolation and Argentina’s agricultural capacity might mitigate some effects, but the global nature of the crisis would still bring significant hardship. Preventing such a conflict through global cooperation remains critical, as no region, including El Calafate, would be immune to the consequences.cordis.europa.eu Be careful out there! Stay "Far from the madding crowd."

Peru: Zelestra Turns On Largest Solar Plant In Peru

Energy giant switches on nation's largest solar plant set to power over 400,000 homes: 'Energy for years to come' By Drew Jones, 1 days ago A major step toward more affordable renewable energy recently occurred in Peru. Zelestra, a Spanish renewable energy company, has officially switched on the country's largest solar farm. The solar farm, dubbed the San Martín project, consists of 450,000 solar panels and will generate over 830 GWh of clean energy annually, powering more than 400,000 homes. To put it in perspective, a U.S. household uses roughly 10,500 kWh per year, or 0.0105 GWh. Located in the La Joya district of Arequipa, Peru, this plant is good news for everyday people because solar energy can help lower electricity bills in the long run and benefit the environment. Unlike fossil fuels, the sun's energy is free, so once the panels are built, the power they produce doesn't depend on buying expensive gas or coal. By adding substantial clean power to the grid, the San Martín project can help protect families from rising energy costs while also maintaining power during major storms. "By leveraging our global expertise in engineering, procurement, and construction, we can successfully co-build tailored solutions that bring projects to life on time and on budget," said Zelestra CEO Leo Moreno, per Renewable Energy Magazine. "We are proud to see the most ambitious solar project in Peru now fully operational, and we look forward to a long-term partnership with Kallpa in delivering clean, reliable energy for years to come." Building and running this solar farm has already created hundreds of local jobs, and it will continue to provide steady work for those who maintain and operate it. Additionally, replacing fossil-fuel energy with solar energy reduces pollution. Watch now: Does clean energy really cause blackouts? This project alone will prevent over 160,000 tons of carbon pollution from entering the air each year, according to the report. This means cleaner air and a healthier environment for the community. In short, Peru's sunshine just got a whole lot more powerful, and everyone's set to breathe a little easier because of it. Are you currently using solar power in your home? Heck yes No — but I would like to be No — I don't know much about it No — it's too expensive Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Peru Seizes 4-Ton Mercury Shipment In Fight Against Illegal Gold Mining

Peru seizes record 4-ton mercury shipment in fight against illegal gold mining By Steven Grattan, 3 days ago Peru Mercury Seizure Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved Peruvian customs officials have seized a record-breaking shipment of illegal mercury, exposing a cross-border smuggling network that is fueling one of the Amazon’s most destructive criminal economies: illicit gold mining. The 4-ton haul — the largest mercury seizure ever made in an Amazon country and one of the world's largest — was discovered in June at the port of Callao, hidden inside gravel-filled bags on a cargo ship bound for Bolivia. Though labeled as crushed stone, the shipment was flagged by customs agents based on international intelligence sharing. “This crushed stone was laced with mercury,” said Jorge Gallo Alvarado, head of customs enforcement at SUNAT, Peru’s tax and customs agency. “It’s a restricted substance because it’s used in illegal alluvial mining.” The container, which originated in Mexico, was singled out for inspection by SUNAT’s risk analysis team. U.S. specialists later confirmed the presence of mercury embedded in the gravel — a tactic increasingly used to avoid detection at ports. The seized goods are valued at roughly $500,000, SUNAT said. High-value illicit trade Authorities say the bust marks a turning point in efforts to dismantle the supply chains behind the Amazon’s illicit gold trade. Mercury, a powerful neurotoxin banned or tightly restricted in many countries, remains essential to the process used by illegal miners across the rainforest to extract gold from river sediment. The method is simple but dangerous: miners mix mercury with gold particles to form an amalgam, then burn it off, releasing toxic vapor into the air. The leftover mercury often flows into rivers, where it transforms into methylmercury — its most dangerous form — and builds up in fish and aquatic life. “This is a very important seizure,” said Luis Fernandez, a research professor and mercury expert at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, who traveled to Lima to assess the find. “We don’t often see mercury seizures at this scale, especially not in transit through formal customs points," he said. Fernandez estimated the mercury could have been used to produce roughly 1,600 kilograms (3,527 pounds) of gold — worth more than $172 million at current prices. “This isn’t subsistence mining,” he said. “It’s organized, high-value illicit trade with serious environmental and public health consequences.” A ‘gold-mercury-drug trifecta’ In Peru’s Madre de Dios region, an epicenter of illegal mining, mercury contamination has been detected in drinking water, fish and even breast milk. Long-term exposure to methylmercury can cause irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system, particularly in children and pregnant women. Indigenous and riverine communities that rely on fish for food are especially vulnerable. Peruvian authorities say much of the mercury entering the country is smuggled from Mexico, where it’s mined in central states such as Querétaro. Prices have surged in recent years due to booming global demand for gold, reaching as high as $330 per kilogram of mercury — and more than $3,500 per ounce of gold — earlier this year. Some of the mercury seized in June is believed to have originated in small, artisanal mines inside a UNESCO ‑protected biosphere reserve. While the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit watchdog that investigates environmental crime, has documented that at least 30 tons of mercury have been trafficked annually from Mexico to countries like Peru and Colombia by a single criminal network, the real volume is likely higher. Soaring gold prices and a 400% markup on mercury in the Amazon compared to Mexico have made smuggling increasingly lucrative. Seizures and monitoring suggest flows rose to an estimated 56 tons in 2024, with further increases expected this year. Colombia remains one of the highest per capita emitters of mercury worldwide, with total annual releases reaching up to 150 tons, much of it tied to illegal gold mining. EIA’s latest investigation, released in tandem with Peru's announcement, describes a growing “gold-mercury-drug trifecta” linking illegal mining to transnational crime and environmental degradation. The group’s investigators documented how organized criminal groups — including Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel — are now involved in mercury mining and trafficking. “Until mercury mines are no longer in operation, traffickers will leave no stone unturned to smuggle the metal,” the report states. Growing calls to close mercury mines Traffickers often disguise mercury shipments with false paperwork and front companies, allowing them to slip through customs. Once across the border, the metal is sold to illegal mining camps — often in protected forests or Indigenous territories — where it becomes almost impossible to trace. In Colombia, security sources say armed groups such as the National Liberation Army and the Gulf Clan play a central role in the mercury-for-gold trade. Similar dynamics have been reported in Brazil and Bolivia, where enforcement is weak and black-market demand is high. Although Peru ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2013, enforcement has struggled to keep up with the pace and adaptability of trafficking networks. “These networks are agile,” Fernandez said. “As gold prices rise, they adapt quickly. Customs authorities need tools, training, and resources to keep pace.” Adam Dolezal, extractive industries campaigner at EIA, said the seizure shows what is possible when customs systems are properly resourced and coordinated — but warned that enforcement alone won’t stop the trade. “Unless mercury production is shut down at the source, this toxic trade will continue,” Dolezal said.

The World's Oldest Mummies Are In Chile

The world’s oldest mummies are in Chile. Egypt may be home to the world’s most famous mummies, but not the world’s oldest. That distinction belongs to Chile, where mummified remains predate their Egyptian counterparts by more than 2,000 years. Known as the Chinchorro mummies, these artificially preserved hunter-gatherers were first discovered just over a century ago in the Atacama Desert, the driest nonpolar desert in the world. Their relatively recent discovery is explained by the fact that they were not buried in ostentatious pyramids but rather — after being skinned and refurbished with natural materials — wrapped in reeds and placed in shallow, modest graves. It’s estimated that the oldest Chinchorro mummies date back a full 7,000 years. Some are now in museums, while others remain underground in land currently threatened by climate change, as rising humidity levels alter the famously dry conditions of the desert. Throughout history, many cultures mummified their dead. Among the most notable are the Chinese, Inca, and the Guanche people of the Canary Islands. UNESCO added the Chinchorro mummies and the settlement where they were found to the World Heritage list in July 2021, and there’s a museum devoted to them in the northern port city of Arica.

Suriname's New President Has Her Work Cut Out For Herself

Getting the House in Order: Suriname’s New President Has Her Work Cut Out For Her Suriname This month, Suriname got its first female president, Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, following an election in May, in which her party won by one seat. The doctor and former parliamentary speaker, who was elected leader by parliament on July 6, is now charged with steering the small South American nation of close to 650,000 people on the eve of a looming oil boom. She has a lot of work to do, say analysts. “Suriname is a country in which natural resource wealth, cultural diversity, political complexity, corruption, and danger form a tapestry of contradictions,” wrote the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  For the past 15 years, the former Dutch colony has been governed by three men who formed a plundering, corrupt triangle the country could not escape from – until now, say analysts. The country was run by a military ruler in the 1980s, dictator-cum-democrat Dési Bouterse of the National Development Party (NDP), who came to power in two different coups, in 1980 and 1990. He returned to power after elections in 2010 and 2015 even as he was wanted on national and international warrants for drug trafficking and murder. He died in December while a fugitive from justice. Another player in the triangle is former Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk, Bouterse’s former bodyguard, who turned against him and became a guerrilla leader in the 1980s. Wanted by the Netherlands for cocaine trafficking, he has been leading a party he started for Maroon voters (the descendants of escaped African slaves). He joined a coalition with the NDP before changing allegiance to form a government with Chandrikapersad Santokhi of the Progressive Reform Party, a former police chief who prosecuted Bouterse before he himself was elected president in 2020. As a result of his dealmaking with Santokhi, Brunswijk, also a businessman with interests in timber and gold, was put in charge of the ministries that oversee forests and resources. Meanwhile, Santokhi, as president from 2020 to 2025, appointed his wife to the supervisory board of the national oil company. The problem, some analysts say, is the system. Suriname is one of the most diverse countries in the world, made up of Indians, Africans, Javanese, Indigenous groups, Chinese, Europeans, and others. Its system is designed to accommodate that diversity and promote consensus. However, some believe the fractured system has also allowed for corruption, nepotism, and the dominance of strongmen. As a result, its leadership often gets its hands dirty. Adding to the problem is Suriname’s status as a key drug-trafficking hub in the region. Almost all past presidents have been convicted of involvement with drugs. Bouterse’s son Dino is in prison in the United States for trafficking in drugs and arms – and attempting to help Lebanon’s Hezbollah set up a terrorist training camp. By way of stark contrast, Greelings-Simons is scandal-free, with a reputation for getting things done. Suriname needs that desperately, say analysts. That’s because things are about to change because of its natural resources. The Surinamese are now hoping to mimic neighboring Guyana, where the gross domestic product per capita increased 41 percent last year to almost $31,000 annually, more than four times greater than Suriname’s $7,600 per capita. The recent approval of the $12.2 billion, 1.4 million-acre GranMorgu project in Suriname with French oil company TotalEnergies is expected to deliver similar windfalls. By 2028, the project is expected to pump as much as 220,000 barrels per day from offshore fields containing 760 million barrels in total. Meanwhile, drillers have already generated more than $300 million a year for Suriname’s treasury for three years in a row – a previously unheard-of haul there. That could cause a problem for a country that is so steeped in criminality and corruption and with a bankrupt economy. Still, its population, mired in poverty, is determined to share in the wealth and have a say in how it is spent, wrote Global Americans. In this past election, voters told the Economist that they wanted something new, something more than the “men who only line their pockets,” and chose a woman as a change. They now hope she can deliver. To do that, Karel Eckhorst of the International Monetary Fund told the magazine that the country needs more than wealth: “Oil isn’t the magic bullet,” he said. “Good governance is.”  Share this story

Brasil's Eye-Opening Message To The American People Is Going Virile

BuzzFeed Brazil's President's Eye-Opening Message To The American People Is Going Super Viral Matt Stopera Mon, July 21, 2025 at 9:49 a.m. PDT·3 min read Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is on trial for allegedly attempting to overturn his 2022 election loss with a coup plot. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted. A person in a blue jacket holds a microphone, speaking with a concerned expression. The background is out of focus MIGUEL SCHINCARIOL / AFP via Getty Images Related: Hillary Clinton Just Hit On One Of Donald Trump's Biggest Insecurities With Three Words After Bolsonaro lost the election, his supporters stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court, and presidential palace. People in sports attire break windows of a modern building with metal barriers TON MOLINA / AFP via Getty Images Sound familiar? Large crowd of people in Brazil jerseys gathered outside a modern government building, waving Brazilian flags SERGIO LIMA / AFP via Getty Images It's kind of like Brazil's version of Jan. 6. Protest near the U.S. Capitol featuring a wooden gallows, noose, and multiple flags, including a "Trump Make America Great Again" flag NurPhoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images Related: A Picture Of Donald Trump's Face Being Two Completely Different Colors Is Going Viral For Obvious Reasons Sooo, Brazil’s Supreme Court has raided Bolsonaro’s home, put him on an ankle monitor, and banned him from social media and foreign contacts. A person in a formal suit speaking at a public event with a serious expression Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images Meeeeeanwhile, Trump has been defending Bolsonaro on Truth Social, posting a letter saying, "I’ll be watching the WITCH HUNT of Jair Bolsonaro, his family, and thousands of his supporters, very closely. The only Trial that should be happening is a Trial by the Voters of Brazil — It’s called an Election. LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!" I don’t know who this is, but they appear to be a mature person in a suit and tie, outdoors, looking serious Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images Related: JD Vance’s Old Epstein Tweets Are Coming Back To Haunt Him In A Big Way Trump also posted a letter to current Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, threatening to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods and calling the trial of Bolsonaro a "Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!" Man in a suit and USA hat speaks at a table with presidential seal, flanked by U.S. flags, during a formal event Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Now that you have the backstory, Brazil's president was interviewed by CNN about all of this, and his message to the American people is going viral: CNN/Ronxyz00/Twitter: @Ronxyz00 ADVERTISEMENT "I want to say something to the American people: If Trump was Brazilian and if he did what happened at Capitol Hill, he’d also be on trial in Brazil. And possibly he would have violated the Constitution. According to the justices, he would also be arrested if he had done that here in Brazil." CNN/Ronxyz00/Twitter: @Ronxyz00 CNN/Ronxyz00/Twitter: @Ronxyz00 Related: “He Told People That?”: Jon Stewart Was Seriously Shocked By What A Report Is Saying Elon Musk Revealed To People Close To Him People in the replies are saying some sort of version of this: "America is not a serious country anymore." CNN news segment featuring Brazilian President discussing charges against Jair Bolsonaro and comparing events to the Capitol incident in the U.S CNN/Ty_GT_6/x.com This person commented, "We're a joke to the rest of the planet. We're like the parent in the grocery store who will never discipline their child who is screaming and throwing literal shit at other customers." Tweet criticizing parenting, likening it to Brazil. News headline: Brazil's president speaks on charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro CNN/dr_nocturnl/x.com Another person shared this picture: Top tweet: Cartoon character listening. Bottom: News segment shows a man discussing a quote about Trump, Brazil, and the Constitution trial CNN/canuck_chuck_/x.com And this person asked, "Can we deport trump to Brazil and put him in trial there instead?" Screenshot of a tweet discussing Donald Trump and Brazil, with an image from CNN of the Brazilian President addressing charges against Jair Bolsonaro CNN/rebeluvr/x.com Also in In the News: "My Generation Will Never Forgive You": 25 Of The Very Best And Very True Political Tweets From The Last Week Also in In the News: AOC Just Tweeted What So Many Are Thinking After Trump's Sudden 180 On The Epstein Files Also in In the News: People Are Howling At This New Portrait Of Donald Trump In The Colorado State Capitol After He Complained About The Old One Read it on BuzzFeed.com

Brasil's Lawmakers Approve Controversial Environmental Bill Ahead of COP30

Brazil’s Lawmakers Approve Controversial Environmental Bill Ahead of COP30 Brazil Brazilian lawmakers passed a bill Thursday that significantly weakens environmental protections by loosening land licensing, a move environmentalists say is the most severe setback to Brazil’s environmental program in 40 years, the Guardian reported. The new law, which critics call the “devastation bill,” was passed by the lower house of the legislature on Thursday by 267 votes to 116. The Senate passed the bill in May. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva now has two weeks to sign the bill or veto it. If he does veto the bill, however, it’s likely the legislature will overturn it. Analysts say this would likely spark a legal battle in the Supreme Court over the law’s constitutionality. Proponents of the bill say the process needs to be reformed because it is agonizingly slow. At the same time, Brazilian business leaders see the environmental permitting process as a barrier to development. Analysts say the impetus behind the bill was the long wait by state-run oil firm Petrobras to get a permit to drill for oil in the state of Amapá, a region in the Amazon with a fragile ecosystem and one of the poorest in Brazil. Meanwhile, critics say the bill permits projects deemed to have “medium” polluting potential to secure environmental licenses through a self-declared online form, bypassing prior impact assessment or regulatory oversight. This fast-track process used to only be allowed for low-risk activities. Now, it will affect about 90 percent of licensing procedures in the country, including mining and most agricultural activities. Opponents add that it would lead to large-scale deforestation and increase the risk of human-caused climate disasters, according to Reuters. Legal experts have already said the law violates the Constitution and previous Supreme Court rulings. Brazil will host the United Nations COP30 climate conference in November in the Amazon region, with critics adding that the law undermines the credibility of Brazil when it comes to environmental safeguards.

Chile Now Has The Most Incredible Observatories On Earth

A new telescope will find billions of asteroids, galaxies and stars The Vera Rubin Observatory captures unprecedented detail The Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae Image: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Jun 23rd 2025 On april 15th, at 8pm local time, the Vera Rubin Observatory recorded its very first photons of starlight. At first, the images that filled the screens in the control room on Cerro Pachón, 2,500 metres high on the foothills of the Andes in northern Chile, looked like a field of snowy static on an old television. But, zoomed in, the spots soon resolved into an uncountable number of stars and galaxies floating between enormous, wispy clouds of dust, like tiny multicoloured flecks of paint spattered across a vast black wall. “There was this huge amount of cheering and screaming, people were getting teary-eyed,” recalls Alysha Shugart, an observing specialist at Rubin who watched the events unfold on the night. “Those little photons had no idea of the red carpet that was rolled out for their reception.” The arrival of those photons—many from ancient stars and galaxies and which had been travelling across the universe for billions of years—marked a neat moment of symmetry. It had been exactly ten years since work had started on Cerro Pachón to build the observatory; it also marked the start of a ten-year project—the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)—that will see Rubin’s telescope (pictured below) repeatedly take ultra-high-resolution pictures of the entire night sky of the southern hemisphere every three or four days. In the coming decade Rubin will see more detail about the cosmos, and unlock more of its unknowns, than any machine that has come before. It will collect so much information—trillions of data points on more than 40bn new stars, galaxies and other cosmic objects—so quickly that it will transform astronomy in its wake. For a behind-the-scenes tour of the Rubin Observatory, listen to our two-part podcast series and watch our video In its first year alone, it will double the amount of data collected so far by every other instrument in the history of optical astronomy. Every night, the telescope will gather 20 terabytes of raw images and, over the course of the LSST, the observatory and its scientists will produce more than 500 petabytes of images and analysis. For the first time astronomers will also have a decade-long time-lapse of the night sky. The Rubin Observatory with its dome open in April 2025 Image: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory That last part is what has scientists most expectant. Astronomical observatories until now have focused on taking detailed snapshots of tiny points in the night sky. But “the sky and the world aren’t static,” says Yusra AlSayyad, a researcher at Princeton University who oversees Rubin’s image-processing algorithms. “There are asteroids zipping by, supernovae exploding.” Many of those fast or transient objects can only be seen by big observatories if they happen to be pointed in exactly the right direction at exactly the right time. “Today we don’t really have a very full, wide and deep picture of the universe,” says Leanne Guy, a physicist at Rubin. The LSST will fix that gap. With its 1.7-metre-long, 3,200-megapixel camera—the biggest digital camera ever built—Rubin will have an enormous field of view, equivalent to an area of sky covered by 45 full Moons. One of the first pictures released by Rubin, just a tiny chunk of a full-size exposure, shows sections of the Virgo Cluster, a group of galaxies that are 55 million light years from Earth. Part of the Virgo cluster, a group of galaxies that are 55 million light years from Earth Image: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory The camera will be fed starlight reflected off a primary mirror that is 8.4m wide and which took scientists at the University of Arizona seven years to grind into its unique shape. Despite their size, the mirrors, telescope and the giant silver dome that houses it can all move together extremely fast. The telescope will be able to take an image every 30 seconds and its “brain”—a piece of software known as the scheduler—will use machine-learning algorithms to automatically work out the best places to point the camera every night as it attempts to cover as much of the sky as possible while also avoiding obstructions, such as clouds or satellites streaking overhead. Over the course of a decade, each point in the sky will be photographed around 800 times. Celestial surveillance In an image released this week by the Rubin team, for example, stitching together ten hours of observations, astronomers identified more than 2,000 asteroids in the solar system that had never been seen before. For comparison, around 20,000 asteroids are discovered in total every year by all other ground and space-based observatories. During the LSST, Rubin will conduct the most detailed census yet of millions of as-yet-unknown objects in the solar system, finding around 70% of asteroids classed as “potentially hazardous”, ie, bigger than 140 metres wide and which might come near Earth. If, as some scientists reckon, there is a ninth planet hidden in the clouds of rocks somewhere far beyond Neptune, Rubin will find it. A view of the Virgo cluster, showing the depth of field of Rubin’s camera Video: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory The census-taking will stretch far beyond the solar system. Because the LSST camera will keep coming back to the same point in the sky many times during its decade-long survey, astronomers will be able to combine many images of the same location. The fainter an object, the farther away and older it is likely to be and, therefore, hundreds of stacked images will eventually reveal the very earliest stars and galaxies. By recording details—such as the colours, shapes, positions and movements—of more than 17bn stars and 20bn galaxies, Rubin is expected to produce a catalogue of the night sky that cosmologists can then use to build their most detailed picture yet of the early universe and examine how it has evolved over time. That will be crucial for two of the prime goals of the observatory—understanding the nature of dark matter and of dark energy. It is this dark universe for which Rubin was first conceived in the late 1990s. The observatory’s namesake, Vera Rubin, was an American astronomer who, in the 1970s, made her name by showing that the stars at the edge of the nearby Andromeda galaxy were moving just as fast as those at the centre, impossible if only normal matter was present. Her discovery provided evidence of the existence of “dark” matter, which cannot be seen and interacts with normal matter only through gravity. Two decades later, scientists discovered an even bigger hole in the universe—a mysterious substance was found to be accelerating the rate at which space was expanding. Dark energy, as this phenomenon was called, made up 68% of the mass in the universe, with dark matter accounting for approximately 27% more. Only around 5% comes from the familiar “normal” matter that makes up stars, planets, dust and everything on Earth. Understanding how the invisible dark universe behaves depends on better observations of the visible one. One of the ways in which Rubin’s LSST will help is by measuring how the light from very distant galaxies is distorted by the gravitational force of the matter between them and Earth. These measurements will give astronomers details about how matter is arrayed in the universe and also how it is moving. Both are important clues to the nature of the dark universe. The southern night sky viewed through the Rubin observatory’s roof Image: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory The study of dark energy, in particular, will get a boost. The phenomenon was discovered in the 1990s when scientists were studying the movements of the few dozen supernovae that they knew about at the time. Rubin will, according to the scientists working there, be a “supernova factory”, potentially discovering billions more of these exploding stars, providing cosmologists with a vastly bigger data set to study the way that dark energy behaves. To manage Rubin’s gargantuan amounts of data, scientists have built a bespoke intercontinental network of computers. Less than ten seconds after the LSST camera’s shutters close every day, dedicated optical fibres will transfer everything to the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California (backups will go to data centres in France and Britain). At SLAC, algorithms will clean up the images and look for objects that have, say, appeared for the first time or significantly changed position or brightness since the previous night. These changes—there will probably be millions per night—will be winnowed down into a priority list which other astronomers (and members of the public) can follow up with more detailed direct observations of their own. All of this will happen autonomously. “There’s absolutely no way any human being could go through these alerts by eye,” says Dr Guy. “There’s no way.” The LSST will begin in October. Meanwhile, the instruments on Cerro Pachón will be tested and calibrated. Though Rubin’s primary mission is set, the scientists who have built the observatory know that what they ultimately have at their disposal is a discovery machine. “What I’m most excited about seeing from Rubin in the long term,” says Dr Guy, “are the things we’ve never even thought about.” Correction (June 24th 2025): In the original version of this story, we underestimated the number of supernovae that scientists knew about in the 1990s. This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “My God, it’s full of stars”

U.S. Threatens High Tariffs If Bolsonaro Trial Continues

‘Witch Hunt’: US Threatens High Tariffs on Brazil if Bolsonaro’s Trial Continues Brazil Brazilian officials on Thursday said they were outraged by US interference in their affairs after US President Donald Trump threatened to slap the country with 50 percent tariffs for putting former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro on trial, a move he called a “Witch Hunt,” CNN reported. “Brazil is a sovereign nation with independent institutions and will not accept any form of tutelage,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wrote in a post on X. “Any measure to increase tariffs unilaterally will be responded to in light of Brazil’s Law of Economic Reciprocity.” The post was in response to one on Wednesday by Trump, who accused Lula of undertaking a “Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!” Bolsonaro, who has often boasted of his close ties to Trump, is currently on trial for allegedly plotting a coup to overthrow Lula after losing the 2022 presidential election and to murder the current president and other top officials. He disputes the charges as politically motivated. Bolsonaro is already banned from running for office until 2030. Meanwhile, Brazil, which promised to fight back hard against the tariffs, is one of only a handful of countries to stand up to the United States’ threat of tariffs, analysts said. The reciprocity law allows trade, investment, and intellectual property agreements to be halted against countries that harm Brazil’s competitiveness, according to the Associated Press. Unlike many other countries facing US tariffs, the impact of Brazil imposing these levies would be felt more in the US: Last year, the US had a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil, and over the past 15 years, the US has had a cumulative trade surplus of more than $410 billion with the country. Other countries have complained that the US is weaponizing tariffs to interfere in domestic matters. Earlier this year, the US threatened 25 percent tariffs on Colombian exports, which increased to 50 percent when Colombia refused to accept deportees from the US – Colombia later accepted the deal and prevented the tariffs. Trump also slapped tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China, blaming them for contributing to illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the US. Share this story

Paraguay Chases Crime Lords And Economic Growth

Paraguay Chases Crime Lords and Economic Growth Paraguay International criminal agencies are hunting for alleged Uruguayan drug trafficker and money launderer Sebastian Marset, who has strong ties to Paraguay and could have returned there after he disappeared a few years ago, according to InSight Crime. If he did, he won’t be safe there for long, analysts say. That’s because Paraguay is stepping up its fight against organized crime and the drugs the criminals trade in. Officials see it as key to increasing investment and growth. To that end, Paraguay recently showed off the purchase of six Tucano turboprop airplanes from Brazil to combat drug runners and other criminals in the landlocked South American country. The country also recently purchased radar sets from American aerospace giant Northrop Grumman that would help track planes transporting drugs and money, wrote Diálogo Américas, giving the Tucanos better eyes in the sky. In recent years, Paraguay has become a key country for the transit of cocaine then transported across the Atlantic in container ships: Cocaine produced mainly in Peru and Bolivia is moved through Paraguay to Brazil and Argentina, entering from neighboring Bolivia by land and air routes through the Chaco, the vast and sparsely populated region in the northwest of the country, where airstrips are being built for drug trafficking. The acquisition of radar will help Paraguay curb these criminal activities, Diálogo Américas added. Paraguayan President Santiago Peña said that the purchases signaled a crucial change of direction because of urgent priorities, and marked “the beginning of a new era in the fight against transnational organized crime and narcotrafficking.” “Today the Paraguayan State invests in defense and security, no longer to confront our neighbors. That remained in the past. Today we face different dangers. Organized crime, drug trafficking, transnational crimes know no borders, know no nationality, and this requires that States be increasingly organized,” Peña said in a recent speech as reported by Spanish news agency EFE. Peña’s comments were about more than law and order, however. The purchase of the planes reflected how the Paraguayan state was seeking to move on from one of the most stressful periods in its history since the end of the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in 1989. When the military regime ended, “many wounds” remained that were “eroding and deteriorating the capacity for response” of the military, which is why he considered it “fundamental” to strengthen it now, Peña added. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently called for Paraguay to strengthen measures against money laundering and violent crime, in order to create more opportunities and improve the economy, MercoPress noted. Fast-growing Paraguay has become South America’s star economy over the past two decades but has also failed to tackle one of the world’s most endemic organized crime problems. Even so, the financial institution recently praised Paraguay’s efforts to grow its economy after the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic and, even more damaging, a severe drought in early 2022. Climate change has made such droughts more frequent and extreme in recent years, too, added the Fitch Ratings agency at the time. With the help of almost $200 million in IMF financing, the country’s economy is now rebounding. Gross domestic product grew by almost 6 percent in the first quarter of the year, driven by a nearly 13 percent increase in construction sector activity, for example, reported bnamericas. The exploding interest in the country’s Paraguay-Paraná river system is also stoking economic growth, Americas Quarterly added. “Now, with a surge of infrastructure projects along its banks, the corridor is reemerging as a vital, contested axis for regional trade and security,” it wrote. “Both investment and foreign interest are ramping up: China and the US are maneuvering for influence along the corridor, as are transnational criminal organizations, for Andes-to-Atlantic drug trafficking and other illicit activity.” That’s part of the reason the country is heightening its fight against drug trafficking: It’s worried that it will dampen or even crowd out true economic development, investment, and growth. There are other critical issues beyond organized crime that Paraguay must tackle to promote growth, analysts say. “Paraguay’s institutional aspect is very weak,” Ramiro Blazquez of investment bank BancTrust told the Financial Times. “It’s a country with a lot of perceived corruption and crony capitalism, and many problems with judicial independence.”

Scientists Discover 3,500-Year-Old Lost City In Peru That Rivaled Ancient Egypt

Scientists discover 3,500-year-old lost city in Peru that rivalled Ancient Egypt By Vishwam Sankaran, 19 hours ago Ancient city of Penico unearthed in Peru Peru Ministry of Culture Archaeologists have unearthed a lost city in Peru that thrived 3,500 years ago, likely as a potential contemporary of early human societies such as the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian civilisations of the Middle East. The ancient city, named Peñico, emerged independently of these other early civilisations, and likely thrived as a trading hub, connecting coastal South America to the mountainous Andes regions through dense forests. "This urban centre was developed following the cultural tradition of Caral,” said archaeologist Ruth Shady, director of the Caral Archaeological Zone. Researchers uncovered a circular structure on a hillside in Peru’s northern Barranca province, including the remains of stone and mud buildings constructed at about 600m (1,970ft) above sea level around 1,800 and 1,500 BC. Ancient city of Penico unearthed in Peru (Peru Ministry of Culture) Scientists suspect the ancient city’s inhabitants were connected to the Caral civilisation, the oldest in the Americas, which developed 5,000 years ago. Drone footage revealed the presence of new human-made structures running parallel to previously uncovered buildings of the Caral–Supe pre-Columbian society. The height at which the structures were found suggests the ancient city’s settlers strategically chose the location likely to enhance the monumentality of their buildings, protect themselves from floods and landslides, or to promote interaction and exchange. "Peñico adds to the archaeological sites that can be visited under our management: the Sacred City of Caral, the fishing town of Áspero and the agricultural fishing city of Vichama. The public will also be able to get to know this city of integration," Dr Shady said. The city’s discovery is key to further understanding South American history, according to archaeologists, who suspect it emerged after the Caral civilisation was devastated by climate change. Peñico also likely acted as a node in the exchange network, linked to the extraction and circulation of Iron mineral hematite used to make a red pigment with a high symbolic importance within Andean cosmology. "They were situated in a strategic location for trade, for exchange with societies from the coast, the highlands and the jungle," Dr Shady told Reuters. So far, 18 constructions have been unearthed in the ancient city site, including larger and minor public buildings, and residential complexes, Peru’s Ministry of Culture said in a statement. Ancient Peru 'City of Social Integration' Peñico (Peru Ministry of Culture) One structure labelled "B2" stands out for its sculptural reliefs, integrated into two other large public Buildings of the urban centre. The building was found to have remarkable designs of conch shell musical horns called pututus, and other instruments represented on the walls of a quadrangular room. Pututus were used in early Andean societies to transmit sound over long distances, such as to make announcements for meetings and important events, and were considered a symbol of social importance. They were considered an important ritual offering to deities, in gratitude for the benefits required and received. Researchers also found other significant artefacts in the building, including sculptures made of uncooked clay representing human-like and animal-like figures as well as ceremonial objects. They also unearthed necklaces with beads of various materials like rhodochrosite, chrysola, animal bone and clay at the building site. The presence of such artefacts indicates the building was likely one of the most important in the urban history of Peñico.

"Get Out Of Mexico!" Protests Against American Tourists Turn Violent

‘Get Out of Mexico’: Protests in Mexico Against American Tourists Turn Violent Mexico A peaceful protest against gentrification and mass tourism in Mexico City turned violent over the weekend after demonstrators smashed storefronts and harassed visitors in neighborhoods popular among tourists, the Associated Press reported. The protests against mass tourism, which have mostly been seen igniting in Europe, saw demonstrators complaining about the influx of American tourists who have poured into Mexico’s capital, Mexico City, in recent years. In 2020, US “digital nomads” began “escaping” to Mexico City to escape Covid-19 lockdowns and enjoy cheaper rents in the country where salaries are far lower than in the US. The average monthly salary in Mexico City is about $370. This phenomenon, say critics, has caused rent and other living costs to spike for locals, forcing them out of their neighborhoods, especially in areas like Condesa and Roma, now filled with restaurants and cafes. The protesters say it’s a new type of colonialism, according to the New York Times. The protesters also called on local lawmakers to regulate tourism levels and enact stricter housing laws. Then, masked protesters assaulted the areas of Condesa and Roma, where they broke into and looted luxury stores. Graffiti on shattered glass, broken by rocks, read sentences like “Get out of Mexico.” Some officials criticized the violent behavior of the protesters and what they described as the protesters’ nativist bent. Mexico City’s government secretary, César Cravioto, accused the protesters of “xenophobic” behavior and said that Mexico City “is a city of migrants,” insisting that the city’s administration doesn’t agree with “this type of demonstration.” While also condemning the violence, the governor of Mexico City, Carla Brugada, wrote on X that officials are aware of the issues facing local residents and said that her administration was working on providing more affordable housing. Similar protests against mass tourism have repeatedly broken out over the past few years in Europe, especially in Spain, France, and Italy.

Inside The Secret Military Dialogue Between Britan and Argentina

The Americas | Game of southern cone Inside the secret military dialogue between Britain and Argentina A deal would counter China and please America. It requires deft diplomacy on the Falklands Save Share Give Illustration of a British lion with a face made of the Argentinian sun, facing away from China and towards a F-16 fighter jet Illustration: Ben Jones Jul 6th 2025 | MONTEVIDEO | 7 min read America’s top brass worries about the South Atlantic. It is a jumping-off point for Antarctica, where Russia and China boast 15 bases between them, scrambling to lock down resources. It is linked to the Pacific by the Strait of Magellan, the only safe maritime route between the two oceans other than the drought-hit Panama Canal. Traffic through the Strait is surging, as is illegal Chinese fishing on either side. China is pushing infrastructure projects across the region. America’s top generals have visited Argentina’s deep south three times in the last two years. At first glance the United States is well positioned to manage any threat. President Javier Milei of Argentina is a hyper-willing ally. Britain has Typhoon fighter jets and the HMS Forth patrol vessel stationed in the Falkland Islands. But Argentina’s armed forces are in bad shape. Britain’s are focused on defending the Falklands (sovereignty over which Britain has and Argentina claims) from Argentina. As a legacy of the Falklands war, Britain has tight restrictions on weapons sales to Argentina. These have hamstrung the latter’s efforts to improve its armed forces and pushed it towards buying Chinese planes and weaponry, alarming the United States. Map: The Economist Now a mix of factors, including Mr Milei’s unusual perspective on the islands and American enthusiasm for Argentina’s military modernisation, have created an opening for a new strategic arrangement in the South Atlantic. Quietly, after a long hiatus, dialogue between the Argentine and British defence ministries has restarted. Argentina wants Britain to loosen its restrictions on arms purchases. Britain wants discreet acceptance of its role in the rest of the South Atlantic even while Argentina maintains its constitutional claim over the Falklands. Britain also wants Argentina to work with it on practical matters to improve life on the Falklands. The warming began in February 2024, a few months after Mr Milei took office. British defence attachés visited the ministry of defence in Argentina for the first time in three years. In September that year the British and Argentine foreign ministers met and arranged a visit by Argentines to the graves of family members on the Falklands. They also agreed to share fisheries data and to restart monthly direct flights to the Falklands from Argentina. Defence dialogue then ramped up. An Argentine delegation visited London in January. Next, a British one is expected to visit Buenos Aires. Mr Milei wants to modernise his country’s armed forces with the best NATO-compatible equipment. He is cutting government spending savagely, but raising the defence budget from 0.5% of GDP to 2% over the next seven years. Last year Argentina applied for NATO-partner status. Britain is interested in a deal, too, but cautious. It shares the American concerns about the South Atlantic. Argentina’s de facto acceptance of Britain’s relevance in the region would facilitate closer co-operation on everything from science to security, not just with Argentina but also with its neighbours, Chile and Uruguay. But while the Argentine families visited in December, Argentina has not yet shared fishing data or restarted flights, stepping stones to progress on arms policy. The islanders are wary. “We feel very secure,” says Leona Roberts of the Falklands’ Executive Council, “but we would probably not be wildly comfortable with the UK supplying military equipment to Argentina.” Britain has long blocked sales of military equipment with British components to Argentina, even by third countries. Given the strength of Britain’s arms industry this has been a serious constraint. In 2020 it blocked the sale of Korean fighter jets with some British parts. The stated policy is to block sales that could “enhance Argentine military capability”. Yet there is wriggle room. Britain may allow sales that “are not detrimental to the UK’s defence and security interests”. A first step could be to interpret that clause more flexibly. The shape of things to come There are several reasons to believe a new arrangement is possible. Few consider Argentina a real threat to the Falklands. “It’s militarily unthinkable…[Britain] would wipe us off the planet,” says Alejandro Corbacho, a military historian at the University of CEMA in Buenos Aires. Britain seems more willing to reconsider its restrictions if Argentina planned to make large purchases, as that would boost Britain’s defence industry. If so, that would suggest the embargo is more about politics than protecting the Falklands. Britain knows its restrictions are anyway losing bite as more countries make military kit. That the United States wants a new arrangement matters too. In public statements it has offered “steadfast” support for the modernisation of Argentina’s armed forces. In private, one American with knowledge of the matter calls Argentina “a huge partner” but says its military is “in very sore need of equipment and training”. But that equipment must be Western, not Chinese. Britain’s embargo makes that harder. Continued intransigence could end up bolstering those in a post-Milei government that believe Argentina’s future, in weaponry and politics, runs through China rather than the West. Argentina’s dalliance with American adversaries is real. Mr Milei likes trading with the Asian giant. In 2023, before he took office, a Chinese firm looked set to build a large port near the Argentine entrance to the Strait. That project collapsed amid intense objections both foreign and domestic, but China, which operates a space station in Patagonia, remains keenly interested in the region. Under the last administration Argentina was “gnat’s-ass close to buying Chinese fighter aircraft”, warns the American. In 2021, weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, the previous government signed a deal with the Russian ministry of defence allowing Argentine officers to travel to Russia for training. During Joe Biden’s presidency the United States pushed Britain to let Argentina buy modern F-16 fighter jets with a British-made ejector seat. Britain was reluctant and an alternative was found. Argentina bought older F-16s from Denmark with $40m of American money. These did not have British parts, so its approval was not required. However, the United States still sought to explain and justify it to Britain, which accepted it. That was progress. “The US government was also interested in whether the broader export controls could be ended,” says a former American official. A spokesperson for the British government says it has “no current plans to review the UK’s export-control policy for Argentina”. But it is easy to imagine Britain’s position shifting. The Trump administration is pushy, ignores orthodoxy and is close to Mr Milei, whose pro-Western stance probably helps Britain to be flexible. His conciliatory tone and taboo-breaking on the Falklands is crucial. He openly admires Margaret Thatcher, who led Britain during the Falklands war. He admits that the islands “are in the hands of the UK” and assures that Argentina will not try to retake them by force. Recently, he even seemed to imply that the islanders have a right to self-determination, Britain’s position. Domestic politics remain a formidable barrier in both countries. Argentina appointed a new foreign minister in October. Despite enthusiasm in other parts of government, better ties with Britain seem less of a priority for the new man. For its part, Britain worries about who comes after Mr Milei. Selling arms to a Milei-led Argentina may be okay, but he will leave office in 2027 or 2031. An attempt in 2016 to reset relations was torn up after the left-wing Peronists returned to power. It would be embarrassing to help Argentina modernise its armed forces only for that to happen again. In both countries the flag-waving opposition could paint an agreement as a concession and use it to whip up anger. In Britain, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is surging in the polls and could easily pressure the government over any new arrangement, framing it as a betrayal of the war dead, perhaps. In Argentina the Peronists have already attacked Mr Milei for his stance on the Falklands. With mid-term elections in October he and his team may prefer to steer clear of the issue for now. Yet the overriding logic of Mr Milei’s foreign policy is airtight alignment with the United States (notwithstanding trade with China). Britain has a similar, if less absolutist, tradition. The Trump administration is so exercised about Chinese influence in Latin America that it threatens to seize the Panama Canal. It is also clear about the threat in the South Atlantic. If it pushes harder its two allies may draw a similar conclusion—and act accordingly. ■ Sign up to El Boletín, our subscriber-only newsletter on Latin America, to understand the forces shaping a fascinating and complex region. Explore more Britain World Geopolitics The Americas Argentina

How Xi’s wife and a regional chief secretly plotted his escape

The Homecoming: For Those Migrants Returning To Honduras, Little Has Changed

The Homecoming: For Those Migrants Returning To Honduras, Little Has Changed Honduras Emerson Colindres, 19, and his family fled Honduras and applied unsuccessfully for asylum in the United States in 2014. Since then, they had been in the immigration system, waiting to receive a date to leave the US. Then, agents detained Colindres when he showed up for a routine immigration check this month in Ohio. Colindres, who has no criminal record and just graduated from high school, spent two weeks in the Butler County jail near Cincinnati before he was deported back to Honduras, the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote. “It was kind of more traumatizing because I haven’t been to my birth country in years,” Colindres told WCPO, a local television station. If his mother and sister leave Ohio to join him, as they say they will, they will join other Honduran immigrants who are opting to self-deport from the US under a new program called Project Homecoming, according to CNN. The US government initiative pays those in the US illegally $1,000 to leave the country. A group of 38 Hondurans who opted to self-deport recently landed at Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport in northeastern Honduras. This direction of traffic is a trickle compared with the number of Hondurans who have migrated to the US in recent years. Between 2000 and 2021, the Honduran migrant community in the US grew from 240,000 to 1.1 million, an increase of 374 percent, the Pew Research Center said. There are many reasons why Colindres’ family took him from the Central American country of around 10 million, namely the poverty, the violence, and the corruption in the narco-state. Things haven’t changed in the 11 years since they left. For example, late last year, a scandal erupted in the country over meetings between senior government officials associated with President Xiomara Castro and drug traffickers who donated to her campaign and paid bribes to Castro’s husband, former President Mel Zelaya, who went into exile following a 2009 coup, and Zelaya’s brother, explained the Wilson Center. Castro’s predecessor, ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández, is now serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US for trafficking in guns and drugs. The country lacks the civil society institutions, independent judiciary, and watchdog groups to combat this corruption, analysts say. In the past, American officials might have had more power to help Honduras foster democracy and law, the Christian Science Monitor noted. Now, however, as the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) lamented, the US has taken a more antagonistic stance toward Castro due to her left-wing views, including her ties with China and her support for the authoritarian regimes of Nicaragua and Venezuela. As a result, the US shuns the country: “During his tour of Central America in early February 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not include Honduras on his itinerary, sending a strong message,” WOLA wrote. In November, Hondurans will elect a new president who might change the direction of the country, the Associated Press reported. Candidates from Castro’s leftist LIBRE party and Hernández’s conservative National party will likely dominate the vote, which means little will change, analysts say. As a result, the reasons people like the Colindres family left the country won’t be solved anytime soon. Still, some are hopeful. “While electoral violence is a significant threat, and democratic degradation is indeed a concerning trend in the region, these challenges are by no means insurmountable,” wrote the US Institute of Peace. “Central American neighbor Guatemala rose from its contentious 2023 elections with a citizenry hopeful of a renewed democratic spring capable of strengthening justice while delivering social dividends for its society. Hondurans still have time to make next year’s elections their watershed moment towards building a stronger, more inclusive and responsive democracy.” Share this story