The journalist who reported the extortion was shot dead, and the Peruvian prosecutor’s office was bombed

A journalist who was reporting on Peru’s extortion epidemic was shot dead on Monday and two people were wounded in a separate bomb attack on the office of a prosecutor who is also investigating extortion crimes, authorities said in Peru.

Gastón Medina, owner and editor-in-chief of a regional TV channel, was shot dead as he left his home in the south-central city of Ica, the country’s National Association of Journalists said. He said about statesmenR.

The Afghan National Police added that gunmen shot him several times and he was pronounced dead upon his arrival to the hospital.

“The National People’s Army will remain vigilant so that this crime does not go unpunished,” the group said.

The city has reported, among other things, a growing problem of extortion by criminal gangs threatening bus drivers, shopkeepers, hairdressers and even teachers if they do not pay protection money.

Transport companies organized several strikes last year over the killing of drivers, which were blamed on extortionists.

In a separate attack on Monday in the northwestern city of Trujillo, the epicenter of the extortion epidemic, two people were injured when a bomb exploded outside the public prosecutor’s office.

Surveillance camera footage showed a man on a motorcycle with a backpack like those used by food delivery drivers, placing it in front of the public prosecutor’s office.

The bag exploded soon after.

Prosecutor Delia Espinosa blamed the attack on organized crime.

While extortion is a problem throughout Latin America, it has recently taken on alarming proportions in Peru – a phenomenon partly blamed on criminal gangs like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua that operate in several Latin American countries.

In response to the killing of bus drivers, the government declared a state of emergency in parts of the capital, Lima, last year and deployed the army.

In the first ten months of 2024, the police received more than 14,000 extortion complaints. But the problem is believed to be more widespread because many victims fail to report cases out of fear.

Intelligence sources told AFP that profits amounting to millions of dollars make the extortion trade more profitable than drug and human smuggling, and perhaps even illegal mining.

Wilmer Quispe, a lawyer for slain journalist Medina, told reporters that his client had received death threats before Monday’s attack.

In 2022, Medina arrived at work and found a bag full of trash, waste, and a flower arrangement along with an envelope containing a .38-caliber bullet, according to news reports and a news agency. CPJ interview With the journalist. Medina told CPJ that inside the envelope was a handwritten note that said: “Gaston Medina, you are going to die.”

The threat came after the hosts of the morning news program Medina reported allegations of cost overruns in purchasing equipment for a state-run hospital. He told the Committee to Protect Journalists. “I believe the death threat is related to our reporting,” Medina said.

Peru is ranked 125th out of 180 countries in RSF’s journalism ranking Freedom index For 2024, a “dramatic fall” in two years.