LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru on Thursday celebrated two decades since the creation of a genetically modified breed of guinea pig, a rodent whose meat has formed a part of the diet of people in the Andean nation for thousands of years.
The genetically modified breed of guinea pig — known as cuy locally — is called “Peru.” It was created in 2004 at the National Institute of Agrarian Innovation, Juan Solórzano, a research zootechnician, said in the middle of one of the institute’s farms where thousands of guinea pigs are raised for study.
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Juan Carlos Solorzano holds a newborn Peru Guinea Pig at an agricultural research farm where breeding animals are raised for distribution to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Butchers hold guinea pigs behind the glass of a refrigerator at a market in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Costumers eat guinea pig at a restaurant in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Peru Guinea Pigs are bred at an agricultural research farm to distribute to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
A cook fries guinea pigs at a restaurant in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Peru Guinea Pigs are bred at an agricultural research farm for distribution to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
A guinea pig dish is ready to be served to a customer at a restaurant in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
A Peru Guinea Pig stands at an agricultural research farm where breeding animals are raised for distribution to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
What characterizes the “Peru” breed is that grows faster, reaching a weight of 1 kilogram in 56 days, rather than the 160 days that was needed before, Solórzano said.
“It is a precocious breed,” said Solórzano.
Guinea pigs are native to the Andes Mountains and are raised in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, areas where the Inca Empire spread almost 500 years ago.
There are more than 25 million guinea pigs in Peru, according to official figures. The rodent is so popular in the South American country that authorities have decreed the second Friday of October as National Guinea Pig Day to encourage its consumption.
Internal migration from Peru’s Andes in the 20th century brought the custom of eating guinea pigs to the country's Pacific coast.
“It is eaten at sporting events or religious festivals. Guinea pig is a festive dish,” Solórzano said. It is also used in ritual healing practices by being rubbed over the body of a sick person.
Marina Isabel Briceño, an employee at an air conditioning supply company, said she has eaten guinea pigs since she was a child, calling them a delicacy served at “special events.”
Born in the Cajamarca region, Briceño said that at baptisms the parents often give the godfather and godmother a tray with more than a dozen guinea pigs that have been fried and are “crispy and ready to eat.”
“I know it is a rodent, a distant relative of rats, but those animals eat garbage, whereas guinea pigs eat something else, tender corn leaves which is why they are tasty,” she said.
Juan Carlos Solorzano holds a newborn Peru Guinea Pig at an agricultural research farm where breeding animals are raised for distribution to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Butchers hold guinea pigs behind the glass of a refrigerator at a market in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Costumers eat guinea pig at a restaurant in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Peru Guinea Pigs are bred at an agricultural research farm to distribute to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
A cook fries guinea pigs at a restaurant in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Peru Guinea Pigs are bred at an agricultural research farm for distribution to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
A guinea pig dish is ready to be served to a customer at a restaurant in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
A Peru Guinea Pig stands at an agricultural research farm where breeding animals are raised for distribution to farms across the country, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Peruvian guinea pigs, locally known as 'cuy,' have been traditionally raised for meat consumption since pre-Inca times. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.
Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
