Ministry of Interior resorts to FAME to buy 31,045 pistols without tender
A few weeks before the end of the interim government of President José María Balcázar, the Minister of the Interior, José Zapata Morante, authorized the acquisition of a batch of 31,045 handguns through the state-owned company Army Weapons and Munitions Factory (FAME).
By a ministerial resolution of May 26, the General Office of Administration and Finance (OGAF) of the Ministry of the Interior was cleared to negotiate the said acquisition with FAME, an entity that does not manufacture the 9x19 mm caliber pistols required by the National Police.
The decision is based on the so-called FAME Law, No. 31684, of February 15, 2023, a congressional initiative that gives the green light to the Armed Forces and the National Police to "entrust" the Army Weapons and Munitions Factory with the purchase of military equipment from foreign companies without calling for a tender.
With the endorsement of the government of Dina Boluarte, the Army discarded bidding processes it had underway for the acquisition of 8x8 armored vehicles and assault rifles, and asked FAME to obtain that war material abroad.
FAME has already offered the Ministry of the Interior the Jericho model from the company IWI. The state company only acts as an intermediary; it does not manufacture the pistol.
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SETTING UP THE FIGURE
The state company indeed did so without holding any contest. It contracted directly with the manufacturers by signing "agreements": first, with the Korean Hyundai Rotem, which sold the 8x8 armored vehicles; and then, with IWI (Israel Weapons Industries), which provided 10,000 Arad 7 assault rifles of caliber 7.62x51 mm.
The same formula was applied by former Minister of the Interior Juan José Santiváñez for the purchase of 7,323 Arad 5 rifles of caliber 5.56x45 mm destined for the National Police.
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After the Ministry of the Interior itself canceled the tender for the acquisition of handguns on December 9, 2025 due to serious irregularities —the Comptroller's Office detected that the process had been manipulated to favor the American company SIG Sauer— now the office of Corpac has preferred to repeat the questioned modality of "entrusting" the purchase to FAME.
THE PIECES FIT
Incidentally, FAME already has an "agreement" signed with IWI to sell it short arms, such as the 9x19 mm Jericho pistol. It is the same "agreement" that supported the purchase of the Arad 5 rifles that Santiváñez acquired.
Moreover, on April 18 of this year, before the Ministry of the Interior authorized OGAF to negotiate with FAME for the purchases, this state company presented its offer for the sale of 31,045 Jericho 9x19 mm pistols.
So, when OGAF consults FAME if it has handguns, the state company will answer that it has the Jericho model from IWI, the factory with which it maintains an "agreement." And who represents IWI in Peru?
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A FAMILIAR CHARACTER
On March 30, 2025, a team from the Sunday program 'Cuarto poder', after recording clandestine meetings of Nicanor Boluarte, the brother of former President Dina Boluarte, also captured a meeting of three people: businessman Jorge Garboza Sifuentes, the close friend of Nicanor Boluarte; the then commercial manager of FAME, Paulo Zevallos Rivarola; and Diego Alfaro Di Natale, representative of IWI.
On October 12, 2023, Diego Alfaro participated in the sale to the Army of 10,000 Arad 7 rifles caliber 7.62x51 mm for US$26.7 million; and on February 12, 2025, in the supply of 7,323 Arad 5 rifles caliber 5.56x45 mm for the PNP for US$27.3 million. In both cases, it was through FAME.
The meeting, which occurred a few days after this second contract, was not coincidental. So much so that the National Fund for Financing State Business Activity (Fonafe), the body that supervises FAME's activities, dismissed commercial manager Paulo Zevallos Rivarola.
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BUSINESS PORTFOLIO
Diego Alfaro also won, as representative of the Panamanian company Milenium Veladi Corp., a contract for US$20.3 million for the repair of three Mi helicopters of the Army.
The three contracts were signed during the government of Dina Boluarte, with whom businessman Diego Alfaro maintained contacts through Nicanor Boluarte.
Recently, between April 7 and 12, Diego Alfaro was seen at the 24th edition of the International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE) in Chile. His migration record confirms that he left Lima on April 6 and returned from Santiago de Chile on April 11.
According to sources consulted, Alfaro held a meeting at the Sheraton hotel in the Chilean capital with representatives of the Italian company Leonardo, Fabrizio Romano and Cesare Caccia. Other sources mentioned that Colombian businessman Orlando Cabeza Peñaranda, owner of Helistar, was also present.
According to the press in his country, in the 1990s, Cabeza was investigated for alleged links to drug trafficking, but the process did not lead to an indictment.
According to sources, the conversation revolved around Alfaro, representative of Russian companies, continuing the repair of Russian helicopters. There are three Russian-made Mi aircraft pending delivery.
Then, Diego Alfaro, who maintains contacts with the Army and the Ministry of the Interior, would promote the replacement of Russian helicopters and offer the Leonardo AW139 model, which was already a finalist in a previous process.
In 2023, when the Boluarte government intended to buy helicopters to face the El Niño phenomenon and the impact of Cyclone Yaku, one of the options was precisely the Leonardo AW139 model.
But it ended up desisting and preferred the major maintenance of the Russian Mi helicopters, which in the case of the Army was contracted to the Panamanian firm Milenium Veladi Corp., whose representative is Diego Alfaro Di Natale.
