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A6   WORLD NEWS
                   Friday 9 december 2022
            Ousted Peru leader appears in court to face rebellion charge




            By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO and                                                                                             to  remove  presidents.  The
            JOSHUA GOODMAN                                                                                                      effort  failed,  this  time  with
            Associated Press                                                                                                    only 55 votes in favor.
            LIMA,  Peru  (AP)  —  Peru’s                                                                                        Each time, Castillo was de-
            stunning    political   crisis                                                                                      fiant, arguing he had done
            grinded  forward  Thursday,                                                                                         nothing wrong.
            as  former  President  Pedro                                                                                        “I  salute  that  common
            Castillo  appeared  in  court                                                                                       sense,  responsibility  and
            following  a  failed  attempt                                                                                       democracy      prevailed,”
            to close a hostile congress                                                                                         Castillo  tweeted  after  the
            and  his  successor  looked                                                                                         second attempt.
            for ways to unite the coun-                                                                                         Then  shortly  before  noon
            try  behind  institutions  gut-                                                                                     Wednesday,  Castillo  went
            ted by endemic corruption                                                                                           on  state  television  to  an-
            and mistrust.                                                                                                       nounce  the  dissolution  of
            At  his  initial  court  appear-                                                                                    Congress. He said elections
            ance,     Castillo   looked                                                                                         would  be  held  to  choose
            downcast as he gave sim-                                                                                            new lawmakers and a new
            ple yes or no answers and                                                                                           constitution  would  be  writ-
            his attorney argued that he                                                                                         ten.  Various  members  of
            had been arbitrarily ousted                                                                                         his Cabinet resigned imme-
            from  Peru’s  presidency  on                                                                                        diately  and  the  Supreme
            trumped-up charges of re-    Peru’s ousted President Pedro Castillo is escorted by police at the police station where he is being   Court  and  Constitutional
            bellion.                     held in Lima, Peru, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022.                                           Tribunal  rejected  it  as  an
            The  U.S.  condemned  Cas-                                                                         Associated Press   attempted coup.
            tillo’s  power  grab  as  ille-  ans, seemed eager to turn  gress  to  being  replaced  enced  Cabinet  choices,  The  president  can  dissolve
            gal  and  even  leftist  allies  the page. In comments to  by  his  vice  president.  But  a  number  of  whom  have  congress to end a political
            have  refused  to  speak  journalists  Thursday,  Dina  the threats against his gov-   been  accused  of  wrong-    standoff but only in limited
            out  against  his  overthrow.  Boluarte,  who  served  as  ernment  had  been  build-  doing.                       circumstances  after losing
            A  major  exception  was  Castillo’s  vice  president,  ing  throughout  his  nearly  He  also  faced  a  hostile  two  votes  of  confidence
            Mexican  President  Andrés  appealed  for  a  “truce”  17-month presidency.            Congress, which first tried to  in Congress, which last oc-
            Manuel  López  Obrador,  from  the  political  feuding  The political outsider won a  impeach  him  last  Decem-    curred  in  2019,  when  then
            who  called  Castillo’s  re-  that has paralyzed Peru for  runoff election in June 2021  ber. At the time, a relatively  President  Martin  Vizcarra
            moval a “soft coup” fueled  years  so  that  she  can  “re-  by  just  44,000  votes  after  small  group  of  opposition  dismissed lawmakers.
            by  deep-seated  racism  orient”  the  country.  With  campaigning  on  promises  lawmakers  cited  an  inves-      By  nightfall  Wednesday,
            against  the  former  school  polls  showing  Peruvians  to  nationalize  Peru’s  key  tigation by prosecutors into  Castillo  was  being  held  in
            teacher  from  the  heavily  despising  Congress  even  mining industry and rewrite  illicit  financing  of  the  gov-  the same giant police sta-
            indigenous  Andean  high-    more  than  they  do  Cas-   the  constitution,  gaining  erning  party.  To  remove  tion housing reviled former
            lands.                       tillo,  she  suggested  that  support in rural Peru.      the president requires two-  President  Alberto  Fujimori,
            “It is no longer military inter-  she would consider holding  However,  once  in  office,  thirds  of  the  130  lawmak-  whose closing of Congress
            vention,” said López Obra-   early  elections    something  he  immediately  stepped  ers to vote in favor. Only 46  30  years  ago  with  tanks
            dor. “It’s done with control  that  requires  approval  of  onto a no-holds-barred po-  voted in favor.             and soldiers was a far more
            of  the  media  by  the  oli-  a  hard-to-muster  constitu-  litical battlefield in Peru, the  Congress tried to impeach  robust  show  of  force  than
            garchs,  undermining  legal  tional amendment.            South  American  country  Castillo again in March for  Castillo’s enfeebled moves
            and  legitimately  constitut-  “I  know  there  are  voices  now on its sixth president in  “permanent  moral  inca-  to  temporarily  dismiss  law-
            ed authorities, especially  if  indicating  early  elections  six years. The last one, Fran-  pacity,” a term incorporat-  makers and rule by decree.
            they want to do something  and  this  is  democratically  cisco  Sagasti,  had  been  ed  into  Peruvian  constitu-  Despite  the  high  political
            for the benefit of the long-  respectable,” she said.     appointed by Congress just  tional  law  that  experts  say  drama,  only  small  clashes
            suffering  people  who  do  In  just  three  tumultuous  months  before  Castillo’s  lacks  an  objective  defini-  erupted  between  a  hand-
            not belong to the elites.”   hours  Wednesday,  Castillo  shocking victory.            tion and that Congress has  ful  of  Castillo  supporters
            Meanwhile  ,  Castillo’s  suc-  went  from  decreeing  the  But once in office he cycled  used more than a half doz-  and  riot  police  on  guard
            cessor,  like  many  Peruvi-  dissolution  of  Peru’s  Con-  through dozens of inexperi-  en  times  since  2017  to  try  outside. q


             U.N.: Mines helped to cause 159 casualties in Yemeni city



             CAIRO  (AP)  —  The  United  U.N.’s  mine  action  service,  deadly devices left behind  between 2016 and 2018.    have also been blamed on
             Nations  said  Thursday  that  said over 50% of the casu-  by a conflict.             “Due to the difficulty of ob-  Saudi-led  airstrikes,  which
             land mines and other unex-  alties in the port city of Hu-  Land mines have been laid  taining accurate estimates,  have  hit  markets,  health
             ploded  ordnance  caused  daidah  were  women  and  across  Yemen  since  the  these  figures  are  likely  to  facilities   and    weddings
             some  159  casualties  in  a  children, and called for the  1960s.  However  there  has  make  up  a  fraction  of  all  during  Yemen’s  eight  year
             rebel-held city in Yemen in  acceleration  of  de-mining  been a surge in the use of  mine detonations involving  conflict.  The  war  has  killed
             the past six months.        across Yemen. The U.N. did  the  devices  since  the  civil  civilians in Yemen,” ACLED  over  150,000  since  2014,
             Yemen  is  in  the  grips  of  a  not  disclose  how  many  of  war began in 2014. Houthi  said in a 2018 report.  including  over  14,500  civil-
             bloody  civil  war  that  has  the  159  incidents  were  fa-  rebels  have  widely  used  Saudi  backed  forces  with-  ians.
             pitted  Iranian-allied  Houthi  tal.                     land mines.                  drew  from  the  port  of  Hu-  On Tuesday, a U.N. convoy
             rebels  against  a  Saudi-led  The figure refers to casual-  According  to  the  U.S.-  daidah in 2021. The Houthi-  Cohn was traveling in was
             coalition  that  backs  the  ties  caused  by  landmines  based   Armed     Conflict  controlled  strategic  city  struck by landmines on the
             internationally  recognized  and “explosive remnants of  Location  &  Event  Data  is  one  of  the  most  heavily  northern outskirts of Hudai-
             Yemeni government.          war,”  a  term  that  includes  Project,  Houthi  land  mines  mined in Yemen.         dah. No one was hurt in the
             Ilene Cohn, director of the  shells,  grenades  and  other  killed  at  least  122  people  Thousands of civilian deaths  incident.q
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