Peru presidential hopeful survives gun attack

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Peruvian presidential hopeful Rafael Belaunde escaped bloodied but not seriously hurt on Tuesday from an attack by gunmen on his car south of the capital, Lima, police said.

Two gunmen on a motorbike fired “eight or nine” shots at the SUV the 50-year-old politician was driving, and the candidate returned fire, according to police chief General Oscar Arriola.

Three bullets shattered the front window, police said, leaving Belaunde with blood stains on his face and shirt from cuts caused by broken glass, widely seen in images on TV and social media.

Belaunde said the injuries were “scratches sustained after the incident” in the town of Cerro Azul, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Lima.

Using his own weapon, Belaunde fired “at least 12 shots” at his attackers, Arriola told news outlet Peru 21. No gunshot injuries were reported.

Belaunde, a former energy minister and grandson of two-term ex-president Fernando Belaunde, told police he had not received any threats.

‘A bad start’ –

Pedro Cateriano, a member of Belaunde’s Libertad Popular (Popular Liberty) party, told RPP radio that the attack is “a bad start to the campaign” at a time Peru is gripped by a surge in graft and organised crime, giving rise to protests led by Gen Z demonstrators that have left dozens injured and at least one dead.

Belaunde faces a group of at least 12 candidates ahead of the general elections on April 12.

He currently ranks near the bottom in opinion polls, which favour former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga and Keiko Fujimori, daughter of late former president Alberto Fujimori. Both right-wing politicians say they will be tough on organised crime.

“I strongly condemn this criminal act, a reflection of the violence that affects thousands of Peruvians every day. We cannot normalise these criminal acts, which must be combated with the full force of the law,” Keiko Fujimori wrote on X.

In recent years, a wave of extortion has claimed dozens of lives in Peru, particularly bus drivers, some shot at the wheel if their companies refuse to pay protection money.

Experts say the practice has taken off amid high levels of post-pandemic poverty and unemployment, political instability following the 2022 ouster of president Pedro Castillo, and the domestic rise of gangs such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.

Since the beginning of the year, 56 bus drivers have been killed, according to the public prosecutor’s office.

The unrest over crime triggered the impeachment of ex-president Dina Boluarte, who was replaced by interim leader Jose Jeri — Peru’s seventh president since 2017.

Former Interior Minister Gino Costa, a friend of Belaunde, called on X for the government to “provide guarantees to presidential candidates and stop electoral violence now”.

The next president of Peru will be sworn in in July 2026.

AFP

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