Peru’s Senate gives Fujimori 90 days of decree powers

Peru’s Senate voted 35 to 18 on Oct. 21 to give President Keiko Fujimori 90 days to issue laws by decree on crime, prisons, migration and El Niño, without going back to Congress for each measure, the Peruvian magazine Caretas reported.

The delegation covers 27 areas, seven more than the 20 the lower house approved on Oct. 6, and it arrives as Peru faces what TVN described as its worst security crisis since the internal armed conflict of 1980 to 2000, with a sharp rise in homicides and extortion.

Six senators abstained in the Oct. 21 vote. Caretas said the total of 35 includes the vote of Senate President Miguel Torres, who cast it for the measure from the chair.

The Chamber of Deputies passed its version late on Oct. 6 after a session of about 13 hours, by 66 votes to 34 with 24 abstentions, the Rio Times reported. The same text had failed earlier that evening before deputies voted 75 to 33 to reconsider it. The government had asked for powers on 66 matters, and the Constitution Commission cut that to 20.

The original package covers citizen security: migration control, weapons oversight, blocking illicit communications, prison reform, and the fight against extortion, contract killings, organized crime and cybercrime. It also lets the national civil defence institute deliver humanitarian aid directly during El Niño, supports farmers, and simplifies procedures for infrastructure, housing, water and sanitation, the Rio Times reported.

The Senate added seven powers, according to Caretas. They include exceptional military participation in the external security of high-risk prisons, supervised release for some convicts judged at real risk of reoffending, criteria for treating criminal groups as hostile during states of emergency, special investigation measures against violent criminal organizations, changes to self-defence rules, a stronger national intelligence system and simplified procedures for priority infrastructure such as roads, bridges and flood protection.

Fuerza Popular, Fujimori’s party, Renovación Popular, Obras and the Partido del Buen Gobierno supported the measure in the Senate, Caretas said. Carlos Mesía, who chairs the Constitution Committee, said the Senate had authority to review the lower house’s text.

Opposition senators objected to the additions. Nora Bonifaz and Patricia Iturregui, both of Buen Gobierno, warned that they could upset the balance between the two chambers. Mirtha Vásquez of Ahora Nación argued the delegation could expand executive power and affect citizens’ rights, Caretas reported. Senators from Juntos por el Perú said the additions could violate the Constitution.

The approved text requires the government to respect constitutional rights, institutional autonomy, authorized budgets and oversight mechanisms, Caretas said. It is not unlimited authority to legislate. The opposition fears abuses if the military joins police in maintaining public order, according to a report from the Panamanian outlet TVN, which carried the Senate’s statement that the powers last 90 days.

Fujimori, a conservative and the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, took office on July 28. Her approval fell to 40 per cent in an Ipsos poll published Oct. 16, down from 57 per cent in August, as Canada News Media reported on Oct. 20. She campaigned on fighting crime with an iron fist.

For Canadians, the Government of Canada’s travel advisory for Peru, last updated Oct. 15, tells travellers to exercise a high degree of caution across the country, citing a recent marked increase in violent crime in the Province of Lima. It says states of emergency are in effect in Lima, Callao and several other provinces, where security forces have expanded powers to restrict movement and conduct searches. It advises against all travel to the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro river valleys and the Upper Huallaga River Valley.

Peru’s push mirrors a regional turn to tougher security policies. Costa Rica opened a 5,100-bed mega-prison this month.

It is not yet clear when the decree powers take legal effect. Caretas did not describe the promulgation or publication steps, and the 90-day period runs once the law is in force. Neither source gave a date for the first decrees.

Via Caretas, the Rio Times and TVN.

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