Peruvian President Dina Boluarte announced on Thursday that she would impose a” state of emergency ” to combat crime in the historic center of Lima, as has been the case for two weeks in nine other districts of the South American country.
Although she did not disclose the details of the declaration, nor the period or date of its entry into force, the president justified the decision by the internal order of the Cercado de Lima to provide security to neighbors, entrepreneurs who have invested in small businesses and thousands of tourists.
He announced his decision after a meeting with authorities from another city in northern Peru affected by extortion, with whom he was planning a policy of citizen security.
In the districts where anti-crime measures were previously carried out, social events were prohibited from midnight to 4 am for 60 days. Freedom of movement, freedom of assembly and the inviolability of the house were also suspended.
Boluarte’s announcement comes a week before a march against his government scheduled for October 12, which will demand his resignation as well as that of all deputies. Earlier nationwide protests by the opposition have killed more than 60 people, most of them civilians and with firearms.
The presence of organized crime and gangs that extort small business owners, kill for rent or sexually exploit women dominate the local television news and have put pressure on the government.
The executive branch recently passed a law that extends the term of detention of foreigners up to 12 hours if they do not have an identity document. It was four hours before the deadline.
The police say that a small group of criminal foreigners has formed local branches of transnational criminal gangs, including the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua.
According to the police, of the 97,000 inmates in Peruvian prisons, about 3,700 are foreign prisoners and 350 belong to the Aragua convoy.
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