Peru Declares Emergency in Three Districts to Fight Crime

The President of Peru Dina Boluarte announced on Monday the government's decision to declare a state of emergency in three of the country's districts in the face of high crime rate.

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The measure is applied in two districts in the capital Lima, namely San Juan de Lurigancho and San Martín de Porres and in the Piura locality of Sullana, Boluarte said on state television TV Peru.

According to the president's declarations, the National Police with the support of the Armed Forces will intervene in the fight against delinquency and organized crime "within the legal framework that both institutions have."

Boluarte is currently in New York attending the 78th regular session of the United Nations General Assembly. She virtually attended the session of the Council of Ministers in Lima, where the Prime Minister, Alberto Otarola, confirmed the decision.

The tweet reads, "The Government of Peru declares a State of Emergency in the districts of San Juan de Lurigancho, San Martin de Porres and Sullana, as a measure to confront delinquency and organized crime."

According to Otárola in statements to the press, the measure will allow "the control of internal order by the National Police with the strategic support and critical assets in charge of the Armed Forces."

The president of the Council of Ministers said that "an immediate and emergency presence of the forces of law and order is necessary in these localities, we are talking about San Juan de Lurigancho, San Martín de Porres (in Lima) and Sullana in Piura."

The measure will be made official in the next hours with a supreme decree that will give the green light for the police to enter social gatherings where there are suspects of criminal acts in order to give "forceful blows" to crime.

The decision follows the attack perpetrated last Friday night by unknown persons with an explosive device in a discotheque in the district of San Juan de Lurigancho. The attack, which left ten people injured, has been attributed to a group dedicated to extortion.