Pucallpa is one of the case studies from my dissertation research--a small city on the banks of the Ucayali river, a tributary of the Amazon.
One of the noisiest places I've ever been--more 2-stroke motorcycle taxis on the road than cars. But it quiets down nicely after about 9PM.
The mayor was accused of corruption by a commentator on a local radio show. He isaccused of subsequently ordering the murder of the commentator. Not sure if I buy the court's story on this one--"contradictory" evidence by the prosecution. The Peruvian judicial system works better than a lot of Latin American court systems, but it isn't exactly a shining example of transparency and the rule of law.
The full story (in English) is here.
2 comments:
I 'd say the court system is just as corrupt as the government. Though there were five men convicted of killing, it is hard to connect it to the Mayor and a former judge because they have learned how to not be connected to that particular crime.
What do the people of the town think? Do they believe the mayor was responsible?
I'd imagine that if the mayor is such a key figure in the cocaine trade in this area that he would not have to order a murder to protect his name. It would probably just be done by whoever benefits most from keeping the mayor in office with a "clean nose" so to speak. It is quite a shame that the illegal drug trade results in so much sovereign power being concentrated in the hands of criminal cartels.
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