Peru said Mexico’s decision to grant Peruvian former Prime Minister Betssy Chavez asylum at its Embassy in Peru’s capital, Lima, constituted an “unfriendly act”arrives for her trial on charges of rebellion and conspiracy against the state at a police base on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
| Photo Credit: AP

Dina Boluarte speaks during an address to the nation after Peru’s Congress voted unanimously on Friday to remove her as president, in Lima, Peru, October 10, 2025, in this still image taken from video.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

In a bizarre Valentine’s Day surprise, a police officer in Peru’s capital Lima, carried out a drug raid while wearing a capybara costume, as per a BBC report. Video footage going viral on social media shows the officer, dressed up as the giant rodent, zeroing in on the suspected drug trafficker. The officer can be seen barging into the house, tackling the accused man to the ground and putting him in handcuffs.

Police officials stated that more than 1,700 packages of cocaine and marijuana were found during the raid. Notably, Peru’s Escuadron Verde – a specialist anti-drugs unit carried out the operation using the rather unconventional method.

“On this occasion, Valentine’s Day, lover’s day, we sought to camouflage ourselves with the character of the capybara,” said unit leader Col Pedro Rojas.

Notably, the same unit has previously dressed their officers up as Marvel characters like Spiderman, Captain America, Thor and Black Widow whilst carrying out the drug raids. The agents wear the fancy dress during festivities such as Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas.

Capybara undercover: Peruvian police strike again with new detention tactics

This time, an officer of the National Police of Peru disguised himself as a capybara to apprehend a drug trafficker.

(@geopolitics_live telegram) pic.twitter.com/oWchS0WCva

— Roberto Botella (@botella_roberto) February 15, 2025

Also Read | New Frog Species Named After Hollywood Actor Leonardo DiCaprio

Social media reacts

As the video garnered numbers on social media, users reacted in a humorous vein with many poking fun at the drug traffickers who got arrested by a giant rodent.

“Well, that’s one way to maintain your cover,” said one user, while another added: “The drug trafficker must have lost all respect in his community after being arrested by a CAPYBARA. Lol. You cannot write this”

A third commented: “Thank you capybara cop, whoever you are. And thank you for giving us a good laugh.”

On Halloween last year, the Peruvian police officers dressed up as Deadpool and Wolverine and conducted a similar drug raid. At the time, the superhero-dressed officers managed to seize 54 bags of cocaine, 850 packets of coca base paste, and over Rs 46,800 (2,000 Peruvian soles).

As per the United Nations, the South American country is one of the world’s largest producers of coca leaf and cocaine.

Engineer and mastodon researcher Oscar Diaz cleans remains of an Ice Age mastodon, believed to be between 11,000 and 12,000 years old, in Chambara, Peru September 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The fossilized remains of three mastodons from the Ice Age have been uncovered in the Peruvian Andes, raising questions as to how the behemoths arrived in the area.

Excavations starting in 2019 uncovered the behemoths, believed to be between 11,000 and 12,000 years old, in the valley of the town of Chambara, about 300 km (186 miles) east of Lima.

One of the specimens is nearly complete, and could be the most preserved mastodon in all of Peru, said paleontologist Ivan Meza.

“If the skull is found – and everything indicates that the tusks are there – that would have scientific importance at a national and global scale,” Meza said.

Mastodons were similar to the also-extinct mammoth, but had flatter heads and straighter tusks.

Scientists now hope to find more fossils in the area, which could shed light on how and when the mastodons arrived.

“We’re talking about a small area of less than one hectare,” Meza said. “To date we’ve discovered three specimens, with the possibility of there being more, and from other types of animals.”

The mastodons likely migrated from North America down to South America in search of food and water as climate conditions changed, experts believe.

“Over time, the Andes mountain range rose and the sea water receded,” said researcher Oscar Diaz. “This area dried up and left lagoons across the Mantaro Valley,” he added, which would have provided a source of water.

Peru is a rich source of prehistoric remains. In April, a team of paleontologists unveiled the fossilized skull of a river dolphin, the largest found to date, which had swam through the Peruvian Amazon some 16 million years ago.

A priest conducts a ceremony during the burial of former President of Peru Alberto Fujimori at the Campo Fe de Huachipa cemetery on September 14, 2024, in Lima, Peru.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was buried on Saturday (September 14, 2024) after three days of national mourning in which thousands of supporters lined up outside a museum in Lima to visit the politician’s casket.

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte saluted the former President before his burial at a pompous ceremony held in the Presidential Palace, where his casket was saluted by soldiers dressed in 19th-century uniforms.

Also Read: Peru’s Fujimori, pardon annulled, forced back to prison

But Mr. Boluarte did not speak about Mr. Fujimori, a divisive figure who ruled Peru for a decade, and whose eldest daughter is now one of the country’s most influential politicians.

Mr. Fujimori died of cancer on Wednesday (September 11, 2024) at age 86. He was Peru’s President from 1990 to 2000 and had been in prison for most of the past 15 years after being convicted of crimes against humanity.

Mr. Fujimori was a university professor when he burst onto Peru’s political scene in the early 90s. His administration helped to put the nation’s economy on track following years of hyperinflation and defeated the Shining Path, a fanatic communist group that led a violent campaign to overthrow the Government.

Also Read: Fujimori released after controversial pardon

But Mr. Fujimori’s government took an authoritarian turn in 1992, when he ordered the military to shut down Peru’s congress and its Supreme Court and declared a state of emergency. The measure undermined Peru’s democracy and led to a period rife with human rights abuses. Political scientists say the surprise move against the congress, known in Latin America as the “Fujimorazo,” later inspired similar efforts by other presidents in the region to undermine local legislative branches and seize more power for the executive branch.

In 2009, Mr. Fujimori was convicted for the murders of 25 people in two massacres committed by a Peruvian military squadron in the outskirts of Lima, as well as the kidnapping of a journalist following the 1992 coup against the nation’s congress. Mr. Fujimori received a 25-year prison sentence and became the first elected leader in Latin America convicted of crimes against humanity.

Mr. Fujimori spent the last years of his life fighting the 2009 ruling and other corruption cases and received a presidential pardon in 2017 from then-Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. The pardon was revoked following a ruling by the Interamerican Court of Human Rights but was reinstalled at the end of last year, when Mr. Fujimori was released from prison.

On Saturday (September 14, 2024), Mr. Fujimori’s children and hundreds of his supporters attended a religious ceremony for the former President that was held at a large theater in Lima.

“Finally daddy, you are free from the hate and vengeance of those people who did not forgive you for rescuing us from hunger and terror,” Fujimori’s daughter, Keiko Fujimori said. “You are free from those years of injust imprisonment.”

Mr. Fujimori is survived by two daughters and two sons. Keiko, his eldest daughter, is a two-time presidential candidate. She now leads the conservative party Fuerza Popular, which has blocked several attempts by left-wing parties to impeach Mr. Boluarte for the deaths of dozens of anti-Government protesters in December of 2022 and January of last year.

Former Peru’s President Alberto Fujimori. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Peru’s former President Alberto Fujimori, who spent 16 years in prison for crimes against humanity, died on Wednesday (September 11, 2024) at the age of 86 in the capital Lima, his family said.

“After a long battle with cancer, our father, Alberto Fujimori, has just departed to meet the Lord,” his children Keiko, Hiro, Sachie and Kenji Fujimori wrote on the social media platform X.

Also read:Peru’s Fujimori, pardon annulled, forced back to prison

“We ask those who loved him to join us in praying for the eternal rest of his soul,” they wrote, adding: “Thank you for so much, Dad!”.

Mr. Fujimori, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, was released from prison on humanitarian grounds in December, two-thirds of the way through a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity during his rule.

Sources close to his family told AFP earlier Wednesday (September 11, 2024) that his health had deteriorated rapidly after completing treatment for tongue cancer in August.

He was last seen in public on Thursday (September 5, 2024) as he was leaving a clinic in the Miraflores district of Lima, where he said he had undergone a CT scan.

The news of his death spread quickly on social media, where his supporters and detractors quarrelled over his legacy.

Also read: Fujimori released after controversial pardon

Just a month earlier his daughter Keiko had announced that the rightwinger would run for President again in 2026.

Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen expressed his condolences to the Fujimori family. “We want his children and relatives to know we feel sorrow,” he said.

Mr. Adrianzen said he would talk to the family about what kind of funeral they want. It was not clear whether Mr. Fujimori would receive a state funeral.

Mr. Fujimori, who was of Japanese heritage, was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in what he presented as anti-terrorist operations.

In December 2017, then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardoned Mr. Fujimori due to his ill health.

But the Supreme Court later annulled the pardon and in January 2019, he was returned to jail from hospital.

Hostage crisis

He was released again in December 2023 after a court reinstated his pardon, and was adored and reviled in equal measures in Peru.

His supporters credited him with saving the country from left-wing Shining Path and Tupac Amaru guerrillas and shoring up the economy. His opponents saw him as a power-thirsty autocrat.

Also read: Peru’s President grants medical pardon for jailed Fujimori

One of the most dramatic episodes of his presidency was a four-month hostage ordeal at the Japanese embassy in Lima in late 1996-early 1997.

The standoff ended with Mr. Fujimori sending in commandos who rescued all 72 hostages and killed 14 rebels.

But the later Mr. Fujimori years were dominated by a bribery scandal involving his intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos.

Mr. Fujimori went into self-imposed exile in Japan and memorably faxed in his resignation but was arrested years later in Chile and sent back to Peru for trial.

His daughter Ms. Keiko has made three failed bids for the presidency.

Peru’s Mashco Piro tribe recently used bows and arrows to attack loggers suspected of encroaching on their territory in the Amazon. According to CBS News, the regional Indigenous organisation FENAMAD said on Monday that it believes illegal logging was taking place on Mashco Piro territory and that one logger was injured in the July 27 attack.

This comes weeks after photos emerged of the uncontacted tribe searching for food on a beach in the Peruvian Amazon. Experts say the pictures were evidence that logging concessions are “dangerously close” to its territory. Survival International, an advocacy group for Indigenous peoples which closely follows the Mashco Piro’s issues, said that photos and videos showed about 53 male Mashco Piro on the beach. The group estimated as many as 100 to 150 tribal members would have been in the area with women and children nearby. 

“It is presumably illegal because the area where the incident occurred is a forestry concession that belonged to Wood Tropical Forest until November 2022, and we are not aware of a concession that has requested or granted enabling rights in the same area,” said a FENAMAD representative, speaking anonymously out of personal security concerns, per CBS News. 

The organisation further stated that a lack of protection measures by the Peruvian government and the increased activity of companies and illegal operators on the Mascho Piro territory could produce “devastating consequences”, such as the transmission of diseases and increased violence. 

Notably, in 2022, two loggers were shot with arrows while fishing in the area. There have also been several other previous reports of conflicts, the outlet reported. 

Also Read | Skydiving Student, Instructor Die In US After Hitting “Dust Devil” During Routine Jump

According to FENAMAD, increased logging activity in the area is likely pushing the tribe out of their traditional lands. They believe that the Mashco Piro may be venturing closer to settlements in search of food and a safer refuge.

Separately, Survival International said it is pressuring the Peruvian government to move deeper into these areas of the Amazon to help control the situation. “This is a permanent emergency. For the last month we have been seeing the Mascho Piro every two weeks at different points, and in all of them they are surrounded by loggers,” Teresa Mayo, a researcher at Survival International, told CBS News. 

“It’s truly a matter of life and death. And only the government can and has the duty to stop it,” Ms Mayo said.

Argentina shrugged off the injury absence of Lionel Messi to maintain their perfect start at the Copa America on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Peru in Miami. Lautaro Martinez scored twice at the Hard Rock Stadium to seal a win that ensured Argentina advance to the quarter-finals as Group A winners. With Messi sidelined after complaining of a sore right hamstring, and coach Lionel Scaloni serving a one-game suspension, Argentina made nine changes to their starting XI at the Hard Rock Stadium.

But despite the makeshift-looking line-up, Argentina were always in control against a disappointing Peru side who managed just one shot on goal during a one-sided encounter.

Martinez’s first goal came just after half-time. A sublime through ball from Angel Di Maria released the Inter Milan forward, who calmly lifted a deft finish over advancing Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.

Argentina had a chance to double their lead in the 72nd minute after Jesus Castillo handled in the area to concede a penalty.

But Leandro Paredes crashed his ensuing spot-kick against the woodwork to leave the score at 1-0.

Martinez then grabbed a second in the 86th minute, latching on to a long pass forward before finishing past Gallese. 

Replays indicated Martinez appeared to shove defender Aldo Corzo in the build-up but referee Cesar Ramos waved Peru’s protest and the goal stood.

“It was tough in the first half because they were defending deep, but the first goal opened up the game,” Martinez said afterwards. “There’s a lot more to come from us.”

Martinez has now scored in four consecutive appearances for Argentina and is relishing his hot streak.

“Every time I put on this shirt, every training session, every meal, every team talk, I enjoy it,” Martinez said.

Argentina will now face the runner-up from Group B in the quarter-finals in Houston next Thursday, most likely either Ecuador or Mexico.

In Saturday’s other Group A game, Canada held 2015 and 2016 Copa America champions Chile to a 0-0 draw in Orlando, which was enough to see the Canadians into the last eight.

Chile needed a victory to leapfrog the Canadians into the knockout rounds but were left with a mountain to climb early in the game when Gabriel Suazo was dismissed for a second yellow card after only 27 minutes.

“It took a lot of hard work — it’s our first time in this competition and it’s not easy,” Canada captain Alphonso Davies said about his team’s advance to the last eight.

“There’s a lot of good teams in this competition and a lot of good players. But we stuck to our plan and we played well. We showed a lot of fight. We had to show our teeth at times, but overall we did well.”

Canada will play the winners of Group B in the quarter-finals.

Lima:

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck off the coast of central Peru on Friday, the United States Geological Survey said, but a tsunami threat from the tremor has passed.

The USGS said the tremor hit 8.8 kilometers (5.5 miles) from Atiquipa district, raising an initial magnitude rating soon after the quake was reported.

The USGS said that strong shaking from the quake would have been felt in areas near the epicenter.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had earlier said “hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts” but later said the threat had passed.

“There is no longer a tsunami threat from this earthquake,” it said.

Peru, with some 33 million inhabitants, lies on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a vast area of intense seismic activity that runs along the west coast of the Americas.

Peru is hit by hundreds of detectable quakes every year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Two-time Copa America champions Chile opened their bid for a third title with a hard-fought 0-0 draw against Peru in Arlington on Friday. A scrappy encounter at the Texas home of the Dallas Cowboys NFL team saw neither side manage to get on top before a result that boosts Argentina’s hopes of winning Group A. Chile were left ruing a golden missed chance from veteran Inter Milan forward Alexis Sanchez in the 16th minute. Sanchez, one of the heroes of Chile’s back-to-back Copa America victories in 2015 and 2016, was teed up in the six-yard box after a low pass from Victor Davila.

But with plenty of time and space, the 35-year-old somehow scooped his shot over the bar as Peru were given a huge let-off.

“I had one or two chances and this is the Copa America — when you have a chance you have to make it,” Sanchez said afterwards.

Despite his frustration in front of goal, Sanchez insisted Chile were satisfied with their display.

“The feeling is good. I am happy with the performance. I am excited,” said the former Barcelona and Arsenal forward.

Sanchez’s botched effort ended up being the best chance of the night for Chile, who enjoyed 65% possession yet only managed one shot on target during the game.

A disjointed encounter never really got going, with some 37 fouls breaking up play and contributing to a lacklustre spectacle.

Peru’s best chance came near the hour mark when Gianluca Lapadula volleyed over from close range.

Peru’s Uruguayan coach Jorge Fossati was encouraged by his team’s performance.

“In the first half Chile had more possession of the ball, although they could not do much damage to us,” he said. “I saw a Peru with a very good attitude, but anxious and with little confidence when it came to playing. But we improved substantially in the second.

“I didn’t see anything in Peru that couldn’t be corrected. I know we’re not a machine, but we are taking steps in the right direction.”

The result leaves Argentina, 2-0 winners over Canada in the tournament’s opening game on Thursday, two points clear at the top.

Chile face Argentina in their second match on Tuesday in New Jersey in a replay of the 2016 Copa Centenario final at the same venue.