LATIN AMERICA

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Mexico must seek alternatives to detention and asylum for migrants, especially ahead of an anticipated increase in arrivals this year, the U.N. refugee agency's representative for the country said Friday.

Mexico registered a record 131,448 asylum applications last year, an 87% increase from 2019 with most of the applicants from Central America and Haiti, according to the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance. Authorities expect the number to rise again this year as more people look to flee economic crises brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

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The latest prime minister picked by Peru's embattled president, Pedro Castillo, pledged to pursue free-market policies in his first public remarks on Wednesday, a day after a new Cabinet was unveiled that aims for stability in the Andean nation.

Speaking at a government news conference, Prime Minister Anibal Torres also emphasised that Castillo's leftist administration will promote a strong government that can prevent monopolies and other concentrations of economic power.

The Cabinet re-shuffle took place after the departure of the previous prime minister, who was heavily criticised for allegations of domestic violence, which he had denied.

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Heber Lopez Vazquez, who ran a news website called Noticias Web in the southern state of Oaxaca, was shot while he was in his car, state prosecutor Arturo Calvo told the TV channel Milenio.

Two suspects were arrested as they tried to flee the scene of the crime and their guns were recovered, Calvo said.

It is not known who ordered the killing, he said.

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The conservative Anez, 54, has been held in pre-trial detention for the last 11 months. She has been on hunger strike, not for the first time, since last Wednesday.

She and another eight former military personnel will be on trial, starting from 9:00 am (1300 GMT).

Anez is accused of unconstitutionally assuming the presidency in November 2019 following the resignation of Morales, who fled into exile following 14 years in power.

Morales quit and left the country in the midst of street protests over his re-election the month before.

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Mexican authorities on Sunday cleared a makeshift camp in the north of the country where hundreds of migrants heading towards the U.S. border had been holding out for more than a year in what rights organizations criticized as deplorable conditions.

Nearly 400 migrants have been transferred by bus to three different shelters near the border city of Tijuana, where they can remain "indefinitely," said the city's Mayor Montserrat Caballero.

Caballero promised help for those migrants regardless of whether they want to stay in Tijuana or return to their countries of origin.

"We're going to pay for the transfers and, if they want to wait for their 'American dream,' we're also going to support them while they wait," said Caballero.