Month: April 2022

MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Tuesday called mass expulsions of Russian diplomats by a number of European countries a “short-sighted move” that will only complicate communication.

“Narrowing down opportunities for diplomatic communication in such an unprecedentedly difficult crisis environment is a short-sighted move that will further complicate our communication, which is necessary to find a solution,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Italy, Denmark and Sweden on Tuesday joined EU allies in expelling Russian diplomats over the war in Ukraine, with more than 120 sent packing in the last 48 hours.

On Monday, France expelled 35 Russian diplomats, and Germany announced it had expelled a “significant number” of Russian envoys.

The expulsions come amid international outrage over killings in the town of Bucha, near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where dozens of bodies were found over the weekend in mass graves or littering the streets.

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo announced a curfew for Tuesday in the capital Lima and neighboring port city Callao, after demonstrations across the country over fuel prices caused roadblocks and “acts of violence”.

Protests had erupted across Peru in recent days due to a hike in fuel prices and tolls, during a time of rising food prices.

In an attempt to appease protesters, the government eliminated the fuel tax over the weekend.

But truckers and other transport workers took to the streets again Monday in Lima, as well as several regions in the north — from the coastal city Piura to the densely forested Amazonas.

Castillo announced late Monday that Peru‘s Council of Ministers had approved a curfew for the following day.

“In view of the acts of violence that some groups have wanted to create… and in order to reestablish peace… the Council of Ministers has approved the declaration of citizen immobility (curfew) from 2:00 am to 11:59 pm on Tuesday, April 5,” he said in a televised message.

There have been several violent incidents during recent protests, including the burning of toll booths on highways, looting and clashes with police.

Protesters had also set fire to tires and blocked the Pan-American highway, the country’s most important transport and traffic artery snaking north to south, and school was suspended.

“I call for calm and serenity,” the leftist president said during his brief appearance on television.

“Social protest is a constitutional right, but it must be done within the law.”

LACK OF DIRECTION

The 52-year-old former teacher announced the curfew a week after he was saved from being impeached by Congress, where opponents accused his administration of having a “lack of direction” and for allegedly allowing corruption in his entourage.

The impeachment attempt last week was the second during Castillo’s eight-month administration in a country with a recent history of ousting presidents.

Castillo’s action to impose movement restrictions — which will cover more than 10 million residents in Lima and Callao — was met with immediate repudiation.

“A curfew to reestablish order — (this is) an authoritarian measure of Pedro Castillo’s government that shows ineptitude, incapacity to govern,” political analyst Luis Benavente told AFP.

“It is like putting an end to traffic accidents by taking vehicles off the roads.”

Tuesday’s curfew measures coincide with the 30th anniversary of a coup staged by ex-president Alberto Fujimori, a controversial figure now jailed after a regime marked by a bloody campaign against insurgents.

“The measure dictated by President Pedro Castillo is openly unconstitutional, disproportionate and violates people’s right to individual freedom,” tweeted lawyer Carlos Rivera, one of the defenders of the victims of Fujimori’s government.

FUEL AND WAGE WOES

Like much of the rest of the world, Peru‘s economy is still recovering from the damages wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

The country’s Consumer Price Index in March saw its highest monthly increase in 26 years, driven by soaring food, transport and education prices, according to the national statistics institute.

The multi-region demonstration was largely organized by the Union of Multimodal Transport Guilds of Peru.

To appease them the government eliminated the fuel tax over the weekend, and Castillo decreed a 10 percent increase in the monthly minimum wage — which would rise to 1,025 soles ($277) beginning in May.

But the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers, the country’s main trade union confederation, rejected the wage hike, stating it was insufficient, and called on its affiliates to march on Thursday.

Influential journalist Rosa Maria Palacios said on Twitter that Castillo’s 11th-hour announcement of a curfew only revealed how the government had “lost all control of public order”.

“By denying them the right to work, without any real cause, Castillo has put himself in a situation of absolute vulnerability,” she warned.

Joe Biden and Barack Obama are getting the band back together Tuesday — at least for the day, with the former president visiting his former vice president in the White House to try and restoke Democratic momentum ahead of midterm elections.

For Obama, it will be the first time he steps into the hallowed corridors and historic rooms since he left five years ago, handing power to Donald Trump and ushering in a period of political turmoil unprecedented in modern times.

For Biden, who served two terms as deputy to the first Black president before coming out of retirement to deny Trump a second term, this will also be a poignant moment.

Beset by aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, galloping inflation, a bitterly obstructionist Republican opposition, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he’s had more than a year to appreciate how hard the top job really is. His approval polls are dire, stuck in the low 40 percent range, with little sign of improvement.

The peg for the White House reunion is a relatively happy political event — the 12th anniversary of the launch of the Affordable Care act, Obama’s signature domestic achievement.

Popularly known as Obamacare, the subsidized healthcare plan expanded access to medical services to millions in a country where many are unable to afford to visit the doctor and dentist and risk being bankrupted by the cost of emergency operations.

“President Biden and former president Obama both see the Affordable Care Act is an example, a shining example, of how government can work for the American people,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

Republicans have made repeated, ferocious attempts to strip away a plan they denounce as socialism, but Obamacare has survived most assaults and under Biden seen expanded participation.

“Not only did it ensure that millions of people had access to affordable healthcare, but it has been an opportunity to build on that and make changes and make improvements over the course of time,” Psaki said.

– POWER LUNCH –

The real point of the Biden-Obama get-together is broader: a chance to reinforce Biden’s centrist brand and reassure Democrats running scared ahead of what polls predict will be a crushing election defeat in November, with Republicans regaining control of Congress.

The White House set the mood music to chill, trying to erase any sense that Obama was coming on a rescue mission of any kind.

The two men will have lunch, “as they used to do on a weekly basis,” Psaki said, adding that even if this is the first time Obama has been invited over, “they continue to talk regularly.”

“They are real friends, not just Washington friends,” she insisted.

Real friends are often said to be scarce in cutthroat Washington, but Barack and his wife Michelle Obama are certainly popular among Democrats and seen as able to sprinkle much needed magic dust on the party.

When it comes to the midterms, Obama is not exactly the best example: his Democrats were wiped out in the 2010 and 2014 congressional races.

On the other hand, Obama showed with his reelection in 2012 that a president can survive those earthquakes — a lesson, perhaps, for Biden in 2024, when he may face a rerun of his battle against Trump.