Political murder betrays violence, corruption in Peruvian state's 'mini-dictatorship'

Source: Associated Press

Political murder betrays violence, corruption in Peruvian state's 'mini-dictatorship'
By Frank Bajak, The Associated Press April 13, 2014 1:20 AM

CHIMBOTE, Peru - One by one, the senior officials from the capital took the microphone and apologized to an auditorium packed with angry people who had long been living in fear. The officials admitted they had failed to prevent a political murder foretold by its victim. Their integrity was in doubt.

Peru's chief prosecutor, comptroller and the head of Congress' investigations committee, which was now holding a public hearing, had all ignored evidence that Ezequiel Nolasco, now murdered, had thrust in their faces for months.

Having survived a 2010 assassination attempt after he denounced government corruption, Nolasco had repeatedly warned that his home state, Ancash, was run by a criminal syndicate that plundered the treasury, killed people it couldn't buy or intimidate, wiretapped foes and used police as spies and journalists as character assassins.

A lone gunman finished the job on March 14, pumping five bullets into the former construction union leader when he stopped for a beer heading from Lima to this coastal city that is home to nearly half of Ancash's 1.1 million people.

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