Rafael BelaundeWhen it comes to work, he usually travels alone, sometimes accompanied and almost always, as he says, “with my two guns.” He has carried weapons since 2000, when he began touring the country in his car.
Last Tuesday, one of them saved him from an event that could have been tragic. When he was leaving a piece of land he owned in Cañete, a motorcycle intercepted him and from there they shot him, but he responded and the criminals fled.
Rafael Belaunde is a businessman, he is 50 years old and aspires to be president of Peru, perhaps like his grandfather Fernando Belaunde. visited us in Peru21. He was cautious and sometimes discreet, always leaving room for silence.
How are you doing?
Tired. It has been an emotional journey, of tension, of stress, of uncertainty.
Do you feel that, in some way, you have come back to life?
What I felt at the very moment of the incident, or the attack, or the attempted assault, or whatever it was, was anger. A feeling of indignation, of abuse, of feeling unfairly trampled. Then, logically, there is fear, insecurity: have they already left, are they coming back, is there more?
Is that anger what drives you, say, to grab the gun and respond?
When I saw an armed person getting off the motorcycle, I took out my gun. I don’t know if he shot because he saw me armed; When they have shot me, I have shot. If someone points a gun at me and I’m armed, I’m going to shoot them. I have had a license to carry firearms for 25 years, I regularly carry a firearm.
Because?
Since 2000 I began to travel a lot through Peru, I traveled a lot at night… In general, I believe in people’s right to self-defense. I believe that if individuals make that decision, we also have to take charge of our own safety. I believe in the right to use firearms.
You were already the victim of an attack before, right?
In 2008 I had an incident while traveling very late. They put stones on my road to Cerro de Pasco. I advanced to where the car arrived and happily I had my gun and I fired a few shots…
Did they shoot him?
No, I’ve never had an exchange of gunfire like this.
How was the attack now?
It must have been between 7:30 and 8 in the morning. I have a habit of going to see the projects very early. I get up at 4:30, to be on my way at 5 and what I do is see the progress…
What were you evaluating at that moment?
This is a project that is just beginning. We are looking at the issue of earthworks. Let’s start chalking and staking the lots. This is a project for beach houses. And I hope this incident doesn’t affect us too much.
Is it an area where land traffickers operate?
Land trafficking generally occurs on land that does not have a title. This land is registered in Public Registries, there is no dispute. I was going to inspect… Since the land is large, eight hectares, I made him put an exit at the south end because otherwise it would involve going to the gate that is at the north end, which is, let’s say, the main door. But I wanted to see some work that the municipality is doing with the Ministry of Housing, some drainage work south of where I am. And I was leaving the property at the south end to see those works.
And while he was doing it the attack occurred, correct?
A motorcycle appeared and stood in the middle. The car was on and I had just put it into drive. Only it is a very irregular terrain, full of vegetation, so the car moves very slowly. And the driver of the motorcycle was almost passing the entrance and the one I saw clearly was the one sitting behind, who was the one who had a gun, the one who was getting off and at that moment I only managed to turn the car to the left, crouch down and open the driver’s door to get out of the car quickly. They shot me and then I shot from the window frame that was low. Maybe some of the first shots were between the door and the car itself, but mainly it was through the window frame… I think that with my shots the situation also changed. I don’t think they expected me to be armed.
What do you think is the reason for the attack?
I think it may be an attempted theft of my truck. Although the construction issue is a complex issue now. We have had security problems in some projects.
Have they threatened you?
Not to me directly, but to sellers, to an administrator for other projects. We had an unfortunate event last year in a dispute between mafias in the unions, a construction master was killed, for example; not mine, but the contractor of one of the works. We have had an invasion, we repelled it, but we could not dislodge part of it. We have an eviction process underway.
But it was just the attack against you and, apparently, they were waiting for you.
What happens is that there is a series of things, that it is very easy to fall into paranoia or speculation. For example, last week my cell phone was hacked and I have had it in a forensic laboratory for several days to determine how they have violated the phone’s security system, because they took control of my cell phone… Suddenly this is how they have determined my location. The day before I had been in this same area, I go regularly.
Now, after you respond, the bike leaves, what do you do immediately?
I crawled back to the car, which was running.
He came to get out of the car.
Just opening the door, on the floor, there it was. I returned to the car, towards the driver’s seat, which was all full of glass. I turned retro, first with my hand, without raising my head, I stepped back a little and then I stood up.
Almost like a movie.
At first your ears ring intensely and you are a little disoriented. Later it became clear to me that the incident had happened.
And what does he do next?
I turned around and went towards a central property. I called a lawyer.
And when was the photograph taken?
I explained what had happened and sent him a photo of the windshield and me. It’s not like I took a selfie and shared it on my social media.
It is the factor that has aroused suspicions.
I have not published the photos. What I have done is explain what had happened to me and so that the person I was speaking to could see the seriousness of the situation, I sent him that photo. What has been the path for those photos to become public? I have no idea.
What to respond to suspicions?
Everyone is free to believe or not. I have tried not to associate this with the political issue. When I held my press conference I ordered the removal of all types of political symbols, party names, anything alluding to politics, because I think it would be very unfortunate if the electoral process were contaminated. I have called the Cañete Criminal Investigation Directorate to come from there. I wanted to conduct this through not only regular, but reserved channels, because this is also, at the end of the day, a business from which I make a living and I have no interest in affecting it either. First they said there were no shells, but there are shells.
The issue of the gillette also generated suspicions.
After the incident I started looking for my license to carry weapons and the property card and I started to get a lot of things… And that gillette, in the end, is an intimacy. I shave the hair on my neck and back and since I go to the barber for that, I like to take my gillette and not use the one they have there. And I haven’t had any cuts, what I have had are some very minor scrapes and the blood on my shirt is explained by that. What there is is, basically, the four bullet holes in the truck, some scratches caused by the compressed glass on the seat, but I don’t have any cuts.
The day after the event, it was your wife’s birthday, right?
Yes. It’s surreal. This via crucis is experienced by thousands of Peruvians every day. It is not an unusual event, it is an event that, unfortunately, has become increasingly common in Peru. It cannot be normalized and because I don’t think it can be normalized is that I always have my gun with me.
Is reacting, not being paralyzed, a sign of how you proceed in life?
I believe that in life one has to resist being played the role of victim. In this incident what I felt was helplessness, indignation, anger, and I was not going to be the victim of this.
He risked his life.
At that moment perhaps you don’t think about it that way. I had an urge to defend myself. At that moment my big concern was that I knew I had few bullets in my magazine.
They usually tell us: “when faced with a robbery, let yourself be robbed, don’t react, protect your life.”
It is not a philosophy that I share. I believe that one has to defend one’s property.
Doesn’t this incident make you hesitate to continue in politics?
No not at all. In the end it comes down to the philosophy with which one approaches life. We have to work to have our things, to prosper and no one has the right to come and take your things from you. So, if someone wants to assault you, wants to rob you, wants to attack you, it seems to me that one cannot let that happen.
Could insecurity be transferred to politics in the 2026 elections?
Every human activity carries risk. But more dangerous than being a politician today is being a winemaker, having a mobile stand. There they extort you and murder you. Being a politician is surely one of the safest activities in Peru. If you want to do politics, there is a risk, but you have to internalize it, assume it and accept it. And know that at the end of the day what is permanent is Peru.
Please note:
-“I do believe that there is a very real threat from criminal mining. Having extended Reinfo for another year with impunity after 12 years of failure… The only thing that Reinfo has generated is the proliferation of organized crime.”
-“Throughout this circuit they traffic explosives, weapons, ammunition and have parliamentary representation.”
-“So, the proliferation of illegal economies, for which Reinfo is largely responsible, is really something that can play a role in a lot of political violence in Peru.”
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