A boy, 16, is allegedly raped by classmates on a bus. The case highlights a crisis in Peru’s schools

0Ruby Farah/JNA Press/Sipa USA

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It allegedly happened on a bus, in broad daylight and in front of witnesses. A 16-year-old boy attending a secondary school run by the Peruvian navy says he was raped by classmates as their soccer team was driving back from a tournament.

The Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the case, which since occurring on September 15 has caused uproar in the country and highlighted a rise in sexual violence among students.

Authorities initially apprehended 10 teenagers from the school, the Liceo Naval Almirante Guise, where most students are the children of naval officers. A court in Lima has ordered six of the 10 to be detained at a juvenile facility for four months pending trial.

The navy says it has suspended several employees and administrators pending investigation and that it “categorically rejects any act of violence, abuse or violation of the integrity of all students.”

Even so, experts say the case reflects systemic failures in schools and government, including a reluctance to confront abuse and a weakened sex education system. They also point to a broader cultural problem that normalizes violence and equates masculinity with the subjugation of others.

The incident comes amid rising levels of sexual violence involving students. According to data from the Ministry of Education, reports of sexual violence among students increased by 35% in the first eight months of 2026 (1,198) compared to the same period in 2025 (885). This category includes groping, acts of a sexual nature, harassment, cyberbullying and rape.

Researcher Eduardo Cárcamo, a specialist in gender and masculinity studies, described the case involving the 16-year-old boy as “the tip of the iceberg” and warned against what he called the “normalization of the situation.”

He said schools and the government were reluctant to address the growing problem, particularly in the wake of recent changes to the curriculum surrounding sex education. “Politicians have fought so hard to roll back comprehensive sex education in schools that they forgot to strengthen it,” he said.

In May, in compliance with a law pushed by the conservative majority in Congress, the Ministry of Education introduced new guidelines for sex education based on what it called “scientific, biological, and ethical principles.” The new guidelines have been criticized for omitting reference to sexual rights, orientation, gender identity and equality – themes critics say need to be understood to prevent sexual abuse.

Experts say the statistics reflect a systemic problem with local concepts of masculinity.

“There’s something specific about the way we’ve been taught to be men: it’s always about constantly proving it. And one way to do that is by controlling the other person. We men have learned that if we can comment on the body, we can also touch it. If we can comment on it and touch it, we can also assault it and rape it,” said Cárcamo.

Psychotherapist Giselle Silva, who holds a PhD in child and adolescent psychopathology, had a similar view.

“This situation speaks to everyone in the country. The context is a culture of violence in which what is at issue is the construction of masculinity,” said Silva, founder of the Casita de los Picaflores community psychology center in Cusco.

“Being masculine means subjugating others, within a system where empathy for another’s suffering is lost and the other person’s body becomes an object.”

Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori has demanded “a rigorous and swift investigation” into what she described as a “very serious” case and has called for anyone found guilty to face “the full weight of the law.”

Jorge Petrozzi, the attorney for the 16-year-old’s family, told CNN that the defendants — who must be prosecuted in the juvenile criminal justice system — could face a sentence of “between six and eight years” if found guilty.

Speaking to the local press, the father of one of the detained teenagers asked for the media not to ruin the lives of those identified as suspects.

“They were playing on the bus; it got out of hand,” he said, before adding that those responsible should still “have to pay” and that the victim was “absolutely right.”

Following his comments, the alleged victim’s mother gave an interview to the Peruvian channel Panamericana in which she called for justice “without hatred or revenge,” saying, the attack “was not physical aggression or a joke; (but) rape, a sexual assault.”

In addition to the detained teenagers, the attorney Petrozzi said he intended to pursue criminal and civil actions “against all those responsible” — potentially including adults present at the scene who failed to prevent the assault and educational authorities.

Meanwhile, the director of the Regional Education Office of Metropolitan Lima, Cornelio Gonzáles, has accused school administrators of negligence, alleging that they did not report the incident to the police or other authorities as required by protocol.

CNN has contacted the school for comment.

In a statement addressed to parents, the school said a few days ago that it acted “immediately” and has been cooperating with the investigations. “If responsibility is established, the appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken,” it added.

Education Minister José Antonio Chang told El Comercio newspaper that Liceo Naval has recorded 50 reports of violence among students over the past two years, 12 of which involve alleged sexual misconduct, such as harassment, inappropriate touching, or assault. CNN has reached out to the ministry about these figures.

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The Navy had been in charge of administering the school until last week, when the government transferred those duties to the Ministry of Education.

Silva, the psychotherapist, said disciplining the children of influential officers was often problematic “in institutions characterized above all by privilege and power structures, where there is even a sense of impunity.”

She said unhealthy concepts of masculinity were prevalent in such institutions, which she described as “a system riddled with machismo, subjugation, and hierarchical structures that distort and reinforce” the problem.

However, she said the problem was not unique to the school but spread through a society that “is becoming more unbearably violent every day.”

She blamed this on a loss of sense of community, saying that young people were “very alone” and “absorbing values centered on the imposition of power.”

Prevention efforts needed to address these feelings of solitude, she said, and go beyond a sole focus on sex education.

Cárcamo, the gender specialist, said society needed to “address the fact that there is another way to be a man – one free from violence,” but lamented that such an approach in Peru “isn’t even it its infancy.”

Noting the uproar — particularly on social media — that had surrounded the latest case, Silva said there needed to be “a sincere, honest, and acknowledging approach to the issue.”

“This isn’t going to get better,” she said. “Rather, it will continue to get worse as long as there isn’t this culture of acknowledgment, starting at the highest levels.”

0Ruby Farah/JNA Press/Sipa 美国

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据称，这起事件发生在光天化日之下，在一辆公交车上，而且有目击者在场。一名就读于秘鲁海军下属中学的16岁男孩称，他的足球队在比赛结束后乘车返回途中，遭到同学轮奸。

秘鲁检察官办公室正在调查这起案件。该案件自 9 月 15 日发生以来，在该国引起了轩然大波，并凸显了学生群体中性暴力事件的增加。

当局最初从这所名为阿尔米兰特·吉塞海军中学（Liceo Naval Almirante Guise）的学校逮捕了10名青少年，该校大部分学生都是海军军官的子女。利马一家法院已下令将其中6人送往少年管教所拘留4个月，等待审判。

海军方面表示，已暂停多名雇员和管理人员的职务，等待调查结果，并“断然拒绝任何暴力、虐待或侵犯所有学生人格的行为”。

即便如此，专家表示，这起案件反映了学校和政府的系统性缺陷，包括不愿正视虐待问题以及性教育体系的薄弱。他们还指出，这反映了一种更广泛的文化问题，即暴力行为被正常化，男性气质等同于征服他人。

这起事件发生之际，正值涉及学生的性暴力事件不断增加之时。根据教育部的数据，2026年前八个月，学生性暴力案件的报告数量（1198起）比2025年同期（885起）增加了35%。此类案件包括猥亵、性行为、骚扰、网络欺凌和强奸。

性别与男性气质研究专家爱德华多·卡尔卡莫将这起涉及 16 岁男孩的案件描述为“冰山一角”，并警告人们不要将这种情况“正常化”。

他表示，学校和政府都不愿正视日益严重的性教育问题，尤其是在近期性教育课程改革之后。“政客们费尽心思地想要取消学校的全面性教育，却忘了加强这方面的教育，”他说。

今年5月，为响应国会保守派多数派推动的一项法律，教育部推出了新的性教育指导方针，其依据是所谓的“科学、生物学和伦理原则”。然而，新指导方针因忽略了性权利、性取向、性别认同和性别平等等议题而受到批评——批评人士认为，理解这些议题对于预防性侵犯至关重要。

专家表示，这些统计数据反映了当地男性气质观念中存在的系统性问题。

“我们从小就被灌输一种特殊的男性气质：那就是要不断证明自己。而证明自己的方法之一就是控制对方。我们男人被教导说，如果我们能对别人的身体评头论足，我们就能触摸它。如果我们既能评头论足又能触摸它，我们就能侵犯它，甚至强奸它，”卡尔卡莫说道。

拥有儿童和青少年精神病理学博士学位的心理治疗师吉赛尔·席尔瓦也持类似观点。

“这种情况与全国每个人都息息相关。其背景是暴力文化，而问题的关键在于男性气质的构建，”库斯科卡西塔德洛斯皮卡弗洛雷斯社区心理中心的创始人席尔瓦说道。

“在这样一个体系中，男子气概意味着征服他人，在这个体系中，人们对他人的痛苦缺乏同情心，他人的身体变成了客体。”

秘鲁总统藤森庆子要求对这起她称之为“非常严重”的案件进行“严格而迅速的调查”，并呼吁任何被判有罪的人都将受到“法律的严惩”。

16岁少年家属的律师豪尔赫·佩特罗齐告诉CNN，被告必须在少年刑事司法系统中接受审判，如果罪名成立，他们可能面临“六至八年”的刑期。

其中一名被拘留青少年的父亲在接受当地媒体采访时，请求媒体不要毁掉那些被认定为嫌疑人的人的生活。

“他们在公交车上玩耍；结果失控了，”他说，然后又补充说，肇事者仍然应该“付出代价”，受害者“完全正确”。

在他发表上述言论后，据称受害者的母亲接受了秘鲁电视台 Panamericana 的采访，她在采访中呼吁“不带仇恨或报复”地伸张正义，并表示，这次袭击“不是肢体攻击或玩笑；（而是）强奸，性侵犯”。

除了被拘留的青少年之外，律师佩特罗齐表示，他打算对所有责任人提起刑事和民事诉讼——可能包括在场但未能阻止袭击的成年人和教育当局。

与此同时，利马大都会区教育局局长科尔内利奥·冈萨雷斯指责学校管理人员玩忽职守，声称他们没有按照规定向警方或其他当局报告这起事件。

CNN已联系学校征求意见。

学校几天前在一份致家长的声明中表示，校方已“立即”采取行动，并一直在配合调查。声明还补充道：“如果查明责任人，将采取相应的纪律处分措施。”

教育部长何塞·安东尼奥·张告诉《商报》，过去两年里，海军中学共记录了50起学生暴力事件，其中12起涉及性骚扰、不当触摸或性侵犯等行为。CNN已就这些数据联系教育部。

Matt Burkhartt/Getty Images

纽约检察官重启调查，此前一名学生就康奈尔大学涉嫌轮奸案提起诉讼。

海军此前一直负责管理这所学校，直到上周政府将这些职责移交给了教育部。

心理治疗师席尔瓦表示，在“以特权和权力结构为主要特征的机构中，管教有影响力的官员的孩子往往是一个难题，因为在这些机构中甚至存在一种有罪不罚的心态”。

她表示，不健康的男性气质观念在这类机构中十分普遍，她将这些机构描述为“一个充斥着大男子主义、压迫和等级制度的体系，这些制度扭曲并强化了”这个问题。

然而，她表示，这个问题并非学校独有，而是蔓延到整个社会，“这个社会正变得越来越令人难以忍受地暴力”。

她将此归咎于社区意识的丧失，并表示年轻人“非常孤独”，而且“吸收了以强加权力为中心的价值观”。

她表示，需要采取预防措施来解决这些孤独感，而不能仅仅关注性教育。

性别专家卡尔卡莫表示，社会需要“正视这样一个事实：成为男人还有另一种方式——一种没有暴力的方式”，但他遗憾地表示，在秘鲁，这种做法“甚至还处于萌芽阶段”。

席尔瓦注意到最近这起案件引发了轩然大波——尤其是在社交媒体上——他表示，需要“以真诚、诚实和承认的态度来对待这个问题”。

“情况不会好转，”她说。“相反，只要没有从最高层开始建立这种承认错误的文化，情况就会继续恶化。”