Lima, Peru — The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued blue notice in 194 countries to locate the leader of Peru’s ruling Marxist party “Perú Libre” and former Governor of Junin, Vladimir Cerrón, whose whereabouts are unknown after being sentenced to three years and six months in prison on October 7.
According to Interpol, the purpose of a blue notice is to obtain information about the whereabouts of a person involved in a legal process, as opposed to a red notice, which aims to locate and apprehend individuals who will be tried or must serve sentences.
In a report released by local media on October 10, Interpol included Cerrón’s personal information and warned of the possibility that he might move to countries such as Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and the Netherlands.
“There is information that the sentenced person would attempt to escape through uncontrolled border areas, trying to evade the reach of the law,” the document states.
Since October 6, Cerrón has been classified as “unlocatable” after being convicted by a Peruvian court in a second-instance ruling for corruption crimes in 2014, during his tenure as governor of the Junin region.
Despite Interpol issuing a blue notice, the head of Peru’s National Criminal Investigation Directorate, Óscar Arriola, has declared to the press that “an international red alert is currently being processed, which involves locating and capturing.”
Cerrón used social media to mock this possibility. He said in tweet, “General Óscar Arriola cannot capture me in Peru and wants others to do his job by announcing that he has informed 194 countries about my situation. What a shame!”
The head of the National Police, Jorge Angulo, downplayed Cerrón’s tweets on October 11, stating: “Many people said they would never be captured, but in the end, they were.”
So far, both fellow party members, family members, and Cerrón’s defense team have reported that they have no information about his whereabouts.
The leader of Peru Libre, the political party that brought now-detained Pedro Castillo to the presidency in 2021, was not only sentenced to three years and six months in prison but also disqualified from holding public office for the same period and fined 800,000 soles (USD $210,000) in civil reparations.