LIMA: Peru introduced a state of emergency late Sunday (Mar 16) within the capital Lima over a wave of killings linked to extortion.
The transfer got here after singer Paul Flores was shot useless by hitmen who attacked a bus he was driving with bandmates as they left a live performance outdoors Lima.
The musicians had been threatened by a legal gang who tried to extort cash from them, their representatives stated.
“It has been ordered that within the coming hours, a state of emergency be decreed all through the province of Lima and the Constitutional province of Callao,” Gustavo Adrianzen, head of the ministerial Cupboard, posted on X.
Whereas extortion is an issue throughout Latin America, it has taken on alarming proportions in Peru – a phenomenon blamed partly on legal gangs resembling Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua which operates in a number of Latin American international locations.
Since January, greater than 400 murders have been reported, in keeping with native media.
Peru declared a state of emergency in elements of the capital final yr and deployed the army in response to a spate of murders of bus drivers blamed on the racketeering pandemic.
