Cynthia McClintock, professor of political science and international affairs at The George Washington University: “Not only did Peru’s 2024 homicide rate triple the 2017 rate, but its extortion rate more than quadrupled over that period, according to government statistics. Paul Flores was murdered by extortionists. In a February Ipsos poll, 63 percent of Peruvians said citizen security was worse than the previous year and 67 percent said they felt insecure walking on the street in daytime. However, when Boluarte declared a state of emergency in Lima (which entails military authority over security, including the authority to suspend citizens’ rights), she was going through the motions. Recently, states of emergency have been in place in numerous areas of Peru, including hard-hit Trujillo and, indeed, Lima, without positive results. States of emergency are rarely cited either by Peru’s expert analysts or its citizens as an effective security measure. Rather, the measures that are recommended are…”