Global Pulse

标签： South America

南美洲

  • Peru court hands lengthy prison terms in killing of Indigenous Amazon defender

    Peru court hands lengthy prison terms in killing of Indigenous Amazon defender

    In a landmark ruling closely watched by environmental and Indigenous rights advocates globally, a Peruvian court has convicted four men of murder-for-hire in the November 2023 killing of Indigenous Amazon rainforest defender Quinto Inuma Alvarado, handing down stiff prison sentences that mark an unprecedented step toward ending impunity for violence against land and environmental activists in the region.

    The convictions carry profound symbolic and legal weight, as they mark the first time in Peru’s history that such severe sentences have been issued for the killing of an Indigenous environmental defender. Genix Saboya Saboya and Limber Ríos Ruiz, the two men who directly carried out the attack, each received 35-year prison terms. Segundo Juan Villalobos Guevara, a local timber operator whom prosecutors proved ordered the assassination after Inuma publicly denounced his illegal logging operations, was sentenced to 28 years and four months in prison. Jerly Saboya Saboya, convicted as an accomplice in the plot, received a 15-year prison sentence. The court also ordered total compensation of nearly $300,000: roughly $223,500 for Inuma’s surviving family, and $74,500 for Axeldina Barbarán Tapullima, the companion who was shot and wounded during the attack. The convictions can still be appealed within five days of the defendants receiving the full written ruling.

    Inuma, a 50-year-old leader of the Kichwa Indigenous community, was gunned down on November 29, 2023, while traveling by boat back to his home community of Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu in Peru’s northern Amazonian San Martin region. He was returning from a national gathering of environmental and land defenders when the attack occurred. For years, Inuma had led his community in documenting and denouncing illegal logging, drug trafficking, and outside encroachment on the community’s ancestral forest territory. Between 2016 and 2023 alone, community members filed 13 formal complaints with Peruvian prosecutors over environmental crimes and illegal activity on their land, according to the Lima-based Legal Defense Institute, which has supported the Inuma family and Indigenous organizations throughout the case.

    Despite repeated warnings about threats to Inuma’s life, state protection failed. Peru’s Justice Ministry classified Inuma as high-risk in 2021 and ordered formal police protection for him and his brother, and local authorities issued official protection orders against illegal logging groups. But court documents cited by the Legal Defense Institute show police later admitted they could not conduct required preventive patrols in the remote Amazon territory, citing lack of funding for boats and extremely challenging terrain that limits state presence across much of the Peruvian Amazon.

    The ruling came nearly three years, or 1,000 days, after Inuma’s assassination, following an eight-month trial that included on-site hearings in the Amazonian city of Tarapoto, where judges heard testimony from Inuma’s relatives, witnesses, and the attack’s surviving victim. Rights advocates say the lengthy sentences break a long pattern of impunity for killings of environmental and Indigenous defenders in Peru, which has one of the highest rates of violence against land activists in South America.

    “This is a decisive step toward justice,” said Tom Younger, Peru program coordinator for the Forest Peoples Programme. “This ruling makes clear that impunity for killings of Indigenous defenders is not inevitable.”

    Cristina Gavancho, a lawyer with the Legal Defense Institute, called the sentence “exemplary”, noting that it sets a critical precedent for future cases across the country. “This case is significant not only for the prison terms, but also because the court recognized the right to compensation for Inuma’s family and the survivor,” she said.

    For Inuma’s family, the verdict brought a complex mix of relief and lingering grief. “We received the verdict with a mixture of happiness and sadness after waiting nearly three years for justice,” Kevin Arnol Inuma, the defender’s 30-year-old son, told the Associated Press. “Before, there was no response from the state, so attackers were not afraid to kill. Now this sets a precedent for Indigenous peoples, a precedent for environmental defenders. Although they can no longer give us our father back, we hope other families will not have to wait this long for justice. Now my father can rest in peace because justice has been done.” Even so, the family remains on edge: they still do not feel fully safe, and hold fears about the risk of those convicted being released in the future.

    The gravity of the threat facing Indigenous Amazon defenders was underscored just 24 hours before the court issued its ruling, when another Indigenous leader was killed in a separate incident. Américo Pascuala Tomisha, a 57-year-old Ashéninka Indigenous leader and former head of the Onconashari Indigenous community, was shot dead Sunday while patrolling his community’s territory in Peru’s Ucayali Amazon region. Regional Indigenous organization ORAU reported that Pascuala encountered a group of outsiders illegally extracting copaiba oil from trees inside community land, and was killed in a confrontation after confronting the group. Pascuala had repeatedly reported incursions by outside settlers and illegal extractors before his killing, and ORAU has called on Peruvian authorities to launch a full investigation and expand protection measures for at-risk Indigenous leaders.

    The killing came just weeks after Asháninka communities along the Peru-Brazil border issued urgent public warnings about armed incursions into their Indigenous territories. In July, Indigenous leaders in the Brazilian side of the border requested government protection after five armed men carrying machine guns entered their territory, threatened resident families, and searched for community leaders. In response to the rising cross-border violence, Brazil and Peru recently announced an agreement to strengthen joint cooperation to protect Indigenous territories along their shared Amazon border.

    Inuma’s killing has become a symbol of the systemic risks facing Indigenous people who protect the Amazon, a region where illegal logging, unregulated mining, drug trafficking, and land grabbing have expanded rapidly into remote territories that lack consistent state presence. Environmental and human rights groups say while this ruling marks an important turning point, it also highlights how much work remains to protect at-risk defenders and prevent future killings in one of the world’s most critical carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots.

  • Colombia’s armed groups recruit children and train them in drone warfare, rights group says

    Colombia’s armed groups recruit children and train them in drone warfare, rights group says

    BOGOTA, COLOMBIA – A damning new report released Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has exposed a sharp, alarming resurgence in the recruitment of children by drug trafficking gangs and breakaway rebel factions across Colombia, with minors now being trained to carry out high-risk, lethal operations including piloting explosive-laden drones. The international human rights watchdog documents that criminal networks have increasingly turned to social media platforms as a fertile recruiting ground, as they battle to seize control of remote rural territories where they generate billions in illegal revenue from drug trafficking, extortion, and unregulated artisanal mining.

    “Armed groups in Colombia are recruiting children with complete impunity,” stated Juanita Goebertus, HRW’s Americas Division Director. “Colombia’s child protection systems are failing vulnerable communities, and social media platforms have emerged as a far more effective recruiting tool than any traditional tactic these groups have used before.”

    The troubling trend reverses years of progress that followed Colombia’s landmark 2016 peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s largest rebel insurgency. That agreement dramatically reduced nationwide violence and cut rates of child recruitment for nearly a decade after FARC guerrillas demobilized and withdrew from contested rural areas. However, the power vacuum left by FARC’s exit has drawn a patchwork of smaller rebel holdouts, splinter factions, and drug cartels, which are now fighting violent territorial wars in regions where state law enforcement and social support infrastructure remain severely underdeveloped.

    Data from Colombia’s own national Human Rights Defenders’ Office confirms the accelerating crisis: at least 1,500 children have been forcibly or coercively recruited by armed groups since 2021, with 625 new cases reported in the first half of 2024 alone. That number already surpasses the peak annual recruitment count of 1,320 recorded in 1999, at the height of Colombia’s decades-long civil conflict between the military and FARC, according to data from the country’s National Truth Commission.

    Historically, armed groups in Colombia have deployed recruited children for low-stakes supporting roles including carrying messages, gathering intelligence on military movements, cooking for combat units, and frontline skirmishes. Girls are frequently targeted for sexual exploitation by group commanders, a longstanding abuse that persists today. But HRW’s investigation confirms a dangerous new evolution of the crisis: minors are now being actively trained in drone warfare, as armed groups increasingly rely on remotely piloted explosive devices to attack rival factions, police outposts, and military bases.

    HRW researchers verified multiple public social media videos showing children operating explosive-laden drones, and conducted interviews with family protection officers who work directly with children that have escaped armed groups or participated in government demobilization programs. The report notes that armed groups deliberately manipulate child recruits, framing drone operation as a recreational game rather than a deadly act of armed conflict to reduce resistance.

    Colombian government data underscores the growing lethality of drone attacks: between January and May 2024, armed groups carried out 121 drone strikes across the country, leaving 21 people dead and 145 more injured.

    The report also highlights the key role of social media in modern recruitment, echoing longstanding warnings first raised by the United Nations. HRW researchers identified dozens of public social media accounts that deliberately glorify life in rebel and criminal groups, framing participation as an attractive, glamorous lifestyle to vulnerable children in marginalized rural communities. In many cases, the algorithms powering major platforms including Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) and TikTok actively amplified this harmful content, pushing it to child users’ feeds and expanding its reach, the investigation found.

    In responses to HRW’s inquiry, both Meta and TikTok stated that their community policies prohibit content that promotes organized violence and child recruitment, and confirmed that they had removed all accounts flagged by the human rights organization. Still, the persistent spread of this content points to ongoing gaps in platform enforcement.

    The investigation also identifies the Ivan Mordisco faction, a FARC holdout group that rejected the 2016 peace accord, as the worst perpetrator of child recruitment, with most of its activity concentrated in Colombia’s southwestern Cauca region. A key demographic analysis from HRW found that despite Indigenous people making up just 4% of Colombia’s total population, nearly half of all child recruitment cases recorded since 2021 involved Indigenous children, leaving this already marginalized community disproportionately impacted by the crisis. Girls also account for 40% of all recruited minors, the data shows.

    HRW has issued two key sets of recommendations to address the growing crisis. First, the organization is calling on the Colombian national government to allocate additional funding and resources to prosecute armed group members who recruit children, while expanding prevention programs and social services in high-risk rural areas to protect vulnerable minors. As of Monday, the Colombian government had not issued a public response to the report’s findings. Second, HRW is urging social media platforms to create simple, accessible reporting channels for users to flag content linked to child recruitment, and to preserve content and account data that can be used as evidence in criminal prosecutions of recruiters.

  • US strikes a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing 2 people in first attack in months

    US strikes a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing 2 people in first attack in months

    After a roughly eight-week pause in operations, the U.S. military has resumed its controversial counter-narcotics offensive in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, carrying out a lethal strike that killed two people the department identifies as drug traffickers, the Department of Defense announced Monday.

    This latest action pushes the cumulative death toll from the nearly year-long campaign, which has targeted alleged smuggling vessels off Latin America’s Caribbean coast and in the Eastern Pacific across more than 60 strikes, past 210, according to official tallies.

    In a social media statement, U.S. Southern Command confirmed that its forces “executed a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operating along established narcotrafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.” Consistent with nearly all previous official announcements about strikes in the region, the Pentagon has not released any public evidence confirming the targeted vessel was actually transporting illicit narcotics. Monday’s strike is the first confirmed offensive action the U.S. has announced since the devastating back-to-back June 24 earthquakes that killed thousands across Central America and the Caribbean.

    Gen. Francis Donovan, commander of U.S. Southern Command, reaffirmed the military’s commitment to the campaign in remarks following the strike: “We are committed to imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists — disrupting their operations, dismantling their leadership, and eliminating cartel terror across the region.”

    The resumed strike comes as the Trump administration pushes to expand its counter-cartel offensive from maritime waters onto land across multiple Latin American nations, negotiating bilateral access agreements with regional allies. Earlier this month, during an official visit to Panama, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to permit joint U.S. military counter-criminal operations on their sovereign territory. Guatemalan officials quickly issued a formal denial that any such agreement had been reached. Ecuador previously launched joint land-based counter-narcotics missions alongside U.S. forces back in March.

    President Donald Trump has framed the United States as being in an “armed conflict” with transnational Latin American drug cartels, justifying the escalating maritime strikes as a necessary measure to cut off the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S. and curb the rising number of fatal overdoses that claim thousands of American lives annually. To date, however, the administration has released little verifiable evidence to back its claims that those killed in the strikes are indeed “narcoterrorists.”

    The campaign has faced growing pushback from legal and policy critics, who have raised questions both about the legality of the cross-border maritime strikes and their overall public health impact. Critics point out that the vast majority of fentanyl, the drug responsible for the majority of fatal overdoses in the U.S., is trafficked overland through Mexico, not smuggled by small boats across the Eastern Pacific. Fentanyl is primarily produced in Mexico using precursor chemicals imported from China and India, making maritime smuggling of finished drugs a secondary threat.

    Since the strikes launched in early September of last year, the campaign has drawn intense scrutiny from Democratic members of Congress and military legal scholars. In May, the Pentagon’s independent inspector general announced it would launch a review to assess whether U.S. military forces followed established official targeting protocols when carrying out the strikes. The inspector general’s office clarified, however, that the evaluation will only examine compliance with the military’s standard six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle, and will not assess the broader legality of the strike campaign itself.

  • Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ ball sells for £2.5m

    Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ ball sells for £2.5m

    One of the most controversial and recognizable pieces of football memorabilia in history — the match ball Diego Maradona used to score his infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal during the 1986 FIFA World Cup — has found a new buyer at auction, closing at a final price of £2.5 million ($3.3 million).

    The moment that cemented the ball’s place in global sports lore came during Argentina’s tense World Cup quarter-final clash against England in 1986. With the match tied at 1-1, Maradona extended his left arm to punch the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, a handball that went unnoticed by referee Ali Bin Nasser. After Argentina secured a 2-1 victory, Maradona famously quipped to reporters that the goal had been scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God” — a quote that turned an already controversial moment into a permanent part of football folklore. Later in the same match, Maradona scored what is still widely referred to as the ‘Goal of the Century’, weaving past five England outfield players in a 60-yard mazy run before beating Shilton again to secure Argentina’s place in the next round of the tournament.

    The Adidas Azteca match ball was brought to auction by its current owner at Heritage Auctions’ sports memorabilia event held in the United States on Saturday. While auction specialists had initially projected the one-of-a-kind item could sell for as much as $10 million (£7.3 million), the final winning bid fell far short of those expectations.

    Ahead of the auction, Mike Provenzale, a senior specialist auctioneer at Heritage, described the piece as an unparalleled artifact for football fans. “It’s a true one-of-one item,” Provenzale told Reuters. “Arguably the most significant soccer item that exists.”

    The ball has a decades-long ownership history tied directly to the 1986 match. It was collected by Bin Nasser, the Tunisian referee who officiated the quarter-final, right after the final whistle blew. Bin Nasser kept the ball in his personal collection for more than 30 years before selling it at auction for the first time in 2022, when it fetched $2.37 million (£1.74 million). After the 2022 sale, the ball’s new owner put it back up for auction in 2022, but the lot failed to sell as incoming bids did not meet the reserve price set by the owner. In 2023, authentication of the ball was solidified when Bin Nasser issued a signed formal letter confirming it was the actual match ball used throughout the entire 1986 quarter-final, a finding that was later independently verified by third-party experts.

    The ‘Hand of God’ ball is not the only piece of memorabilia from that iconic match to break sales records in recent years. The match shirt Maradona wore during the 1986 quarter-final sold at auction for £7.1 million back in 2022, setting a new benchmark for match-worn football apparel at the time.

  • Joao Pedro signs new deal at Chelsea and takes on club’s ‘cursed’ No. 9 shirt

    Joao Pedro signs new deal at Chelsea and takes on club’s ‘cursed’ No. 9 shirt

    LONDON – In a move that cements his long-term future at one of England’s most iconic Premier League clubs, Brazilian striker Joao Pedro has agreed to an upgraded contract extension with Chelsea that will keep him at Stamford Bridge until 2034, the club announced Saturday. The forward has also inherited the Blues’ famed – and notoriously cursed – No. 9 shirt, a jersey that has foiled 13 consecutive attackers since the position was last successfully filled in the early 2000s.

    Pedro originally joined Chelsea from Brighton & Hove Albion just one year ago, on an initial deal that was scheduled to run through 2032 with an optional extra year. The new extension not only adds two additional years to his commitment but also brings improved financial terms, a reward for his standout debut season with the West London side, where he notched 20 goals across all competitions in his first campaign.

    Speaking on the new deal, Pedro expressed his commitment to the club’s ambitions, saying: “I always dreamed of playing for a big club, and it means a lot to me to give my long-term commitment to this club. Chelsea has a long tradition of winning and it has big ambitions for the future.”

    The 24-year-old’s strong form last season came despite a high-profile snub this summer, when he was left out of Brazil’s squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup – a decision that surprised many football analysts given his consistent goalscoring output.

    Pedro is poised to lead the line as first-choice striker for newly appointed manager Xabi Alonso when Chelsea kicks off its new Premier League campaign away at Fulham on Monday. To clear space for Pedro in the first team, fellow forwards Liam Delap and Nicolas Jackson have been placed on the transfer market, while recent July signing Danny Welbeck, also lured from Brighton, is in contention for a spot in the matchday squad.

    The No. 9 jersey Pedro now wears was vacated by Delap when the latter was put up for transfer. The shirt has gained a reputation for being jinxed over the past two decades: since Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink delivered prolific, title-winning performances in the number back in the early 2000s, 13 subsequent wearers have failed to make a sustained positive impact in the role.

    The curse even carries the name of one of its most famous victims: Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz, who was infamously given the No. 9 shirt despite being a natural center back. Other high-profile flops include former club-record signing Fernando Torres, one of three record-breaking attacking recruits to struggle in the shirt. The “curse of Khalid Boulahrouz” remains a widely discussed quirk of Chelsea’s modern history, one that Pedro will now look to break.

  • A bruising week for Bolivia’s President Paz as scandal and setbacks test his presidency

    A bruising week for Bolivia’s President Paz as scandal and setbacks test his presidency

    Nine months into his term, Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz is facing the most severe test of his young administration after a catastrophic seven-day stretch of political fractures, public outrage, and high-profile scandals that have left his already fragile governing coalition on the brink of collapse. Since taking office last year after winning election on a platform to break nearly 20 years of one-party socialist rule, Paz has navigated near-constant turmoil: mass street protests, repeated cabinet reshuffles that have left just six of his original 15 ministerial posts filled, a public falling-out with his own vice president, and a public health and economic crisis after contaminated gasoline damaged more than 10,000 vehicles nationwide. Through it all, the president has managed to hold onto power, but political analysts agree the string of crises that unfolded this week could be his most dangerous challenge to date.

    The first major blow to Paz’s authority came when his key congressional partner, the center-right National Unity party, cut ties with his administration over his overreliance on executive presidential decrees to pass policy, fracturing the already thin majority he needed to advance his legislative agenda. The loss of this ally immediately exposed Paz’s weakness in the legislature, a weakness that was laid bare just days later when Congress voted to oust his top economic strategist, Economy Minister José Gabriel Espinoza.

    Espinoza, the architect of the Paz administration’s sweeping pro-market economic overhauls designed to pull Bolivia out of post-socialist economic stagnation, became a lightning rod for widespread public frustration over the country’s ongoing economic struggles: persistent double-digit inflation, chronic shortages of gasoline and diesel, and dangerously depleted foreign currency reserves. Lawmakers moved to force Espinoza out amid a growing scandal over his purchase of a luxury Audi Q4 SUV for $5,000, far below the vehicle’s market value. Prosecutors have since opened a criminal investigation into allegations that the minister falsified financial documents and misstated his income to secure the below-market deal; Espinoza has denied all wrongdoing, blaming the discrepancy on a routine clerical error.

    Paz initially defended his minister, calling the congressional vote unconstitutional and vowing to keep Espinoza in his post. But facing a lack of legislative support after National Unity’s exit, the president quickly backed down and dismissed Espinoza on Friday. The ousting comes at a critical moment for Paz’s economic agenda: his administration is currently pushing Congress to approve a $1.9 billion financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund, unlock a $200 million World Bank loan, and pass new legislation to attract much-needed U.S. dollar reserves to the country, all while public discontent grows over the pain of his fiscal austerity reforms.

    Last year, Paz’s government cut long-standing, generous national fuel subsidies that had kept consumer prices low for decades, driving up immediate cost-of-living increases for working-class Bolivians. This week, the administration compounded that anger by hiking the price of bulk-purchased diesel by 84%, a move that infuriated farming and transport groups and sparked new calls for a national mass strike. Political analysts note that while Paz has secured preliminary agreements with multilateral lenders, these policy wins have yet to translate into improved affordability or tangible economic relief for ordinary Bolivians.

    The most explosive development of the week came on Tuesday, when Bolivian national police arrested Fernando Cerimedo, an influential Argentine political strategist with deep personal and professional ties to Paz. Cerimedo, who has worked on digital campaign strategy for high-profile right-wing leaders across Latin America, including Argentina’s President Javier Milei and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, has been charged with attempted femicide in connection with a shooting attack on his ex-partner, Bolivian lawyer Nadia Beller. Two men disguised as food delivery workers shot Beller three times outside a La Paz hotel earlier this month. From her hospital bed, Beller, who is 33 and between four and six weeks pregnant, has accused Cerimedo of orchestrating the attack to silence her, claiming she holds concrete evidence of corruption implicating Cerimedo and close associates of President Paz. A medical report shared with the Associated Press confirms Beller suffered severe wounds to her breast, arm, neck, and shoulders, including a shattered bone that requires major surgery. Cerimedo has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.

    Following Cerimedo’s arrest, prosecutors raided four properties linked to the strategist after Beller published photos showing drawers full of untraceable cash. Authorities seized more than 500,000 bolivianos (roughly $44,000) in local currency, plus undisclosed sums of U.S. dollars and euros, as well as equipment for a “bot farm” — an automated network of fake social media accounts used to manipulate public opinion and sway political discourse.

    Bolivia’s government has attempted to downplay Cerimedo’s role, framing him as a key campaign adviser who only consults with the administration occasionally. But critics, including Paz’s own vice president Edman Lara (whose populist appeal helped deliver the president’s election win last year, before their partnership collapsed into open hostility), have pushed back on that narrative, describing Cerimedo as a powerful shadowy figure who controlled government communications and influenced senior administration appointments.

    Opposition lawmakers warn that the corruption and violence allegations tied to Cerimedo could bring down the entire administration. “This case could shake the government, so they need to respond to these allegations,” Senator José Manuel Ormachea told reporters Tuesday. “Otherwise, this chaos will leave them hanging by a thread.” Political analysts across the board agree that while Paz may ultimately survive this latest wave of crises, his ability to govern moving forward will be severely hampered. “Paz may survive all of this, but it’s going to be very, very bumpy,” said Casey Cagley, a senior Bolivia-focused adviser at Seattle-based strategic consultancy Red Telescope Global.

  • Paredes banned 10 games as FIFA suspends 3 Argentina players for World Cup final scuffle

    Paredes banned 10 games as FIFA suspends 3 Argentina players for World Cup final scuffle

    ZURICH (AP) – Global soccer governing body FIFA has handed down severe, multi-game suspensions and substantial fines to three Argentine national team players, one senior Argentina coach, and the Argentine Football Association (AFA) following aggressive post-match incidents after last month’s under-20 World Cup final against Spain, the organization announced Friday.

    The harshest penalty went to Argentina midfielder Leandro Paredes, who received a 10-match international suspension for his role in the post-final brawl: Paredes grabbed Spain defender Eric Garcia by the throat and shoved Spain star Gavi to the ground moments after Argentina’s 1-0 extra-time loss to Spain. Football analysts note this 10-game ban ranks among the most severe World Cup-related sanctions in FIFA history, placing it on par with the 2014 penalties imposed on Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez after his infamous biting incident during that year’s senior World Cup in Brazil. For context, Suarez received a four-month ban from all competitive soccer worldwide and an eight-match international suspension after biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in a group-stage match.

    Given FIFA’s current international match calendar through June 2027, Paredes’ 10-game suspension effectively amounts to a one-year removal from the Argentine national squad, as all 10 scheduled matches during that period would be impacted by the ban. Most of these upcoming fixtures are expected to be exhibition matches, as no major competitive tournaments have been scheduled in that window yet.

    Two other Argentine players also received bans: starting defender Nahuel Molina was handed a seven-match international suspension, while young winger Thiago Almada received a one-game suspension. Financial penalties accompany the bans: Paredes and Molina were fined $90,000 each, and Almada was fined $30,000.

    Spain’s Gavi, who was involved in the post-match scuffle, was not spared: he received a one-match suspension that will force him to miss Spain’s upcoming UEFA Nations League clash against England at Wembley Stadium on September 26. Longtime Argentine assistant coach Roberto Ayala also received disciplinary action, with a three-match international ban and a $30,000 fine.

    Beyond individual penalties, FIFA also sanctioned the Argentine Football Association with a $110,000 fine for multiple separate incidents that occurred during the team’s run in the World Cup. These additional violations included players displaying a politically charged banner referencing the Falkland Islands (which is the subject of a long-running sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom) following Argentina’s semifinal victory over England, as well as verified reports of discriminatory chants by Argentine supporters during the tournament. The AFA was also ordered to allocate $100,000 to fund anti-racism education and outreach projects in Argentine soccer. Notably, Argentina received $34 million in prize money from FIFA for winning the senior men’s World Cup in Qatar 2022.

    The on-field confrontations that led to these sanctions stemmed from a highly contentious final match that saw Spain dominate possession and scoring chances, holding Argentina to almost no attacking opportunities for most of the game. Spain forward Ferran Torres scored the only goal of the match in the second half of extra time, shortly after Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off with a red card. That tense, physical build-up spilled over into the post-final handshake line, where the violent clashes that prompted FIFA’s investigation occurred.

    The AFA has the option to appeal the lengthiest suspensions and largest fines first through FIFA’s internal appellate body, with a further possible appeal to the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport after that process concludes.

  • Peru earthquake damages buildings and causes power cuts

    Peru earthquake damages buildings and causes power cuts

    A 6.7-magnitude earthquake rattled a remote stretch of the Andes Mountains in southern Peru on Thursday, leaving a trail of damaged infrastructure and three non-critically injured people, according to local and international seismic and emergency officials.

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) placed the quake’s epicenter roughly 31 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of the tiny settlement of Aniso in the Ayacucho region, hitting at approximately 1 p.m. local time (6 p.m. GMT) at a depth of 100 kilometers (62 miles). Seismic authorities in Peru recorded a higher magnitude of 7.2 for the event. Shaking from the quake was detected across broad swathes of the country, even reaching the capital city of Lima located more than 480 kilometers (300 miles) from the impact zone.

    Peru’s National Institute of Civil Defence confirmed that the seismic event caused damage to more than a dozen infrastructure sites across the southern highlands. In addition to the 22 residential homes and six schools damaged in Ayacucho reported by Defense Minister Rafael Belaunde, 10 healthcare facilities in the region also sustained damage. Two additional medical centers were impacted in the adjacent Cusco region, though all health services have remained fully operational throughout the affected areas. Approximately 9,000 residential properties across the impact zone lost power following the quake, and the total count of damaged educational facilities has risen to nine. Photographs from Pausa, a Peruvian town located roughly 74 kilometers (46 miles) from the epicenter, show thick dust clouding the air in the wake of the tremor.

    Peru is no stranger to frequent seismic activity, as its territory sits along the volatile convergent boundary where the Nazca tectonic plate slides beneath the South American tectonic plate. Thursday’s quake marks the latest in a string of powerful seismic events to hit South America in recent months, coming on the heels of two deadly major quakes that struck the northern part of the continent. In late June, a pair of large earthquakes measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 hit Venezuela just 39 seconds apart, leaving more than 6,000 people dead according to local official counts. A 7.4-magnitude quake that hit Colombia on August 10 has claimed more than 300 lives, and the national government declared a national state of emergency in response to the disaster.

    As of the latest updates, emergency response teams are coordinating assessments of the damage across the affected Andean regions, with no reports of fatalities connected to Thursday’s earthquake released to the public.

  • Panama Canal to cut number of ships passing through due to El Niño

    Panama Canal to cut number of ships passing through due to El Niño

    One of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints is facing fresh disruption, as the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced sweeping cuts to daily vessel transits through the key waterway. The move comes in response to severe low water levels driven by below-average rainfall linked to this year’s projected intense El Niño event, compounded by long-term climate change.

    In a formal notice to global shipping companies issued Thursday, the ACP confirmed that starting September 15, only 32 vessels will be allowed to transit the canal each day, down from the current daily cap of 36. The new restrictions will be rolled out in a phased sequence beginning September 3 to give shipping lines time to adjust their schedules.

    El Niño, a naturally occurring cyclical climate pattern marked by elevated sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific, ripples through global weather systems, bringing extreme drought to regions including Central America. Climatologists warn this year’s event is on track to be one of the strongest on record, with its drying effects amplified by human-caused climate change. This marks the second major round of transit cuts in just a few years: in 2023, the ACP reduced vessel numbers after Panama recorded its driest October since national rainfall tracking began in 1950, during the previous El Niño cycle. Since that event, the authority has implemented multiple water conservation measures to reduce the canal’s overall water consumption, but additional action was deemed unavoidable this year.

    The ACP emphasized that the cuts are necessary to achieve two core priorities: maintaining reliable transit operations for essential trade, and protecting limited freshwater reserves that also supply local communities for drinking and daily use. Even with the onset of Central America’s annual rainy season and existing water-saving initiatives, the authority said further intervention was required to secure the long-term sustainability of the canal’s transit operations.

    For the global shipping industry, this new disruption comes at a time of already intense pressure. Shipping lines are already grappling with major route disruptions tied to heightened geopolitical tensions that have cut vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, another of the world’s most vital energy and trade chokepoints. Many carriers have already been forced to reroute vessels around the Cape of Good Hope at significant additional cost and time delay, and the Panama Canal cuts will only add to congestion and logistics costs across global supply chains.

    The Panama Canal is a linchpin of global commerce, cutting thousands of miles off travel distances between Atlantic and Pacific basin ports for roughly 14,000 vessels every year. Operating around the clock 365 days a year, the artificial waterway does not only underpin $trillions in annual global trade, it is also the single largest source of revenue for the Panamanian government, generating approximately $3 billion in annual income. Climate scientists warn that more frequent and intense drought events driven by climate change will continue to test the waterway’s operations, posing long-term risks to global trade flows and Panama’s economy.

  • US sanctions more Cuban companies and officials

    US sanctions more Cuban companies and officials

    Escalating long-running tensions between Washington and Havana, the Trump administration has rolled out a fresh package of economic sanctions targeting a slate of Cuban state entities, government agencies and senior institutional leaders, senior U.S. official Marco Rubio announced this week.

    The latest tranche of penalties includes nine state-owned enterprises operating in the mining, metallurgy and construction sectors, Cuba’s national Ministry of Construction, and leading figures tied to the Havana-based Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), a century-old institution founded by former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 1960.

    In an official statement accompanying the announcement, Rubio accused the sanctioned individuals and entities of participating in deliberate subversive anti-U.S. activity. He claimed the grouping arranged the arrival of a new brigade of international sympathizers to Havana to coordinate with Cuban government officials, timed deliberately to align with the centennial celebration of Fidel Castro’s birth.

    Rubio further argued that the targeted actors form a core part of what he called the Cuban regime’s core mission to spread Marxist ideology, racial division and communist political violence across the globe. “Today’s designations make clear that the Trump Administration will not tolerate the Cuban regime’s efforts to fund its internal repression or continue its decades-long campaign of subversive anti-American activities,” he said.

    Founded to build intentional ties between Cuba and like-minded political and social organizations worldwide, the ICAP regularly hosts international activist delegations, who in turn organize pro-Cuban government advocacy in their home countries. But Rubio leveled serious allegations against the institute, claiming it engages in deliberate deceptive activity, corrupts U.S. citizens through misinformation, deploys espionage tradecraft, and engages in widespread malfeasance.

    Fernando Gonzalez Llort, the current president of ICAP, is among the high-profile figures targeted in the latest sanctions. Llort is a former member of the so-called “Cuban 5” spy ring, and was released from U.S. custody as part of a prisoner exchange during the Obama administration’s brief diplomatic thaw with Havana.

    This latest round of penalties adds to a sprawling existing sanctions regime that already targets top Cuban leaders across the energy, finance, and national defense sectors. Cuba’s critical tourism industry, long the single largest source of revenue for the island’s struggling government, has already collapsed to historic lows under accumulated U.S. restrictions.

    Cuban authorities have issued a sharp condemnation of the new sanctions. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez took to social media platform X to denounce the measure, arguing that it is designed to deliberately punish legitimate Cuban businesses and inflict additional damage on the country’s already fragile economy. Rodríguez added that the new penalties will further hinder the Cuban government’s ability to deliver essential public services to its population, a sector already teetering on collapse after decades of U.S. economic blockade.

    Since the start of 2026, the U.S. has enforced a near-total oil blockade on the island. Cuba’s aging national electricity grid is almost entirely dependent on imported fuel to operate, and the blockade has forced public hospitals across the country to switch to emergency backup generators to maintain critical care. Widespread, extended power outages have already sparked rare public protests in recent months, where public dissent against the government is typically met with lengthy prison sentences.