Since the National Intelligence Directorate (DINI) and the National Police Intelligence Directorate (DIRIN) undertook the search and capture of Vladimir Cerrón Rojas by court order issued on October 6, 2023, no evidence has been found that he remained in the 7 properties where raids were recorded.
In accordance with Sources of La República in DINI and DIRINthe information that gave rise to the operations was not sufficiently corroborated. That is, No surveillance or follow-up work was carried out to verify whether the fugitive president of Peru Libre was actually in the identified homes.
As a result, since the Judiciary ordered the immediate arrest of Vladimir Cerrón to serve a sentence for corruption of public officials, the National Police has carried out at least six operations in Lima, Junín, Ica and Callao. Not only was the former regional governor of Junín not located. Nor was there any evidence that he was hiding in the houses that the police officers entered.
These were the operations:
LYNX, OCTOBER 6, 2023
On the same day of the arrest warrant, a DIRIN team went to Arequipa Avenue No. 1492. Upon searching the place, Cerrón was not there. The DIRIN received information that Cerrón was hiding in a 15th-floor apartment owned by a very close friend. Without verifying this information, without spending at least a day monitoring who was entering or leaving the place, the agents entered the house with negative results.
PARCONA, OCTOBER 28, 2023
According to electronic intelligence information, Cerrón was moving around Chincha, and the districts of Parcona and Subtanjalla, in Ica. But it was all in vain. The failure of the operation was attributed to PNP commander Flor del Carmen Sobero Niño, who was serving at that time as head of the Ica Intelligence Office. According to sources, Flor del Carmen Sobero, cousin of Peru Libre congressman Américo Gonza Castillo, leaked the information about the operation due to her familiarity with the parliamentarian. This accusation was not proven, because the police command has not reported it to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
NO EVIDENCE. There are no known surveillance videos where Vladimir Cerrón was supposedly hiding.
HUANCAYO, NOVEMBER 20, 2023
Another police team went to a residence of the Cerrón family, in Huancayo. Exactly on Los Dogos street, in the La Rivera urbanization. Nor was any prior intelligence conducted to certify that the missing president of Peru Libre was in that building. Without being certain of his presence at the place, the agents entered the residence. He had not been there.
JAUJA, DECEMBER 27, 2023
This time, the Los Gochis farm was raided, located in the town of Chacaybamba, Monobamba district. The property is owned by Alejandro Palacios Orihuela, father of Carina Palacios Quincho, head of the International Cooperation Office of the Congress of the Republic, which depends on the office of parliamentarian Waldemar Cerrón Rojas, brother of the fugitive Vladimir Cerrón. Carina Palacios was the Peruvian ambassador to Bolivia during the period 2021-2023. According to the police report, the diligence was carried out with the authorization of the father of the Peru Libre activist, Alejandro Palacios Orihuela, who was informed that through intelligence information they knew that Vladimir Cerrón was hiding on said farm. As in the previous cases, the operation was improvised without corroborating that Cerrón was hiding on the site. The Peru Libre leader, in a mocking tone, published the police report on his “X” account.
WINDOWS, JANUARY 13, 2024
A special brigade of the National Police entered a five-story building located on Monitor Huáscar Avenue, in the district of Ventanilla, Callao. A local party of Peru Libre was operating on the site. On that occasion, PNP Colonel Carlos Montúfar stated that through intelligence channels they were informed about Cerrón’s supposed hiding place, but that he managed to escape. Apart from posters asking for the “persecution” of Vladimir Cerrón to cease, no signs were detected that he was hiding in that establishment.
ASIA, JANUARY 16, 2024
The largest of all the operations was carried out in the “Mikonos” condominium, at kilometer 107 of the Panamericana Sur in Asa. No intelligence work was done to establish whether the information about Cerrón’s presence was correct. As expected, the fugitive was not at the location. This incident generated a crisis in the government of Dina Boluarte.
During the administration of retired PNP General Roger Arista Perea, the DINI received information from human sources and electronic intelligence about Vladimir Cerrón’s hiding place in Asia. But, due to an alleged leak, Cerrón fled. As a result, the then PNP General Commander, General Jorge Angulo Tejada, dismissed the head of the PNP Intelligence Directorate (DIRIN), General Mauricio Quiroga Camacho, for having supposedly leaked information about the operation to Cerrón.
The police command argued that General Quiroga had studied with Vladimir Cerrón, a graduate in Intelligence and Strategy, at the Centro de Altos Estudios Nacional (CAEN) in 2018. When questioned by La República, Quiroga denied the accusation. On the contrary, he said, he was on the verge of capturing him, but that he managed to escape on three occasions: the first time because of a tip-off, and on the other two occasions, because he received the support of “some politicians.” However, he refused to give names.
Intelligence sources told La República that, regarding the failed operation in Asia, the mistake was made of not installing a video surveillance team to confirm whether Cerrón was in the condominium.
“A goal like the figure of Vladimir Cerron “We have to work in compartmentalization so that other actors do not intervene. The target has to be supported with an OVISE (observation, monitoring and surveillance), otherwise the operation fails,” said intelligence sources who were part of some of the operations: “Cerrón has never been seen in the supposed hiding places, that is why he has not been captured.”
NEW STRATEGY. Minister Juan Santiváñez announced the creation of a Special Team for the capture of Cerrón that will emphasize intelligence.
HUANCAYO, JUNE 15, 2024
Police received information about the location of Vladimir Cerrón at the home of the former press secretary of Peru Libre, José Bendezú Gutarra, with an arrest warrant for the case “Los Dinámicos del Centro.” Judge Wilder Camarena ordered an intervention in the home at 501 Huánuco Street, in Huancayo, to arrest both Bendezú and Cerrón. A team from the PNP’s Anti-Corruption Directorate (Dircocor) entered the property. The police only found Bendezú. Once again, Cerrón was not at the location. The Minister of the Interior, Juan Santiváñez, blamed Judge Camarena for taking so long to issue the arrest warrant.
“It wasn’t a police issue, mind you, it was because the police requested a court order and it took 5 hours for them to grant us the request to search the house,” said Santiváñez.
After the latest failure, the government changed its strategy. The Minister of the Interior, Juan Santiváñez, confirmed to La República the creation of a Special Team exclusively in charge of carrying out the search and capture of Vladimir Cerrón, emphasizing intelligence work.
Santiváñez explained that the Special Team is made up of officers and non-commissioned officers with experience in the field of intelligence and they have all the logistics to carry out the mission entrusted to them by their sector 24 hours a day. But he preferred not to give details of who makes up the team. He only indicated that a general of the National Police, with proven experience in intelligence, heads the group.
“The special team will report directly to me and hopefully in the next few days we will have positive results. Cerrón will fall soon,” said Santiváñez.
The head of the Mininter stated that the National Police Command has given precise instructions to all specialized and operational units for the search for Vladimir Cerrón throughout the country.
“Vladimir Cerrón is a target of the National Police,” he emphasized.
Intelligence sources consulted by La República indicated that if the new Special Team does not focus on surveillance and monitoring plans, and limits itself to putting together operations based on unconfirmed information, Cerrón will not be captured.
“Experience tells us that all information must be corroborated with surveillance and monitoring before the execution of an operation, as happened in the cases of Abimael Guzmán, former mayors Félix Moreno and Carlos Burgos, Gerson “Caracol” Gálvez Calle and former Army commander-in-chief Edwin Donayre. They were all fugitives and were arrested following an intelligence plan. Less show and more efficiency are needed.”“, the sources explained.
