Peru’s Prime Minister and founder of government party investigated for terrorism

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Peru’s Prime Minister, Guido Bellido, and the founder of the ultra-left Peru Libre party, Vladimir Cerron, among others, will be investigated for the alleged crime of terrorism, informed the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday.

The investigation will be in charge of the Supraprovincial Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Terrorism and Crimes against Humanity in the city of Huanuco. The proceedings in police headquarters will be directed to Cerron, Bellido, the pro-government legislator Guillermo Bermejo and Alex Pimentel, allegedly close to the leaders of the armed band Sendero Luminoso in central Peru.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Peru

The prosecutor’s resolution indicated that the proceedings would last 120 days and be in charge of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate of the National Police in Lima to collect the statements of the investigated persons and of the effective collaborators and witnesses who are under their custody.

The investigation for the crime of terrorism responds to a newspaper interview last May, in which Eddy Bobby Villarroel Medina, president of the Plurinational Association of Tahuantinsuyano Reservists and known as “Sacha”, declared to know the presumed links of Bermejo, Bellido, and Cerron with Sendero Luminoso in the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro Rivers (VRAEM).

“Sacha” claimed that Bermejo and Bellido had direct contact with “Comrade Jose” in the Shining Path camps in the VRAEM. At the same time, Cerron did it through a person linked to his entourage identified as Alex Jose Pimentel Vidal, said the statement from the Prosecutor’s Office.

In addition to this charge, Bellido was already being investigated by the prosecutor’s office for a terrorism apology.

The so-called “comrade Jose” is the pseudonym of Victor Quispe Palomino, the surviving leader of Sendero in the VRAEM, after the death of his brother Jorge Quispe Palomino, known as “comrade Raul”, who died at the beginning of this year.

Pimentel Vidal, allegedly responsible for press and propaganda of the remnants of Sendero in the VRAEM, was arrested in 2018 for the crime of terrorism and placed at the disposal of the authorities.

The terrorism investigation against Bellido and Cerrón has been opened a day after the Prosecutor’s Office announced another investigation for alleged money laundering in the financing of Perú Libre, the Marxist political formation with which Pedro Castillo won the presidential elections.

In addition to Bellido and Cerron, 15 other people were also included, among them Waldermar Cerron, Vladimir’s brother who was recently appointed spokesman for the parliamentary group of Peru Libre in Congress, where it is the largest bench with 37 parliamentarians.

According to the resolution of the prosecutor, spread by several national media, Vladimir Cerron allegedly led a network of illegal charges to finance electoral campaigns and to pay the compensation for the corruption conviction he has in force and which prevented him from being his party’s presidential candidate.

Diverse political and social sectors have asked President Castillo to remove Bellido and all the officials and ministers who have been appointed due to Cerron’s influence in the Executive from his cabinet.