Journalist Shot Dead on Camera While Campaigning for Governor in Peru

Susy Ysabel Aponte Polo, journalist and candidate for regional governor of Ancash, was assassinated Saturday while campaigning near a market in Caraz. She was 43.

“La China Polo,” as the candidate was known, headed the Socios por Ancash list ahead of the October 4 regional and municipal elections, according to La República. She was shot at 12:40 p.m. along Avenida Ramón Castilla, and five supporters were wounded near the market, according to Trome. She died at Hospital San Juan de Dios in Caraz.

A video shows the instant the shooting occurred when she was talking to a local journalist, La República reports.

Her bodyguards subdued the shooter, Luis Ivan Obispo Díaz, 32, a Venezuelan citizen. Police found a 9mm pistol, belonging to a police officer and stolen in 2023. Another Venezuelan citizen, Ronald José Toro Artila, 29, was arrested in Lima. They are investigating whether he financed the shooting and/or served as a getaway driver.

Prosecutors changed the charges from feminicide to contract killing, according to Infobae. They mentioned several possible motives.

In the days before the assassination, she made a video and said that she had received threatening calls from three prisons. She also accused a police general of persecuting her because of her corruption investigations. He has not yet been charged with any crime.

She hosted a YouTube program called “China Polo Dominical,” dedicated to corruption, organized crime, and illegal mining.

Peru’s elections authority criticized the crime and called for the suspects’ prosecution. The regional human rights body asked them to consider her investigative journalism as a motive. Her relatives held a vigil Saturday night, while her team wanted to find out who ordered the crime.

This murder highlighted the problem of violence in Peru, the country that faces rising levels of extortion and contract killings. It does not appear connected to the Sendero Luminoso insurrection.