Peru's president ‘seriously considering' extending death penalty amid crime surge
The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency on Monday in the provinces of Lima and Callao to stem a rise in crime, in a move that follows the killing of a popular musician over the weekend.
President Dina Boluarte also floated the possibility of extending the use of the death penalty in Peru to address the country's security problems.
The declaration and Boluarte's statements came after Paul Hambert Flores García, singer of the cumbia group Armonia 10, was shot dead while traveling with his bandmates in their bus.
Peru's Interior Ministry said Sunday that police are treating the shooting as a deliberate attack.
According to police documents obtained by CNN, authorities believe shots were fired from a motorcycle, hitting the right side of Armonia 10's bus with three bullets, one of which struck the singer, who was admitted to the hospital with 'cardiorespiratory arrest.' The documents show that police have requested access to surveillance video related to the shooting.
On Sunday, the Ministry of the Interior said it had deployed several units of the Peruvian National Police to identify and capture those responsible for the shooting, which they have classified as a deliberate attack.
'To these damned murderers, I say that I am seriously considering the death penalty,' Boluarte said Monday at an event to mark the start of the 2025 school year.
It was the latest instance in which the president has publicly thrown her support behind extending the use of the death penalty. Previously she did so in December 2024, following the murder of a girl.
Peru's death penalty is currently used only for crimes of treason in cases of war and terrorism, according to the Constitution. If it were to be extended to include other crimes, Peru's Constitution and the Penal Code would need to be reformed. To move forward with that, Peru would also have to disassociate itself from the international Pact of San José, which establishes limits on the death penalty.
Furthermore, the president would need to secure the necessary votes from legislators, which she has been unable to obtain for some of her other initiatives.
Following Boluarte's statements, the Council of Ministers declared a state of emergency in Lima and Callao for 30 days, authorizing the deployment of Peru's Armed Forces to support the National Police.
Peru is experiencing a serious security crisis. Several public schools reported days ago that they were being extorted by criminals, prompting them to propose virtual classes, according to state television station TV Perú.
In September 2024, transportation unions, which also reported being extorted by criminals, carried out a workers strike as a warning to the Boluarte government and marched toward Congress. At that time, a state of emergency was also declared in several parts of the country.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Organizer speaks out ahead of ‘No Kings' protest
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — At least 20 different 'No Kings' protests have been scheduled around Georgia for Saturday and one organizer spoke with WSAV about what it means to them. Coastal Georgia for Democracy is one of the organizers of what may be 2,000 national 'No Kings' protests. One of the founders of Coastal Georgia for Democracy, Kris Mecholsky, said the meaning behind the 'No Kings' message is to present the simple idea to the Trump administration that they don't' want a king. 'We're fundamentally bothered and disturbed by the lack of separation of powers and the lack of following the rule of law and the Constitution,' Mecholsky said. 'One example is that the administration is detaining people with no due process and deporting them to foreign countries and foreign prisons.' ICE contracts Southeast Georgia prison to create largest detention center in U.S Coastal Georgia for Democracy said they are committed to ensuring this protest and all of the events they are involved in follow a non-violence policy. 'We have been a very peaceful group determined to be peaceful,' Mecholsky said. 'The police have always worked with us and work to help ensure that things go safely.' The Savannah Police Department gave WSAV a statement in regard to the protest: 'The Savannah Police Department supports First Amendment rights. We are aware of the demonstrations planned on Saturday, June 14, and have a security plan in place in order to keep our citizens, visitors and those exercising their First Amendment rights safe. Per our policy, we do not discuss security tactics, techniques and procedures for planned events.' Mecholsky said that they will organize at Thomas Park at 11 a.m. and march up to Forsyth Park around the famers market, ending at the fountain. He said that he expects a good-sized turn out to join their cause. 'Since Trump has been in power, when we have registrations, we're seeing three times the number of people who signed up,' Mecholsky said. Mecholsky continued, 'We are veterans, retirees, we are just working people, construction workers and restaurant workers, you name it. People are coming out. They're volunteering their time.' Local and state leaders have responded and released statements regarding the recent Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) raids and the protests against them. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr issued a stern warning to anyone planning to protest this weekend on Wednesday. While the Savannah event begins at 11 a.m. at Thomas Square Park, a Bluffton protest will be in front of the Beaufort County Government Building starting at 4 p.m. Saturday. There are rallies at noon in Beaufort and Hilton Head as well. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Kanye West Crashes Sean 'Diddy' Combs Trial in White Outfit
The trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs has contained a number of mentions of top celebrities, but now one celebrity has crashed the trial itself. And he wore an all-white outfit when he did it. The celebrity is Kanye West, who surprised onlookers when he showed up at the music mogul's human trafficking trial in New York on June 13. However, West only stayed at the trial for a short time, TMZ reported. Page Six reported that he left 50 minutes after he arrived. He made quite an entrance, the site reported, shaking hands out front, and then interacting with Combs' son Christian Combs. A TikTok video captured West's arrival at the courthouse. A member of Combs' legal team also greeted West, TMZ reported. Even before his appearance, there was rumbling that West might show up. CNN reported on June 12 that West was thinking of making an appearance to show support for the embattled rapper. West currently goes by the name Ye. According to CNN, West is close to the rapper's son and they've been making music together. Diddy is on trial for very serious offenses, although his defense team denies them. The federal indictment accuses Combs of having engaged in or attempting to engage in sex trafficking, obstructing justice, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, and bribery, the indictment says. The trial has featured emotional testimony from his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, among others. The rapper's legal team has argued in court that he engaged in some bad behavior but that it doesn't meet the legal test for human trafficking charges. West's almost empty Instagram page has an all-white white profile West Crashes Sean 'Diddy' Combs Trial in White Outfit first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 13, 2025
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's dealmaking meets limits on Israel, Iran and Russia-Ukraine
The limits of President Trump's ability to control foreign events have been tested by an ally's significant attack on an adversary, leaving him on the outside looking in for the second time in a month. In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky in June opted not to inform Trump before launching a drone attack that destroyed 40 planes well within Russian territory, an operation that had been planned for more than a year. It was a shocking attack in some ways, given the vulnerabilities it highlighted for Moscow. Trump responded with a call to Russia President Vladimir Putin, and later acknowledged the surprise Ukraine hit would make it more difficult to reach a peace deal, a top priority in the first six months of his administration. Overnight Thursday, an even closer U.S. ally in Israel launched the biggest attack on Iran in more than 40 years, openly targeting nuclear sites, military bases and residential neighborhoods in Tehran. The U.S. was not blindsided by Israel's actions, but while the Trump administration was aware of the operation, it also distanced itself, making clear the military action was led solely by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 'Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Thursday statement released by the White House. Trump insisted on the campaign trail that he would end ongoing wars in his first 24 hours as president, but that's proved much harder to accomplish in practice. Nearly six months into his second stint at the White House, neither crisis has an end in sight. While that isn't a terribly big surprise, it shows the limits of the president's ability to make deals or impose his will to solve intractable conflicts. It's also given an opening to Democratic critics. 'We have a very weak strongman for president,' Wendy Sherman, the former deputy secretary of State under former President Biden, said Friday in a CNN interview. She noted that since taking office, Trump has not resolved conflicts in Ukraine, Iran and Gaza and that there were still Israeli hostages being held in the Gaza Strip — all issues Biden also did not resolve before leaving office. Sherman also said Friday that 'Israel is in charge this morning, not Donald Trump.' Trump seemed to be warning Israel off an attack in the hours before missiles were fired. He said his administration was getting close to a nuclear deal with Iran and that any 'imminent' attacks stood to 'blow' any chance of an agreement. The president was adamant he supported a 'more friendly path' between the adversaries. 'Look, I want to have an agreement with Iran. We're fairly close to an agreement. We are fairly close to a pretty good agreement. It's got to be better than pretty good, though,' he told reporters in the East Room. 'As I think there is an agreement, I don't want them [Israel] going in because I think I would blow it — might help it, actually, but it also could blow it. But we've had very good discussions with Iran.' Israel launched its attack about eight hours later. By Friday morning, Iran had pulled out a sixth round of talks it had planned with the U.S. in Oman. By then, Trump also was changing his tune. 'I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done,' he wrote on Truth Social, pitting the blame on the Iranians who last week had openly criticized negotiations with the U.S. as 'incoherent and disjointed.' Presidents before Trump have been felled by the Middle East, and Trump has had some successes with Ukraine, most notably the signing of a mineral rights deal with Kyiv. But the limits of dealmaking have also shown up on other issues. The administration says it is conducting trade deal talks with more than 90 countries, but so far only a deal with the United Kingdom has come to fruition. Trump touted a deal with China earlier this week, but there is no indication he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have made that official. Trump allies lauded the president's approach to Iran, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) saying Tehran should make a deal with Trump to give up its nuclear program. 'I hope and pray the ayatollah and his henchmen who are still alive will heed President Trump's counsel,' Graham wrote on the social platform X. 'If not, America – the greatest power for good on Earth – should be all-in to help Israel finish the job.' And whatever limits Trump has encountered on dealmaking, he's not done trying. Even Iran, he said in comments after Israel's deadly assault Friday, could get a 'second chance.' Trump told CNN's Dana Bash that everyone he had been negotiating with had been killed. He later told NBC, when asked why the Iranians would want to negotiate a deal now, that some officials were calling him. 'They're calling me to speak,' Trump said. When asked who was calling, Trump said, 'The same people we worked with the last time. … Many of them are dead.' Trump has long cast himself as anti-war, and has argued the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Hamas attack on Israel would not have happened on his watch. Much of the MAGA base has an isolationist bent, in part a backlash to the forever wars in Afghanistan and Iraq launched by former President George W. Bush, the only other Republican to serve in the White House this century. On Friday, some of Trump's remarks were pleas for peace. 'There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. An escalation of violence in the Middle East, even if the latest attack on Iran did not deploy the U.S.'s military might, stands to drag the U.S. into further conflict, if history is any indication. 'Trump has said he wants a deal and publicly warned Israel not to strike. Whether that was a strategic ruse or genuine restraint is now irrelevant. The Rubicon has been crossed,' Sina Toossi, a nonresident fellow at the Center for International Policy, wrote in an analysis. 'Rather than crippling Iran's military and nuclear capabilities, Israel's escalation risks fueling nationalist sentiment, solidifying internal cohesion, and triggering a dangerous cycle of retaliation, all while increasing the likelihood of American entanglement,' Toossi continued. That would not play well with the likes of MAGA loyalists such as Charlie Kirk, who in a lengthy post on X firmly arguing against any further escalation, citing Iraq and Afghanistan. 'Dragging American into this war might be irrational and suicidal, but wars have a habit of making their participants irrational and suicidal (just look at the Ukraine war),' Kirk wrote. 'Our focus must not be on seeking regime change or any further escalation of America's involvement. The last thing America needs right now is a new war. Our number one desire must be peace, as quickly as possible,' he continued. Rema Rahman is the White House editor at The Hill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
