The Peruvianmilitary has been mobilised in a bid to curb the country's rising crime – following a vicious attack when a gang lobbed a grenade into a nightclub, injuring 15 people.
Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte, said her government has declared astate of emergency in three districts on Monday. From Tuesday, the nation’s armed forces were deployed in order to enhance the nation’s security and deliver “forceful blows” to criminals.
Officials voted for the tougher course of action following abrutal attackon a nightclub which saw 15 people get blasted by a grenade in the San Juan region of the capital, Lima on Friday (September 15). Despite the ongoing violence, Peru continues to prove a popular destination for American tourists, with nearly half a million visiting the country last year.
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A “group dedicated to extortion” from Venezuela is being attributed to the heinous act, police sources told Exitosa. Authorities have not described the motives of the attack, nor announced any arrests.
District mayor, Jesús Maldonado, noted in an interview with TVPeru that similar gruesome incidents are becoming more widespread, with people dying due to refusing to succumb to extortion demands.
In a bid to curb such violence, San Martin de Porras in Lima and the northern district of Talara are also under the latest measures. The new measures mirror El Salvador’s crackdown on rampant crime and gang violence in his country, but currently fall short of granting full law-enforcement powers to the military.
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Peru’s right-wing lawmakers have urged Boluarte to follow Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s brutal course of action due to the sharp rise in violence. However, Peru's government has ruled out taking such measures – despite cops in Lima receiving 160,200 crime reports last year, compared to 120,350 in 2021.
US visitors reportedly make up the greatest proportion of visitors to the nation.
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