In Peru, criminals use violent threats and blackmail to instil fear among informal entrepreneurs and borrowers, as well as their relatives, who are forced to make endless payments.
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Eduardo started being racketed before he even opened his business. He ignored the threats, but the tone took a more sinister turn when one night an individual on a motorcycle opened fire on the premises he was developing in eastern Lima.
From Peru to Colombia, including Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, racketeering demands are commonplace in many Latin American countries.
According to intelligence sources consulted by AFP, the millions of dollars the activity generates is exceeded only by drug and human trafficking, and could prove more profitable than illegal mining. .
Eduardo, who prefers to withhold his name for fear of reprisals, learned of the attack on his establishment, a sauna, through a video sent to his phone. “I fear for my life and that of my family,” assures the forty-year-old.
The gang operating in his neighborhood demanded a “registration” fee of $13,300 and a monthly payment of $1,300 from him.
“I travel almost in secret because I imagine that they have already studied everything and that they know where I live, where I have my breakfast, where I have lunch,” he says.
Small or large traders, transporters, residential areas or entire towns, there are few places where criminal organizations are absent.
“We know who you are”
Gangs such as the Clan del Golfo in Colombia, the Tiguerones in Ecuador or the Tren de Aragua in Venezuela, but also present in Colombia, Chile and Peru, act as real “criminal enterprises” in search of markets and profits. “partners in other countries”, explains to AFP the Peruvian prosecutor in charge of the fight against crime, Jorge Chavez.
Despite their power to intimidate, complaints have exploded in many countries. In 2023, Peru recorded 19,400, an increase of almost 500% in two years. Same in Ecuador. In Mexico, a racketeering request is reported every hour, according to the Coparmex entrepreneur network.
Each time, the messages are similar according to Andrés Choy, president of the Peruvian Association of Small Traders, which brings together 22,000 members, 13,000 of whom were victims of extortion in 2023: “We know who you are, we know what time your business opens (…) when you go to the market, where your son goes to school”.
The next warning may be a “photo of your loved one,” after which some close up shop or send their children abroad.
In January, in Lima, an explosive and shots were fired at the facade of the hardware store that Anita runs. “The threats changed my life. I have to hide with my children,” laments this 43-year-old widow, mother of two daughters.
“Parallel state”
The gangs have practically created a “parallel state”: they control territories within which they set up a tax system, explains Ecuadorian Colonel Roberto Santamaria, police chief of Nueva Prosperina, one of the most violent attacks at the port of Guayaquil.
After creating a reign of terror with their threats, they make sure to collect the money, often using minors who cannot be prosecuted. Another faction is often responsible for retaliation against those who do not comply.
Colonel Santamaria calculates: a simple neighborhood of 2,000 houses brings in a loot of 120,000 dollars per month, at a rate of two dollars per day per household.
In the Colombian city of Buenaventura, the main Pacific port with 311,000 inhabitants, “everyone has to pay”, whether to “open a business, construct or improve a building”, says Elizabeth Dickinson, analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG) in the country.
From call center to AI
In Peru, like other countries, gang methods have evolved. At first they asked for money in exchange for protection, then small loans appeared with monthly interest rates of up to 20%.
“When the ‘customer’ cannot pay, the extortion begins: if you do not pay, we will burn your kiosk, grab your family, your sister or your children to hurt or kill them,” explains prosecutor Chavez.
Recently, call centers have been offering credit through an application. Victims receive the money after providing personal information, which is then used to blackmail them.
Criminals are now also using artificial intelligence to create nude photos with real faces. To prevent them from going viral, victims must pay.
Although the population lives in fear, the economy in the region continues to operate. Neither Eduardo nor Anita would say if they ended up paying, but the former opened his sauna and Anita’s hardware store is still in business.