Trujillo mayoral candidate legal and political controversies

Robert De La Cruz, the Podemos Perú candidate for the provincial mayoralty of Trujillo, has faced legal and political challenges during his electoral campaign.

In August 2026, the Judiciary acquitted De La Cruz of aggravated usurpation charges related to a 2020 municipal demolition of structures at the La Hermelinda market. While prosecutors sought a prison sentence, Judge Juan Bendezú Villena ruled there was no reliable evidence that De La Cruz ordered the demolition. De La Cruz characterized the acquittal as the end of “political persecution” by the Alianza para el Progreso (APP) party.

By mid-September 2026, the campaign intensified as De La Cruz denounced a “dirty war” involving defamatory posters and banners distributed across Trujillo. These materials attempted to link him to the legal defense of criminal organizations such as ‘Los Pulpos’, ‘La Jauría’, and ‘Los Plataneros’. De La Cruz clarified that his past legal representation of a relative of a gang leader was a professional service performed before his political career began in 2016, arguing that professional duties should not be used to criminalize lawyers.

In response to these attacks, De La Cruz discarded the defamatory materials in front of the APP headquarters and filed a formal police complaint to identify those responsible. The controversy escalated when APP candidate Mario Reyna Rodríguez publicly questioned De La Cruz’s suitability for office due to his legal history with individuals linked to ‘Los Pulpos’ and ‘Los Malditos de Chicago’. Reyna also addressed internal APP issues, claiming the party's decline in La Libertad is due to the inclusion of individuals with questionable reputations.