President of Peru Keiko Fujimori has requested emergency powers from Congress to legislate against organized crime following a wave of insecurity across the capital Lima and other major cities.
Fujimori, who has been in power for one month after taking office on July 28, submitted an urgent request to parliament asking for authority to enact new measures to dismantle criminal groups.
Among the initial proposals submitted to lawmakers is a plan to reclassify organized crime networks as terrorist organizations.
Lima, a coastal metropolis home to roughly one-third of Peru's population, has suffered from growing gang violence and extortion networks in recent years.
Legislative powers and security crisis
The emergency request will be reviewed by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. If both houses of the Peruvian parliament approve the initiative, the executive branch will receive authority to issue legislative decrees for 120 days.
Peru, a nation of approximately 34 million inhabitants, is confronting its most severe security crisis since the end of its internal armed conflict between 1980 and 2000.
Official data highlights the escalation in violence. Annual homicides in Peru rose from 1,000 in 2018 to 2,600 in 2025, while reported cases of extortion surged from 3,200 to 26,500 over the same period.
Military role and campaign promises
In her inaugural address immediately after taking office, Fujimori announced that military personnel would temporarily lead the fight against crime to restore control in regions overrun by extortionists, drug traffickers, and gangs.
During her presidential campaign, she promised to crack down on crime through iron-fist policies modeled on her late father, former president Alberto Fujimori, who governed from 1990 to 2000.
Alberto Fujimori was a polarizing figure in Peruvian politics who led a heavy-handed counterinsurgency campaign against leftist rebels in the 1990s before later serving a prison sentence for human rights violations, including crimes against humanity.
El Niño climate threat
Beyond security measures, Fujimori is seeking powers to push through emergency responses to the El Niño climate phenomenon.
Meteorologists have warned that El Niño could be the most severe on record this year, creating threats of extreme rainfall, droughts, and temperatures across the country.
El Niño is a periodic warming of ocean waters in the tropical Pacific that alters weather patterns globally, frequently causing severe flooding along South America's western coast.
