Peru's government made a $462 million payment to US defense contractor Lockheed Martin on April 22 for purchase of ‌12 F-16 fighter jets, the first installment in a controversial multi-billion-dollar deal that triggered the resignation of two top ministers earlier in the day. Defense Minister Carlos Díaz and Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela cited their opposition to interim President José Balcázar's attempt to delay the deal.

In Episode 323 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg offers a comparison of the simultaneous elections in Hungary and Peru—in which questions of democratic norms versus authoritarian rule both stood in the balance. The defeat of long-ruling quasi-dictator Viktor Orbán is being hailed as a blow to the emerging authoritarian bloc in Europe. But the incoming center-right prime minister Péter Magyar may not mean a complete de-Orbánification. In Peru, the outcome is still pending, as the perennial candidate of the hard right, Keiko Fujimori, faces a run-off with a contender from the populist left, Roberto Sánchez. Keiko is the unapologetic daughter of the late ex-dictator Alberto Fujimori; her victory could mean a re-Fujimorification of the country, and a fatal blow to Peru's deeply troubled democracy. A Sánchez victory, meanwhile, would heighten the social contradictions in Peru—with both opportunities for a more meaningful democracy, and dangers of a backlash from the conservative establishment.

In a landslide victory in the April 12 elections, Hungarian opposition candidate Péter Magyar defeated long-entrenched incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a global icon for the ascendant authoritarian right. In his 16 years in power, Orbán had become a quasi-dictator. He turned the state media into a mouthpiece for his Hungarian Civic Alliance (Fidesz), redrew electoral districts to favor Fidesz, and stacked the judiciary with loyalists—leading the EuroParliament in an official report in 2022 to declare that his government was no longer a democracy but a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy." He was defeated despite visits to Hungary to campaign for him by such prominent figures from the international far right as Italy's Matteo Salvini, Marine Le Pen of France, and US Vice President JD Vance. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the electoral result as a "victory for fundamental freedoms."

UN experts on March 27 welcomed Colombian President Gustavo Petro's ratification of the 1989 International Convention against Recruitment, Use, Financing & Training of Mercenaries. The experts praised the signing of what amounts to a new anti-mercenary legislative package, calling it an essential step toward protecting human rights and upholding international legal obligations.

Peru has been hit with a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas (GLP) and compressed natural gas (GNV) following a March 1 "deflagration" on the Camisea pipeline in Megantoni district of Cuzco department. The explosion and fire caused major property damage in the rainforest settlement of Megantoni, according to Transportadora de Gas del Perú (TGP), the company responsible for the pipeline connecting the Camisea gasfields to a processing plant at Pisco on the coast. The incident resulted in an immediate rise of GNV and GLP prices, in turn leading to an internal energy crisis, with citizens nationwide standing in endless lines for a gas cylinder or a gallon of fuel. Taxi drivers and urban transport operators have raised fares and threatened a nationwide strike, demanding a government subsidy to continue working.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Feb. 15 he would accept a proposal from the country's largest remaining rebel group to allow an independent commission to investigate its alleged links to drug trafficking.

Amnesty International on Feb. 3 condemned both the January attack by the US military on Venezuela and the abuses long committed by the ousted Maduro government.

President Trump issued an executive order Jan. 10 to block judicial processes from being instituted against Venezuelan oil funds held in the US, on the basis that it would "materially harm the national security and foreign policy of the United States."