Peruvian presidential hopeful Rafael Belaunde on Tuesday escaped bloodied, but not seriously hurt from an attack by shooters on his car south of the capital, Lima, police said.
Two gunmen on a motorbike fired “eight or nine” shots at the sport utility vehicle the 50-year-old politician was driving and the candidate returned fire, Peruvian National Police Chief General Oscar Arriola said.
Three bullets shattered the front window, leaving Belaunde with blood stains on his face and shirt from cuts caused by broken glass, widely seen in images on TV and social media, police said.
Photo: EPA
The injuries were “scratches sustained after the incident,” in the town of Cerro Azul, about 130km south of Lima, Belaunde said.
Using his own weapon, Belaunde fired “at least 12 shots” at his attackers, Arriola told news outlet Peru 21. No gunshot injuries were reported.
Belaunde, a former energy minister and grandson of two-term ex-president Fernando Belaunde, told police he had not received any threats.
Pedro Cateriano, a member of Belaunde’s Libertad Popular party told RPP radio that the attack is “a bad start to the campaign,” as Peru is gripped by a surge in graft and organized crime, giving rise to protests led by Gen Z demonstrators that have left dozens injured and at least one dead.
Belaunde faces a group of at least 12 candidates ahead of the general elections on April 12 next year. He ranks near the bottom in opinion polls, which favor former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga and Keiko Fujimori, daughter of late former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori.
Both right-wing politicians say they will be tough on organized crime.
“I strongly condemn this criminal act, a reflection of the violence that affects thousands of Peruvians every day. We cannot normalize these criminal acts, which must be combated with the full force of the law,” Keiko Fujimori wrote on X.
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