Carlos Bruce, the Somos Peru candidate for mayor of Lima, has announced plans to sue former mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga over drug trafficking claims.
Bruce said on radio station RPP that he will send a formal warning letter to Lopez Aliaga and file a defamation lawsuit if the former mayor fails to comply with his demands.
The legal dispute began after Lopez Aliaga shared a front page from the newspaper La Noticia. The publication linked Bruce to an alleged 1999 Drug Enforcement Administration report concerning the discovery of two and a half metric tons of cocaine inside a cargo shipment.
According to the newspaper report, the narcotics were disguised within a shipment from the seafood company Unixa, a business where Bruce was a partner alongside his brother.
Drug trafficking allegations from 1999
Bruce rejected the accusation as completely false and described it as a frame-up manufactured against him.
He explained that in 1999 he served as president of the Association of Exporters, known as ADEX, and was a prominent opponent of the regime of former President Alberto Fujimori. Because of his political opposition at the time, Bruce argued that it would be illogical for an allegation of such magnitude to go unnoticed by the government of that era.
Bruce stressed that no prosecutor file was ever opened and no police investigation was conducted into the matter. He added that an alleged shipment containing two and a half tons of cocaine would have inevitably triggered an official investigation, saying the severity of the defamation recalled the smear tactics of the Montesinos era.
The candidate also questioned the timing of Lopez Aliaga's actions. Bruce noted that the leader of the conservative Renovacion Popular party shared the newspaper front page on social media at midnight prior to its print circulation, raising suspicion over whether the former mayor was involved in the publication of the story.
Criticism of municipal public works
Turning to city management in Lima, the capital of Peru, Bruce criticized municipal infrastructure projects initiated under Lopez Aliaga, specifically referencing the Via Expresa Sur highway expansion.
Bruce charged that construction work on the Via Expresa Sur project was proceeding without complete technical files. He added that Lopez Aliaga greatly degrades political debate in the country.
Despite his criticisms of how the project has been handled, Bruce clarified that if he is elected metropolitan mayor of Lima, he will not halt the construction already underway, but will instead improve and complete the works.
Stance on internal party controversies
Bruce also addressed controversy surrounding candidates within his own party, Somos Peru, who have been accused of seeking hidden reelection through legal maneuvers.
He distanced himself from internal party decisions, describing himself as a rank-and-file member with no involvement in selecting candidate slates. However, Bruce criticized the use of legal loopholes for unconstitutional ends.
