标签： South America

On the dusty, sprawling hillsides of San Juan de Lurigancho, one of Lima’s most vulnerable working-class suburbs, bus driver Toño grips his steering wheel with a lingering trauma that never fully fades. Months ago, a local criminal gang ambushed him after the bus company he worked for refused to meet a $15,000 extortion demand. Bullets tore through his legs and abdomen, leaving him unable to work for four months. Though his external wounds have healed, the psychological scars remain.

“I work every day in fear,” Toño told reporters, his voice tight with anxiety. “My wounds are closed on the outside, but the pain inside never goes away. If I had the money to leave this country, I would go — I’m terrified every time I leave my children at home.”

Toño is far from alone. His attack is one of nearly 30,000 reported extortion incidents recorded across Peru in 2025, a crisis that has disproportionately targeted small business owners and public transport workers. According to an independent crime and violence observatory, 239 transport drivers were killed in gang-related attacks last year alone. At Toño’s bus depot, security chief Eiffel Calla confirms that five company drivers have been attacked in recent months: one killed, another left permanently brain-damaged in a vegetative state. Today, armed police guard the depot’s entrance, and Toño drives with plainclothes armed officers on board for protection. Like many Peruvians, he is calling for the next president to take a hard line against the growing wave of violence.

Rising violent crime and widespread extortion have pushed public insecurity to the top of voter priorities ahead of Peru’s Sunday presidential runoff, which pits right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori against left-wing challenger Roberto Sánchez. The race marks Fujimori’s fourth bid for the presidency, and she has centered her entire campaign on a hardline “tough-on-crime” platform, leaning into the legacy of her father, former president Alberto Fujimori, who ruled Peru from 1990 to 2000. Though Alberto Fujimori died in prison while serving a sentence for human rights abuses committed during his crackdown on insurgency, his supporters still credit him with restoring domestic order and stabilizing Peru’s economy.

At her final campaign rallies, Keiko Fujimori declared open “war” on criminal extortion networks, promising to deploy military forces to combat organized crime, strengthen prison security, and work with financial institutions to freeze funds tied to extortion schemes. Economically, she champions a free-market agenda focused on attracting foreign direct investment, particularly from the United States, and building on Peru’s position as a leading global exporter of critical minerals like copper. Her supporters argue that her approach will deliver both the public safety and economic stability that Peruvians crave. “A heavy-handed response to insecurity is sorely lacking in these times,” said Piero, a rally attendee. “Peru is overflowing with crime right now, and we need someone who will fix it.” Janeth, another supporter, added that she backs Fujimori specifically to protect the country’s stable economic footing.

Fujimori’s opponent, left-wing candidate Roberto Sánchez, has campaigned on a platform of sweeping structural change, promising to increase public spending, raise the minimum wage, renegotiate private mining contracts, expand state control over natural resources, and boost corporate taxes to redirect mineral wealth toward marginalized communities. He has also pledged to pardon former left-wing president Pedro Castillo, who was imprisoned in 2022 after attempting to dissolve congress to avoid impeachment.

Sánchez’s supporters reject claims that his nationalist economic policies will trigger instability. “We are open to foreign investment that benefits our country,” said María Elena Linares, a local activist. “Claims that we will throw out all foreign investors are completely wrong. Our gold, our copper, all our raw materials flow out of this country to enrich other nations, and we are left in misery. That has to change.” Raúl, another backer, added that he supports Sánchez’s promise to increase public investment in health, education, and rural infrastructure outside of Lima and other major urban centers.

The race has been roiled by ongoing political controversy even in its final days. Last week, a judge announced that Sánchez would face trial over allegations of undeclared campaign finances dating back to regional elections held between 2018 and 2020. Sánchez has denied all wrongdoing and pledged to appeal the ruling. Fujimori herself spent nearly 18 months in pre-trial detention between 2018 and 2020 over her own campaign financing allegations, though those charges were ultimately dropped in 2024.

Peru has faced extreme political volatility over the past decade, with eight presidents holding office in 10 years and frequent congressional gridlock, as no single party has ever held a majority. Fujimori’s Popular Force party holds the largest minority bloc in congress, but analysts warn that deep ideological division between the two candidates will make governing difficult no matter the outcome.

Young voters, who make up roughly a quarter of Peru’s eligible electorate, have been particularly vocal about their frustration with the country’s political class. Last year, mass “Gen Z” protests swept Lima, with young activists accusing the state of failing to address crime, corruption, and systemic inequality. Many young voters now say the election offers little more than a choice between two unsatisfactory options.

Consuelo, 21, vice president of the student federation at Peru’s Pontifical Catholic University, described the race as a choice between the “lesser of two evils.” She says she fears that a Fujimori presidency would revive the authoritarianism associated with her father’s rule. “Fujimorism is synonymous with authoritarianism, and that represents an enormous fear for many students,” she explained. Cielo, 23, another student who has participated in anti-Fujimori protests, says even though her own family’s small business was targeted by extortionists, she cannot bring herself to support Fujimori. Alvaro, 22, says his preferred candidate was eliminated in the first round of voting, so he plans to vote critically for Sánchez solely to block Fujimori from office.

Across the political spectrum, Peruvians are united in a shared desire to end years of political instability and deliver tangible progress on crime, inequality, and economic development. But analysts warn that deep polarization and ongoing congressional gridlock make meaningful change unlikely in the near term. José Luis Pérez Guadalupe, a former Peruvian interior minister and professor at Pacific University, noted that the country’s long history of institutional volatility creates steep barriers to any new administration. “We have had eight presidents in 10 years, 24 justice ministers, 32 interior ministers. That is extremely high political volatility,” he explained. “With this level of great polarization, whoever wins will face enormous difficulty implementing their policy agenda.”

For many voters like Consuelo, that reality leaves little room for optimism. “Whether Fujimori wins or Sánchez wins, we know there will most likely be a lot of instability,” she said. “In reality, it’s a pretty hopeless choice.”

BOGOTA, Colombia — As Colombians prepare to head to the polls for the June 21 presidential runoff, the nation stands at a crossroads that will ripple far beyond its borders, with outcomes that will reshape the future of the Amazon rainforest, the country’s energy trajectory, and the rights of Indigenous communities that have stewarded the forest for centuries. The two candidates on the ballot represent diametrically opposed visions for the nation, forged in the policy legacy of current leftist President Gustavo Petro and shaped by an unexpected endorsement from former U.S. President Donald Trump.

On one side is Sen. Iván Cepeda, a close ideological ally of Petro who analysts broadly agree would carry forward the outgoing administration’s landmark climate and social priorities. Cepeda has centered his campaign on upholding Indigenous territorial rights, expanding aggressive Amazon conservation efforts, and accelerating Colombia’s transition away from fossil fuel dependence — a policy shift that has positioned Petro’s government as one of the world’s most outspoken leaders on global climate action.

Under Petro, Colombia banned new oil and gas exploration contracts, ruled out any expansion of fracking — a controversial extraction method linked to widespread environmental harm — and made history earlier this year by hosting the first-ever global summit dedicated to the worldwide transition away from coal, oil and gas. Cepeda has repeatedly affirmed his commitment to building on this work, steering the country toward expanded renewable energy production and blocking new development of fossil fuel reserves in ecologically sensitive Amazon regions.

Facing Cepeda is conservative lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, who earned a high-profile endorsement from Trump ahead of the runoff. De la Espriella has built his campaign platform around promises to boost public security and accelerate economic growth, with a core policy pledge to expand Colombia’s profitable extractive industries, including opening new areas to fracking and full development of the nation’s untapped underground fossil fuel and mineral reserves. Trump has praised de la Espriella’s hardline law enforcement stances, framing the candidate’s victory as critical to healthy U.S.-Colombia relations — a relationship that has been strained under Petro, who has clashed repeatedly with Trump over migration policy, climate action and security cooperation. Earlier this year, the two leaders traded public insults on social media after Petro barred U.S. deportation flights carrying Colombian migrants from landing in the country, prompting Trump to threaten sweeping tariffs and visa restrictions before a last-minute compromise was reached.

While both candidates have paid lip service to valuing Amazon conservation, experts say the race boils down to a clear binary: one path prioritizes protecting the rainforest’s intact ecosystems, while the other prioritizes productive resource exploitation. “On issues of climate, this is a choice between prioritizing green energy and reinvigoration of fossil fuels,” explained Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group, a nonpartisan global think tank.

Colombia is home to more than a third of the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest tropical forest and a critical global buffer against worsening climate change. In recent decades, the forest has come under growing pressure from accelerating deforestation, illegal gold mining, drug trafficking activity, and the gradual impacts of a warming planet. Under Petro, the administration has worked to curb these threats by expanding Indigenous participation in environmental governance and strengthening coordinated conservation action across Amazon basin nations, turning Colombia into a global voice for rainforest protection.

Still, supporters of expanded extractive development argue that Colombia remains heavily reliant on oil and gas revenues to fund public services and drive economic growth, warning that a rapid wind-down of fossil fuel production would create unsustainable strain on national public finances and slow job creation. This fundamental tension between longstanding economic dependence on extractive industries and urgent global demands for environmental action will define the agenda of whichever candidate takes office.

The race’s competing visions also extend to public security, a top voter concern amid growing criminal activity in the Amazon. In recent years, illegal gold mining, coca cultivation for the cocaine trade, and unregulated deforestation have expanded rapidly across large swathes of the rainforest, with much of this activity controlled by transnational armed criminal groups that have turned environmental destruction into a highly lucrative business model. “The greatest threat to conservation of the Amazon ecosystem is the expansion of organized crime,” Dickinson noted. “The challenge for both of these candidates will be to hold back that criminal expansion into these industries.”

To address this crisis, Cepeda has pledged to continue Petro’s flagship “Total Peace” policy, which seeks to reduce violence through negotiated dialogues with guerrilla groups, drug trafficking organizations, and other armed actors. Supporters of the approach argue it offers the most sustainable path to reducing bloodshed, but critics counter that some criminal groups have used the negotiation process to consolidate territorial control and expand their illegal operations. Even under Petro, violence against environmental defenders has remained at crisis levels: Colombia consistently ranks as one of the deadliest countries in the world for climate and land activists, despite the administration’s pro-conservation agenda.

De la Espriella, by contrast, has promised a hardline security response centered on increased military deployment and reasserting full state authority over contested Amazon territories. But human rights advocates warn that aggressive militarization would disproportionately harm Indigenous communities, whose lands have long been caught between armed groups and state forces. “The history of militarization of Indigenous peoples throughout the Amazon, but especially Colombia, has been devastating,” said Gimena Sánchez, Andes director at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights-focused nonprofit.

For Indigenous and local communities that call the Colombian Amazon home, the race’s stakes could not be higher. Many community leaders emphasize that effective environmental protection cannot be separated from meaningful social investment in the territories where more than one million people live. Alex Rufino, a member of the Ticuna Indigenous people based in the Amazonian city of Leticia, argues that national policy discussions often overlook the daily challenges facing forest residents, including widespread lack of access to quality education, healthcare, adequate housing and formal employment.

These unmet social needs, Rufino explained, drive many of the activities that fuel deforestation and environmental destruction: without viable economic alternatives, many local residents turn to coca cultivation, illegal mining, and other activities tied to criminal groups that destroy the forest. Stronger social investment, he said, would give residents viable alternatives to these destructive economies. The impacts of climate change and environmental destruction are already impossible to ignore in the region: recent years have seen severe droughts that dropped Amazon river levels to historic lows, killing thousands of fish and endangered pink river dolphins, while illegal mining has left widespread mercury contamination that has been detected in fish consumed by local communities, creating long-term health risks for residents.

As policymakers in Bogota debate energy policy, security strategy and economic growth, Amazon community leaders say the next Colombian administration must prioritize centering the voices of the people who have protected the forest for generations. For Rufino, that means recognizing the Amazon is not merely a reserve of natural resources to be extracted, but a living home to Indigenous and local communities that have been its most effective stewards for centuries. “The dialogue should focus on speaking from the Amazon and with the Amazon,” he said. “With the people. With young people. With women. With elders.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content.

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