Facing a third round of impeachment (or "vacancy") proceedings, Peru's president Pedro Castillo on Dec. 7 ordered the dissolution of Congress and announced imposition of a "government of exception" in which he would rule by decree. But his government immediately collapsed as protesters, many armed with clubs, filled the streets of Lima. Most of his cabinet resigned, with foreign minister César Landa tweeting: "I strongly condemn this coup d'état and call on the international community to assist in the re-establishment of democracy in Peru." The National Police and Armed Forces Joint Command together issued a statement saying they would not enforce any "acts contrary to constitutional order."

The Peruvian Ministry of Environment (MINAM) on Nov. 4 issued a public statement rejecting the Congress' approval of Bill 412, which exempts bankrupt mining companies from complying with environmental certifications. The bill, introduced in October 2021 by lawmaker César Manuel Revilla of the right-wing Popular Force bloc, establishes special measures for companies in asset restructuring under bankruptcy laws. After the bill's text was approved by the relevant committees, the Executive Branch raised concerns, and sent it back to Congress for further review. However, the Congressional leadership approved the text a second time, and it was passed by a vote in plenary.

Peru's Congress last month, at the behest of President Pedro Castillo's government, voted to approve the entry of US military troops for participation in several weeks of anti-drug and anti-terrorism operations. But the Aug. 4 vote was protested by voices within Castillo's own Partido Perú Libre (PPL), with legislator Kelly Portalatino calling it a "sign of submission." (Prensa Latina) A previous such US troop mission in 2015 saw operations in the Valley of the Apurímac and Ene Rivers (VRAE), a key coca cultivation zone. Campesinos of the VRAE Federation of Agrarian Producers (FEPAVRAE) have just announced a region-wide indefinite paro (civil strike) to begin Oct. 5 in protest of ongoing government coca-eradication campaigns. (Sputnik) 

More than 500 indigenous leaders from across the Amazon, meeting in Lima Sept. 7, issued an urgent call for the world to act against the destruction of the planet's largest rainforest. The statement, "Amazonia Against the Clock," was approved by the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), at a summit of representatives from nine countries. (EFE) The statement invokes the Emergency Motion 129 issued in September 2021 in Marseille by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), calling for "permanent protection" of the remaining 80% of intact rainforest by 2025. (InfoRegion)

Governments around the world are scrambling to shore up economies hard hit by rising oil and wheat prices as a resut of the Ukraine war. Ghana has opened talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for emergency relief after angry protesters flooded the streets of the capital Accra last week. Clashes with police left several wounded and some 30 arrested on June 29. Protests were called under the slogan "Arise Ghana" to pressure President Nana Akufo-Ad to address a dramatic spike in the cost of food and fuel. (Reuters, Al Jazeera, AfricaNews)

Protests broke out in Lima, Cuzco and other cities in Peru after the country's Constitutional Tribunal on March 17 overruled a lower court annulment of a pardon for former dictator Alberto Fujimori. Further protests were ignited on March 28, when the Tribunal ordered his release from prison.  On March 31, however, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that the Peruvian state must refrain from executing the release order while the IACHR weighs provisional measures requested by representatives of the victims of the 1991 Barrios Altos and 1992 Cantuta massacres, for which Fujimori was convicted and sentenced in 2009. Fujimori has also been facing a judicial process over accusations of mass forced sterilizations under his government. (Jurist)

Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a nationwide state of emergency April 2, as angry protests over fuel shortages and power cuts erupted in the capital Colombo. When police repression failed to quell the protests, Rajapaksa sought to appease demands for his resignation with a purge of his cabinet. The emergency order was lifted April 5—the same day Peru's President Pedro Castillo imposed a curfew in Lima and its port of Callao in response to an eruption of protests over dramatic fuel price hikes. As street clashes broke out in the cities, farmers outraged at a jump in fertilizer costs blocked highways at several points around the country—including Ica, where a toll-booth was set on fire. The world has seen an oil price surge to $100 a barrel in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (The Hindu, PTI, NYT, Jurist, Al Jazeera, DW, BBC News, AFP, El Popular)

Chinese-owned MMG Ltd on March 24 announced that it has secured approval from Peru's Ministry of Energy & Mines (MINEM) to expand its copper mine at Las Bambas,  despite ongoing outrage from local campesino communities. The country's fourth-largest copper mine and the world's ninth-largest, Las Bambas has been repeatedly shut down by peasant protests since it opened in 2016. The most recent blockades were launched in February by residents of Chumbivilcas, Paruro and Espinar provinces, Cuzco region, to oppose excavation of a second open pit at the facility, at a locale called Chalcobamba. Ahead of approval of the expansion, MINEM secured a pledge by some 20 communities to lift their blockades and refrain from further protest actions in exchange for agricultural aid, including two new tractors for pueblos in Coporaque district, Espinar province. However, the pueblo closest to the Chalcobamba pit rejected the deal. Huancuire pueblo, in the district of Cuyllurqui, Cotabambas province, Apurímac region, said the community had agreed to take all necessary "legal and social" measures to prevent excavation of the Chalcobamba pit. (Reuters, EFE, Gestión, El Comercio, Mining.com)