Political violence in Peru’s Andean region of Ancash continued, as another candidate for regional president and an anti-corruption prosecutor received death threats.
Newspaper La Republica reported that opposition politician and political candidate for the regional president of Ancash, Juan Calderon, received a funeral flower arrangement. The delivery of the wreath a few feet from his campaign headquarters came a few days after another political opponent of Ancash regional president Cesar Alvarez was gunned down and killed.
Calderon accused Alvarez of being behind the threat. “Since 2010, I’ve been the victim of threats and of acts of intimidation. This is a strategy from the governor against his opponents,” Calderon said.
The anti-corruption prosecutor in the coastal town of Chimbote, Nancy Moreno, also reported threats.
“A child arrived at my office with an envelope that said ‘stop pestering, no one touches me, daughter of bitch,” said Moreno. She added that she received a floral wreath in December.
Last week, Ezequiel Nolasco was gunned down just before midnight in Huacho, on the coast north of Lima in the region of Ancash, by an individual that witnesses say was younger than 20 years old. Nolasco and his driver and lawyer were en route back to Chimbote from Lima. Officials have said in local media that they believe the crime was politically motivated. In an unsuccessful attempt against his life in 2010, Nolasco’s 24-year-old son-in-law was killed.
Nolasco, 55, had previously worked as a regional adviser and was to officially announce his plans to run for president of Ancash region this week, under the Union por el Peru ticket.
Nolasco’s daughter, Fiorella, said that she has received death threats since her father was killed. Peruvian police have said they are providing her with security, while Interior Minister Walter Alban announced last week that a special police force would be sent to Ancash to investigate the murder.
