LIMA, Peru (AP) — In one among his first acts as interim president of Peru, José Jerí on Saturday led a sequence of raids on prisons holding gang leaders nationwide, the presidency stated, a day after the ouster of his deeply unpopular predecessor over her failure to curb rising crime.
Flanked by elite officers and sporting a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, the 38-year-old Jerí signaled a tough-on-crime message as he strode into the maximum-security Ancón I jail in Peru’s capital of Lima on Saturday to supervise cell-to-cell searches for contraband. The jail sweep turned up smuggled cellphones, medication and sharp objects used as weapons, authorities stated.
Jerí’s go to to Ancón I coincided with raids at three different prisons throughout Peru, the president’s workplace reported, together with Lima’s overcrowded Lurigancho jail, Challapalca maximum-security jail within the excessive Andes and El Milagro jail within the nation’s north.
The pre-dawn jail crackdown follows the lightning impeachment of former President Dina Boluarte, simply hours after a taking pictures at a live performance in Lima on Friday infected public outrage over a wave of gang violence washing over the South American nation. Boluarte’s tenure was additionally affected by frequent protests and corruption scandals.
As president of Congress, Jerí was subsequent in line to imagine energy after lawmakers eliminated Boluarte. The conservative lawyer is predicted to carry the highest job till July 2026, after the nation chooses a brand new president usually elections scheduled for April 12.
He shortly declared his precedence was tackling Peru’s rampant lawlessness.
“The evil that afflicts us at this second is public insecurity,” Jerí instructed lawmakers after his swearing-in Friday. “The primary enemy is out on the streets. Prison gangs, legal organizations, they’re our enemies at this time.”
Killings in Peru have surged not too long ago, from 2,082 homicides recorded final yr — half of them contract killings — up from simply 676 in 2017, the earlier file excessive.
Extortion instances have skyrocketed from 16,333 in 2022 to 22,348 final yr as legal gangs more and more extract “safety” charges from a rising variety of companies, from music bands to move companies.
Peru’s insecurity disaster has been exacerbated by political turmoil gripping the nation since 2018. Up to now seven years, the nation has seen seven presidents. Three had been impeached — together with Boluarte — and two others resigned to keep away from elimination.
