Cerrón was born in the district of Ahuac, Province of Chupaca in the Department of Junin on 16 December 1970. He is the son of two university professors, Jaime Cerrón Palomino and Bertha Rojas López. He received his primary education at the Sebastián Lorente school in Huancayo and high school in Santa Isabel National College in the same city. He pursued higher education studying Electrical Engineering at National University of the Center of Peru and Civil Engineering at the Los Andes Peruvian University at the same time. This was not concluded however following the killing of his father Jaime Cerrón, then vice-rector for academic affairs at the National University of the Center of Peru, by paramilitary forces in Huancayo during the Internal conflict in Peru. His father's body was found on 8 June 1990. Bertha Rojas López would later testify to the post-war Truth and Reconciliation Commission as to her husband's abduction and murder. Following this, Cerrón ended his studies and moved to Lima to work.