Popular singer shot dead by hitmen in Peru, prompting state of emergency in capital over extortion killings

Peru announced a state of emergency late Sunday in the capital Lima over a wave of killings linked to extortion.

The move came after singer Paul Flores was shot dead by hitmen who attacked a bus he was riding with bandmates as they left a concert outside Lima, officials said.

Peru’s culture ministry paid tribute to Flores on social mediasaying the lead singer of the popular group Armonía 10 “won the hearts of thousands of Peruvians.”

The musicians had been threatened by a criminal gang who attempted to extort money from them, their representatives said.

“It has been ordered that in the coming hours, a state of emergency be decreed throughout the province of Lima and the Constitutional province of Callao,” Gustavo Adrianzen, head of the ministerial cabinet, posted on social media.

Adrianzen said troops would be deployed to support the national police and a security meeting that had been scheduled for the end of the month would now be held Tuesday.

“In the fight against organized crime, all Peruvians must stand united, overcoming all our differences of any kind,” he said in a statement.

While extortion is a problem across Latin America, it has taken on alarming proportions in Peru — a phenomenon blamed partly on criminal gangs such as Venezuela’s Train de Aragua which operates in several Latin American countries.

In January, a journalist who reported on Peru’s extortion epidemic was shot dead and two people were injured in a separate bomb attack on a prosecutor’s office that also investigates racketeering.

Since January, more than 400 murders have been reported, according to local media.

Peru declared a state of emergency in parts of the capital last year and deployed the military in response to a spate of murders of bus drivers blamed on the racketeering pandemic.

In the first 10 months of 2024, police received more than 14,000 extortion complaints. But the problem is believed to be more prevalent as many victims fail to report cases out of fear.