Peruvian presidential hopeful, Rafael Belaunde, narrowly escaped serious injury on Tuesday after gunmen opened fire on his car south of Lima, police said.
According to police chief, General Oscar Arriola, two attackers on a motorbike fired “eight or nine” shots at Belaunde’s SUV, prompting the 50-year-old politician to return fire.
Three bullets smashed the front window, leaving Belaunde with bloodstains on his face and shirt from cuts caused by broken glass.
Belaunde described his injuries as minor, saying they were “scratches sustained after the incident” in the town of Cerro Azul, roughly 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of the capital.
Arriola told Peru 21 that the candidate fired “at least 12 shots” at the assailants. No gunshot wounds were reported. Belaunde, a former energy minister and grandson of two-term ex-president Fernando Belaunde, told authorities he had not received any threats.
Pedro Cateriano, a member of Belaunde’s Libertad Popular (Popular Liberty) party, called the attack “a bad start to the campaign” amid a surge in organised crime and corruption in Peru.
He noted that protests led by Gen Z demonstrators have left dozens injured and at least one dead.
Belaunde is one of at least 12 candidates vying in the general elections scheduled for April 12.
Currently, he ranks near the bottom in opinion polls, with former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga and Keiko Fujimori, daughter of late former president Alberto Fujimori, leading. Both right-wing candidates have pledged tough action against organised crime.
“I strongly condemn this criminal act, a reflection of the violence that affects thousands of Peruvians every day. We cannot normalise these criminal acts, which must be combated with the full force of the law,” Keiko Fujimori wrote on X.
In recent years, extortion has claimed dozens of lives in Peru, particularly among bus drivers, some of whom were shot at the wheel for refusing to pay protection money.
Experts link the surge to high post-pandemic poverty, unemployment, political instability following the 2022 ouster of President Pedro Castillo, and the rise of gangs such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.
The public prosecutor’s office reports that 56 bus drivers have been killed so far this year.
The unrest surrounding crime contributed to the impeachment of ex-president Dina Boluarte, who was replaced by interim leader Jose Jeri, Peru’s seventh president since 2017.
Former Interior Minister, Gino Costa, a friend of Belaunde, urged on X for the government to “provide guarantees to presidential candidates and stop electoral violence now.”
The winner of the April election will be sworn in as Peru’s next president in July 2026.
