The Briefing:
- Confessed gunman Luis Obispo Díaz has told investigators that the September 19 killing of journalist and Áncash gubernatorial candidate Susy Aponte Polo was coordinated from Lima by a man identified as Ronald Toro, a claim La República reports is backed by money-transfer records found in Obispo's possession.
- Two suspects are being held under a 15-day preliminary detention order for alleged contract killing, but prosecutors still haven't named the case's financiers or intellectual authors.
- Aponte was campaigning for Áncash's top regional office ahead of Peru's October 4 elections while separately fighting a corruption case in which prosecutors had asked a judge to sentence her to more than 12 years in prison — a wrinkle investigators are now weighing as a possible motive.
A Market Visit in Caraz Turns Deadly
Susy Isabel Aponte Polo, a 43-year-old journalist known across the Áncash region as "La China Polo," was walking through a market in the town of Caraz on September 19, campaigning for regional governor, when a gunman shot her from behind shortly after noon. She died from a gunshot wound to the head; several people near her were also hit by gunfire. Aponte ran a digital outlet called China Polo Dominical, where, according to wire reporting, she had spent years digging into public corruption, organized-crime networks and illegal mining operations, several tied directly to police commanders.
Aponte's own security detail wounded and helped capture the alleged shooter within minutes: Luis Iván Obispo Díaz, a Venezuelan national who was later questioned by video link from a hospital bed in Huaraz, where he is recovering from gunshot wounds inflicted during the struggle. Investigators didn't stop there. Hours later, officers working off intelligence from the Interior Ministry's intelligence unit intercepted a second man far away, in Lima's Surco district: Ronald José Toro Artila. A judge has since ordered both men held for 15 days while prosecutors build a contract-killing case against them.
"Directed From Lima," the Suspect Now Says
In an account La República published Tuesday, Obispo told investigators the operation was run remotely by Toro, who allegedly wired him money to buy prepaid phones — a transaction police say they have since traced. In Obispo's own words, translated from the original Spanish: "everything was directed from Lima by Ronald Toro." The same account describes a plot already in motion a week earlier: Toro allegedly first sent Obispo to wait in Nuevo Chimbote, a coastal city north of Lima, hoping to strike during an earlier campaign stop. That attempt reportedly fell apart after Aponte requested — and received — police protection from local authorities, pushing the group to wait for another opening, which came four days later in Caraz.
The Intellectual Authors Are Still a Mystery
Peru's Public Ministry reclassified the case from femicide to contract killing within days of the attack, a shift that legally requires prosecutors to trace the chain of command above the triggerman: organizers, financiers and whoever gave the final order. Police sources tell La República that Obispo and Toro have already handed over names that could lead to the case's masterminds, though none have been made public. Peru's national police chief, Fredy López, said this week he wouldn't rule out the investigation reaching senior police officials, a remark tied directly to threats Aponte had flagged before she died.
A General She Accused, Reassigned Within Hours
Days before the killing, Aponte posted online accusing Víctor Revoredo Farfán, then head of the national police's criminal investigation division, of ordering an attack against her — retaliation, she said, for her reporting on ties between police commanders and a criminal network known as Los Pulpos. She said the warning had reached her through contacts inside three different prisons. Hours after her death, the government published a decree reassigning Revoredo to a different post overseeing the police's international affairs office, part of a broader shake-up that also touched more than a dozen other senior officers.
The Corruption Case Aponte Was Already Fighting
The Lima-coordination story isn't the only complication weighing on the investigation. Weeks before the shooting, Áncash prosecutors had accused Aponte of leading "Los Elegantes de Áncash," a ring investigators say collected bribes in exchange for fraudulently issuing driver's licenses through the regional transportation authority, and had asked a judge to sentence her to more than 12 years in prison. Aponte denied the accusation, arguing she had never held a public post at the agency in question. The case resurfaced publicly this week on Peruvian television, and investigators say they haven't ruled out a link between it and the motive for her killing.
What Comes Next
Obispo and Toro's 15-day detention window gives prosecutors until early October to build a formal case, a timeline that runs almost exactly alongside the October 4 vote Aponte was campaigning for when she died. Peru's National Elections Board condemned the killing and demanded that authorities identify and punish those responsible, calling for a peaceful vote. For now, the question that opened this investigation — who in Lima gave the order — remains unanswered.
