Peru Governor Faces Arrest on Murder Charges

Peru Governor Faces Arrest on Murder Charges
LIMA, Peru May 16, 2014 (AP)
By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press

A Peruvian judge ordered the arrest Thursday of a regional governor on murder charges in the March gangland-style slaying of a political rival who had accused him of running a corrupt, violent mini-dictatorship in a rich mining state.

Gov. Cesar Alvarez is wanted in the March 14 murder of former Ancash state lawmaker Ezequiel Nolasco, who was felled by five bullets when he stopped for a beer on his way home to the northern coastal city of Chimbote from Lima.

Nolaso's death finally spurred national authorities to action in Ancash, a state enriched by copper- and gold-mining royalties that Alvarez allegedly ruled through bribes and intimidation by hired thugs.

Alvarez's whereabouts were not immediately known. He denied any involvement in Nolasco's death in an interview last month with The Associated Press, saying political rivals must be to blame.

The judicial press office said in a statement that Judge Marco Tejada issued a total of 29 arrest warrants associated with the Nolasco killing. Nineteen were accused of aggravated murder, the rest of criminal conspiracy.

More:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/peruvian-governor-faces-murder-charges-23741184

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Also from the article:

Nolasco had survived a 2010 assassination attempt that he blamed on Alvarez in which his 24-year-old stepson was killed.

He subsequently devoted his life to trying to expose rampant corruption in Ancash that officials say Alvarez managed to keep under wraps by buying out or threatening local judges and prosecutors.

El Comercio

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BACKGROUND

Nolasco Ezequiel Campos lived in the slums October 3 Nuevo Chimbote District. In July 2010, a few men entered his house and shot him when he was having dinner with his family. His son-Blas Roberto Torres, 24, tried to defend him, but one of the bullets hit him in the head and ended his life.

The only witness in the case, Hilda Saldarriaga Bracamonte , was killed by seven bullets in July last year.

Policy Nolasco daughter, Viviana Torres, said that since his father kept calling and leaving death threats. "Páganos S/.30.000 to let you calm because they have ordered us to kill you," he said by phone.

Faced with these threats, Nolasco always wore a bulletproof vest.