Pércovich's statement on Italian mafia and drug trafficking

The Minister of the Interior, Luis Pércovich Roca, made public statements in which he considered that there was an "intimate collaboration between the Italian mafia dedicated to drug trafficking and the terrorism practiced in the country". This statement was part of the government's narrative that sought to link terrorism with drug trafficking. Days later, on September 16, President Fernando Belaunde Terry described terrorism as "narco-terrorist mafia", reinforcing this line of discourse. Previously, on August 30, Belaunde had denounced that Peru was the focus of an international conspiracy that included the narcotics trade and the importation of counterfeit money in favor of terrorism.