Peru Senate Eyes Terror Tools Against Gangs

PERU · POLITICS

A Peru Senate committee votes on Thursday 15 October on a draft that would give the government terror tools against violent gangs. The draft, first reported by Lima newspapers on Wednesday, adds eight points to the 90 days of decree powers President Keiko Fujimori is seeking.

The idea echoes Washington’s approach, as the US has listed Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations since February 2025. Peru works closely with the US on security, and its defence minister met the US ambassador on Wednesday to discuss organised crime.

How the Terror Tools Would Work

The Senate’s Constitution Committee, chaired by Carlos Mesía of Fujimori’s conservative Fuerza Popular party, prepared the draft. The Lima newspapers El Comercio and La República both reported its contents on Wednesday.

It keeps the 90-day limit and the lower house’s two subjects, citizen security and El Niño, a Pacific warming that brings floods. Seven of the eight new points are extra decree powers, and the eighth adds Senate oversight, El Comercio reported.

One of the main points would set objective criteria for labelling a criminal organisation a “hostile group” under Peru’s law on military use of force. The test would weigh its level of organisation and command, its ability to fight the state with guns or explosives, and attacks on civilians.

The decree would also name who makes that call, in a reasoned ruling reported to Congress and reviewed regularly. A second point would let the state register gangs that systematically use terrorist methods, such as bomb attacks on people, homes or transport.

Those gangs would then face the terror tools, meaning the special investigation techniques, asset measures, prison rules and international cooperation used against terrorism. The draft says this would come with judicial control and a right of defence, without changing the legal definition of terrorism.

Troops, Spies and Self-Defence

Other new points would strengthen the National Intelligence Directorate, Peru’s national spy agency, and the wider state intelligence system. The armed forces could also help guard the outer perimeter of prisons, on a temporary and exceptional basis.

People released after serving time for the most dangerous crimes would face supervised release and a new registry. Another change would presume that anyone who acts in self-defence acted reasonably, unless the opposite is proven.

Any court ruling that rejects a self-defence claim would need especially detailed reasons, or it would be void, both newspapers reported. The El Niño point would cut red tape for priority infrastructure projects without waiving environmental, safety or heritage rules.

Under the oversight clause, ministers would have to report to the Senate committee on how they use the decrees. La República said the draft also drops a special career plan for juvenile-centre staff, because the government never asked for it.

Why the Government Wants Wider Powers

The government asked Congress on 28 August for decree powers on 66 points over 120 days. The lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, cut that to 20 points over 90 days on 6 October.

Cabinet chief Luis Galarreta, who coordinates Fujimori’s ministers, urged senators on Friday 9 October to restore the intelligence and hostile-group measures. He said the label would let the armed forces act against gangs “because we are at war,” El Comercio reported.

Better intelligence would mean “we would not run the risk of our police and soldiers falling,” he added, according to the paper. Interior Minister César Astudillo, who runs the national police, said on Wednesday that two government security requests had been left out of the text.

One would let police enter the premises of shipping and port companies to stop illicit cargo. “The police cannot enter, and it is necessary,” Astudillo told reporters, El Comercio reported.

Fujimori backed Astudillo and police chief Fredy López on Wednesday at a promotion ceremony for five non-commissioned police officers. Earlier that day she said she hoped the Senate debate would resume “with the priority and urgency the country needs”.

A Test for Peru’s Two-Chamber Congress

Peru’s Congress has two chambers again this year, a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies, after more than three decades with just one. The draft argues that the Senate has full constitutional power to approve, change or reject what the deputies send.

Constitutional lawyer Víctor García Toma told senators on Tuesday they may cut, redesign or add points within the two approved subjects, Gestión reported. Mesía said the full Senate would debate whatever his committee approves on Monday 19 October.

Small-business groups also asked senators on Tuesday to add tax relief and cuts to red tape, Gestión reported. They said extortion and rising costs threaten thousands of corner shops, bakeries, hardware stores and textile makers.

Fuerza Popular holds four of the committee’s 12 seats, so the votes of smaller parties will be key on Thursday, El Comercio reported. Parliamentary consultant Martín Cabrera told the paper that the process ends in the Senate, as a rejected text does not return to the deputies.

What It Means for You

For travellers and foreign firms, the decrees target violent gangs and extortion, which Fujimori‘s government has made a priority. More soldiers could appear around prisons, and troops could act against gangs labelled hostile groups.

For investors, the vote is an early test of whether Fujimori can pass her crime agenda through Congress. The terror tools would also extend Peru’s international anti-terrorism cooperation to these gangs, which could matter for partners such as the United States.

On Wednesday, Peru and the US stepped up their fight against illegal mining in talks in the Amazon city of Iquitos. Peru will also chair an Americas anti-crime forum at the Organization of American States until 2028.

What Is Not Known

It is not known whether the committee will approve the terror tools and all eight new points on Thursday. The final wording on hostile groups and terror tools may still change before the full Senate votes.

It is also unclear whether the full Senate will back the text on Monday 19 October if the committee approves it. Which gangs would face the terror tools first, and when the first decrees would follow, has not been announced.

More: Peru news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are decree powers in Peru?

Congress can let the executive issue laws by decree on set subjects for a fixed period. Fujimori’s government asked for these powers to act faster against crime and the El Niño threat.

What is a hostile group?

It is a label in Peru’s law on the use of military force inside the country. The government wants it applied to the most violent gangs so that the armed forces can act against them.

Would gangs be treated as terrorists?

Not formally, because the draft keeps the legal definition of terrorism unchanged. Gangs that systematically use terrorist methods would, however, face terror tools such as the same investigation, asset and prison rules.

When will the decision come?

The Senate’s Constitution Committee meets at 11 a.m. Lima time on Thursday 15 October, which is noon in New York. The full Senate is expected to debate the text on Monday 19 October.

Sources: Senate of Peru, Constitution, Rules and Foreign Relations Committee (chair and members), accessed 15 October 2026; El Comercio, new points in the Senate draft on delegated powers, 14 October 2026; La República, Senate committee draft adds 8 points, 14 October 2026; Gestión, Senate committee to vote on delegated powers, 14 October 2026; El Comercio, Astudillo on measures left out, 14 October 2026; El Comercio, Fujimori backs interior minister and police chief, 14 October 2026; El Comercio, Fujimori on delegated powers, 14 October 2026; US Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organizations list, accessed 15 October 2026; Ministerio de Defensa del Perú, Iquitos meeting with US ambassador, 14 October 2026; Gestión, Galarreta asks Senate to review cuts to decree powers, 9 October 2026.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief

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