MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peru: Boluarte wants death penalty for hitmen

Boluarte's threat was taken as a populist threat, however unfeasible given Peru's international engagements opposing capital punishment

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte Monday declared a 30-day state of emergency in Lima and Callao following Sunday's murder of popular cumbia singer Paul Flores by hitmen. The measure, effective from March 18, suspends constitutional rights such as assembly, home inviolability, free transit, and personal freedom, with the Armed Forces supporting the National Police to combat crime.

The measure comes amid public outrage over Flores’ death and censure motions against Interior Minister Juan José Santiváñez. Boluarte also said she was considering reimposing the death penalty.

“To these bloody murderers I say that I am seriously thinking about the death penalty, because no hitman, no extortionist, will be able to stain with blood families who love their children,” she said. “We will not allow one more death of a Peruvian, of a Peruvian woman who honestly works,” she added.

Critics, including left-wing Congressman Jaime Quito and former Interior Minister Carlos Basombrío, argue that previous states of emergency have failed to reduce crime, such as extortion and contract killings, which have persisted or even increased.

In addition, reinstating the death penalty is quite unlikely given Peru’s international commitments prohibiting capital punishment and the complex process required to withdraw from them. Hence, analysts and lawmakers view Booluarte's message as a populist move with questionable feasibility.

Justice Minister Eduardo Arana indirectly criticized the Interior Ministry’s handling of the situation, while the Public Prosecutor’s Office and National Police are actively investigating Flores’ murder and pursuing the perpetrators.

On Sunday morning, unknown assailants shot at a bus carrying the band Armonía 10. Flores, 39, was hit twice and died after being rushed to the Hipólito Unanue Hospital. His bandmates were unharmed.

Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzén that “it has been ordered that in the next hours a state of emergency be decreed throughout the province of Lima and the Constitutional province of Callao, with the deployment of troops of our Armed Forces in support of the National Police.”