Invested on Tuesday as the new president of Peru, Keiko Fujimori immediately announced that the military will assume “maintenance of order” in areas affected by gangs, drug trafficking and illegal mining, one of her main promises of firmness.
“In the event of a state of emergency, the armed forces will temporarily assume leadership of security operations and the maintenance of internal order” in order to “return these territories to the citizens,” declared the right-wing leader during her induction speech to Parliament.
A graduate in administration in the United States, former deputy, Ms. Fujimori, 51, won the second round of the presidential election on June 7 with less than 50,000 votes ahead of her left-wing rival Roberto Sanchez, after losing the three previous second rounds.
“I swear (…) to faithfully exercise the functions of President of the Republic that the nation has entrusted to me for the period 2026-2031,” had earlier declared the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), incarcerated for corruption and crimes against humanity committed during his mandate.
AFP
After his oath, a group of left-wing parliamentarians who reject his inauguration left the chamber in protest.
His enthronement marks the return of Fujimorismo to power, a populist movement oscillating between conservatism and liberalism, and which divides Peruvians.
With it, Peru joins the wave of right-wing governments which is progressing in Latin America, aligned with American President Donald Trump.
Heads of state from the right or of liberal inspiration – the Argentinian Javier Milei, the Chilean José Antonio Kast, the Bolivian Rodrigo Paz, the Ecuadorian Daniel Noboa – or from the left, like the Uruguayan Yamandu Orsi, attended the ceremony.
“No government will be able to move Peru forward if it continues to fuel division,” said Ms. Fujimori, saying she wanted “national reconciliation” in a country where the divisive figure of her father divides the country.
“I don’t have confidence in her, but what can we do: half of Peru is divided,” Franklin Gonzáles, a 62-year-old self-employed worker, told AFP in central Lima on Tuesday.
AFP
Ninth president in 10 years
Keiko Fujimori campaigned by promising to fight crime, with Peru facing its worst security crisis in decades, fueled by the installation of criminal gangs, local and foreign, who engage in extortion and sponsored assassinations.
“It’s going to be a reproduction of the father,” says César Fuentes, an 80-year-old retiree, who fears that his strategies against insecurity will lead to abuse.
Coming from a family of Japanese origin, the new Peruvian leader intends to fight crime through the mass expulsion of irregular migrants, the establishment of courts with anonymous judges and the obligation for prisoners to work in exchange for food.
“I completely agree” with his security proposals, says Nelly Vega, a 68-year-old housewife, who believes she lives “in a country caught in terror”.
In Peru, the number of homicides increased from 1,000 in 2018 to 2,600 in 2025, and complaints of extortion exploded, from 3,200 to 26,500 for the same period.
Sociologist David Sulmont believes that “if the government fails to quickly give tangible signs” of combating insecurity, “this can quickly erode its legitimacy and popularity”.
Keiko Fujimori is also committed to combating the El Niño climate phenomenon, which this year is expected to be particularly intense and the most devastating since 1998.
His “Fuerza Popular” party, the largest parliamentary group in Parliament without having a majority, is criticized for having supported amnesty laws in favor of members of the police and the army prosecuted for human rights violations during the internal armed conflict of 1980-2000.
Relatives of victims of the repression of demonstrations against the government of Dina Boluarte (2022-2025) also accuse him of protecting the latter in the face of the accusations against her.
“They governed together (…), and have the blood of our loved ones on their hands,” judge Raúl Samillán, whose brother Marco was shot and killed during a demonstration against the government of Ms. Boluarte, repressed by the army in 2023.
Keiko Fujimori became the country’s ninth president in a decade, and the second woman to lead the country. She succeeds interim president José Maria Balcazar.
