Journalist and candidate Susy Aponte shot dead in Caraz, Áncash
Susy Aponte Polo, investigative journalist and candidate for the regional government of Áncash, was shot in the head and back whilst walking towards Caraz market.
Anti-corruption journalist and candidate killed in Caraz days before regional elections
Susy Aponte Polo de Tello, known as "La China Polo", was shot dead last Wednesday on the streets of Caraz, in the Áncash region, whilst heading to the local market accompanied by her campaign team. According to laneta.cl, the 44-year-old journalist was struck by gunfire in the head and back; five other people were wounded in the attack.
Aponte Polo was director of the China Polo Dominical news portal, an independent investigative journalism platform specialising in corruption, organised crime, illegal mining and extortion. With the political movement Socios por Áncash, she was running for regional government, with elections scheduled for 4 October. Hours before her death she had announced the release of a report on the Alianza para el Progreso candidate for mayor of Huaraz.
Three detained for alleged contract killing
Hours after the crime, police detained Venezuelan citizen Luis Iván Obispo Díaz along with two other people on suspicion of contract killing. National prosecutor Tomas Gálvez stated that "the hitman is already in custody, we have also detained a supposed financier (…), and another person who was previously transporting the hitman". Authorities have not so far established that any of those named publicly bear direct responsibility for the murder.
The threats were known
Lourdes Sacin, a colleague of the journalist, revealed that the danger was known to those around Aponte Polo: "'La China' knew they wanted to kill her, she knew it, we all knew it". Nine days before the crime, Aponte Polo herself had published a video on China Polo Dominical in which she reported receiving calls from three prisons warning her of a plan to murder her. She attributed those threats to the head of Criminal Investigation, Víctor Revoredo Farfán: "This man has ordered an attack against me. I have already filed a complaint with the appropriate authorities", she stated in the video.
Context of growing violence against the press
The murder comes amid a sustained deterioration in security conditions for journalism in Peru. Weeks earlier, Kenny Yucra, director of the digital outlet La Lupa, and journalists from La Noticia Clave had been targets of threats and gunfire at their own offices.
Following the crime, the Lima Journalists' Association expressed concern about the conditions in which the profession operates. The National Association of Journalists of Peru reported that between January and May 2026, 140 attacks against journalists and media outlets were recorded in the country, ranging from stigmatising discourse and threats to physical assaults and two attempted murders.
The case of Aponte Polo illustrates the risks faced by those who cover corruption and irregularities in regions of the country's interior, where the institutional presence of the State is weaker and impunity more frequent.
Source: Google News PE — Crime