All posts tagged "Peru"

Washington (AFP) - A Dutchman who was the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of an American woman vacationing in Aruba has confessed to her murder, prosecutors and the victim's family said Wednesday. Joran van der Sloot, 36, as part of a guilty plea entered in a related case, confessed to killing Natalee Holloway on the Caribbean island, they said. Holloway, 18, disappeared while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba. Her body has never been found. Van der Sloot pleaded guilty during a court hearing in Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday to attempting to extort money from Holloway's mot......

Lima (AFP) - Peru's capital Lima was under a state of emergency Sunday, along with three other regions, as the government responded to weeks-long protests against President Dina Boluarte that have seen at least 42 people killed. The state of emergency, in force for 30 days, authorizes the army to intervene to maintain order and suspends several constitutional rights such as freedom of movement and assembly, according to a decree published in the official gazette. It covers Lima and the regions of Cusco and Puno, as well as the port of Callao adjacent to the capital. Supporters of ousted presid......

Juliaca (Peru) (AFP) - Demonstrators in Peru blocked roads and held mass funerals on Wednesday for those killed in violent anti-government protests that have gripped the country for weeks, as the United States called for "restraint" on both sides. The deadly clashes have spread to the tourist city of Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, where one protester was killed and more than 20 people, including six police officers, were wounded. In total, at least 40 people have died in more than a month of demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, who took over afte......

Lima (AFP) - Members of an Indigenous group on Friday freed more than 100 tourists whom they had abducted in the Peruvian Amazon a day earlier to protest what they called government inaction after an oil spill, officials said. The group of detained tourists -- some 27 from the United States, Spain, France, Britain, Switzerland and 80 from Peru itself -- included several children. "They are already returning to their places of origin," Tourism Minister Roberto Sanchez told reporters in Lima. Travelling on a river boat, the tourists were kidnapped Thursday by members of the Cuninico community pr......