Peru: right-wing candidate Rafael Belaúnde, unharmed after being shot at in his car

Peru's right-wing presidential candidate Rafael Belaúnde escaped unharmed after his car was shot at while driving in Cerro Azul, a town south of Lima, according to police.

The vehicle of the 50-year-old businessman, leader of the right-wing Partido Libertad Popular was hit by several bullets near a family property. According to General Oscar Arriola, head of the Peruvian police, two people fired "eight to nine shots" from a motorcycle.

Belaúnde himself responded with his own weapon and fired "at least 12 shots," he added to the report with media Peru 21. Even so, no gunshot wounds were reported. The leader referred to the case as a "security incident" amid a wave of organized crime violence, with extortion and murders, which has sparked massive protests mainly in Lima.

"I can simply say that there has been a security incident, as a result of which I have had an exchange of gunfire because I am a person who exercises my right to use firearms. I don't consider it anything other than a miracle that I only had a few scratches that are subsequent to the incident."

"We live in a turbulent time of much citizen insecurity"

"We live in a turbulent time of much citizen insecurity. We have to let the police do their job" and determine what happened, he told the press, without mentioning if it could have been an action with political purposes.

In networks and media it went viral his image with traces of blood on his face and on his white shirt. The police explained that the injuries were caused by shrapnel from the windshield hit by three projectiles.

Belaúnde himself indicated to the media that it was a matter of "scratches after the incident." The politician told the authorities that "he has not received extortive threats or any other kind," Arriola said.

The right, with López Aliaga and Keiki Fujimori leads the polls

The leader of Libertad Popular intends to compete in the general elections of April 12, among a group of at least 12 aspirants, among whom, according to the polls, he is in the last places.

Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga and Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the late former president Alberto Fujimori, dominate the polls. Both, also right-wing politicians, promise to impose a firm hand to crack down on organized crime.

“I strongly condemn this criminal act, which reflects the violence thousands of Peruvians face every day. We cannot normalize these attacks, they must be confronted with the full force of the law,” Fujimori wrote on X., 

Rafael Belaúnde is grandson of former President Fernando Belaúnde, who governed Peru from 1963 to 1968 and 1980 to 1985. "It is a bad start to the campaign. We must firmly reject this attack that Rafael Belaúnde has suffered from bullets in the morning," said former minister Pedro Cateriano, founder of Libertad Popular, in statements to RPP radio.

A wave of violence never seen since the end of the conflict with the guerrillas in 2000

The leader emphasized that the country is "unfortunately going through a context of active criminal activity" Peru is facing in recent years a wave of violence never seen since the end of the internal conflict with the left-wing guerrillas in 2000.

Faced with the scourge of multiple criminal gangs, Peruvians have come out in protest in mobilizations led by Generation Z, young people between the ages of 18 and 30, and sectors of transport workers and merchants, who are the most affected.

In this context of social unrest, Congress impeached the then president Dina Boluarte in an express trial on October 10. The head of parliament, right-wing José Jerí, assumed power on an interim basis until July 2026, when the new president will be sworn in.