Keiko Fujimori Orders Military and Police to Join Forces in Peru's Major New Crackdown on Crime

Army officers guard the Miguel Castro Castro penitentiary center, located in the San Juan de Lurigancho district on the eastern outskirts of Lima on September 7, 2027. The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in five prisons, a measure that authorizes the military, together with the police, to take charge of external control of the facilities, the presidency said on September 5, 2026. (Credit: Photo by Ernesto BENAVIDES / AFP via Getty Images)

The Briefing

• Peru's new Unified Command fuses the Armed Forces and National Police under one operational structure coordinated from Army Headquarters in Lima, the most significant institutional security reorganization since Keiko Fujimori took office July 28, 2026.
• Extortion complaints surged from 2,421 in 2019 to 26,734 in 2025 — a tenfold increase in six years — killing 239 transport workers and pushing 24% of Peruvian companies into victimization, according to data presented at Fujimori's inauguration.
• Peru has formally joined the Americas Shield, the Trump-backed regional security alliance, and placed five high-security prisons under military-assisted emergency control.