Peru’s new interim leader oversees prison raids in bid to get tough on surging crime

LIMA, Peru (AP) — In one of his first acts as interim president of Peru, José Jerí on Saturday led a series of raids on prisons holding gang leaders nationwide, the presidency said, a day after the ouster of his deeply unpopular predecessor over her failure to curb rising crime.

Flanked by elite officers and wearing 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 prison in Peru’s capital of Lima on Saturday to oversee cell-to-cell searches for contraband. The prison sweep turned up smuggled cellphones, drugs and sharp objects used as weapons, authorities said.

Jerí’s visit to Ancón I coincided with raids at three other prisons across Peru, the president’s office reported, including Lima’s overcrowded Lurigancho prison, Challapalca maximum-security prison in the high Andes and El Milagro prison in the country’s north.

The pre-dawn prison crackdown follows the lightning impeachment of former President Dina Boluarte, just hours after a shooting at a concert in Lima on Friday inflamed public outrage over a wave of gang violence washing over the South American nation. Boluarte’s tenure was also plagued by frequent protests and corruption scandals.

As president of Congress, Jerí was next in line to assume power after lawmakers removed Boluarte. The conservative lawyer is expected to hold the top job until July 2026, after the country chooses a new president in general elections scheduled for April 12.

He quickly declared his priority was tackling Peru’s rampant lawlessness.

“The evil that afflicts us at this moment is public insecurity,” Jerí told lawmakers after his swearing-in Friday. “The main enemy is out on the streets. Criminal gangs, criminal organizations, they are our enemies today.”

Killings in Peru have surged recently, from 2,082 homicides recorded last year — half of them contract killings — up from just 676 in 2017, the previous record high.

Extortion cases have skyrocketed from 16,333 in 2022 to 22,348 last year as criminal gangs increasingly extract “protection” fees from a growing number of businesses, from music bands to transport firms.

Peru’s insecurity crisis has been exacerbated by political turmoil gripping the country since 2018. In the past seven years, the nation has seen seven presidents. Three were impeached — including Boluarte — and two others resigned to avoid removal.