Extortions in Lima: small businesses lose an average of S/3,400 and transporters s/3,500 daily

While some ministers of the DINA BOLUARTE GOVERNMENT They minimize citizen insecurity, complaints of extortion continue to increase. According to figures from Public Ministry22,835 cases of this crime were recorded in 2024 and around 800 are counted so far this year. Without a doubt, the most affected are small businesses and carriers, whose economic losses reach increasingly worrying levels.

And it has begun to normalize in our country the payment of quotas to work. For example, in the monumental market of Stone bridgecriminals have been demanding from a pvc tubes wholesale distributor the sum of S/30,000 per month. To avoid retaliation against him, the merchant has stopped attending the supply center and delivers the merchandise elsewhere.

“He has said he can’t come because he feels threatened. Even her store where she distributes has closed it. It has changed home, which is where we are going to collect merchandise. In addition, we have two companions who work in the sale of machines, who are asked s/5,000 or s/6,000. ”, Told this medium Luis Samanamud, spokesman for the monumental market of Stone bridge.

Cases of this type continue to replicate in the field of small businesses. According to an investigation by Videnza Institute, the 78% of entrepreneurs with door in the street Located in East Lima, Centro and Sur reported having been the victim of some type of crime. If we refer to the main problems of Lima, 65% of respondents identify that it is citizen insecurity. They are followed by extortion or the collection of quotas with 35%.

This last criminal activity threatens with greater recurrence to wineries, hardware stores, barbers, minimarkets, market stalls, among others. Their economic losses due to extortion cases in the last two years ascend to a Average S/3,400. However, Nicolás Besich, general coordinator of Videnza Institute, says that there is a large dispersion since there are some small businesses that reported S/1,000 of affectation and other amounts close to S/7,000.

In total, citizen insecurity costs the owners of small businesses with Puerta to the street S/456,000 dailytaking into account that, among the respondents, the average generated by crime and violence is S/1,284 for each of these ventures. To deal with this situation, the most common preventive measures adopted by them are the installation of security cameras, alarms, placement of iron doors and the hiring of private surveillance.

“Regarding measures that have direct costs, on average it is spent around S/970 In the last two years, but this can be variable, until you reach amounts of S/5,000 investment. As for sales reduction measures, decrease in schedules and attend with closed fence, some businesses said in interviews that could sell up to 20% more if they attended full time. ”He emphasized.

Extorted carriers in Lima

Given the inability of the government to face citizen insecurity, a transport sector continues to mobilize as urgent measures. And it is that extortion cases remain up. According to Martín Ojeda, director of the International Chamber of the Transport Industry (CIT)the mechanism of the “false Chalequeo”, an alleged “protection” that allows carriers to evade control operations in exchange for monthly payments, implies an initial cost that varies between S/30,000 and S/50,000.

In detail, it is estimated that a company composed of 100 buses pay and a half of each unit s/35, which represents a total daily cost of S/3,500 and s/105,000 per month. “The extortionists have camouflaged among the controllers that you see throwing data to the buses while circulating your route. They charge between S/0.30 and S/5 per kilometer, according to the number of units that the company has, ”said the owner of a transport company that anonymity requested.

According to the victim, the situation began in parallel to the growth of informal transport in 2021, since they hire foreigners to give them weekly protection. Through a WhatsApp network, they warned of operations of the Urban Transport Authority (ATU)and if they were affected, they leave in a group of up to 50 people attacking the inspectors “with machetes, sticks and stones.”

Now, of the 90 million passengers transported a year, about 15% travel in illegal units, Ojeda reported. The case of Huaycán (ATE) stands out, where the price of the ticket increased by 20% due to its domain. “In December, nine attacks have been registered against 7 formal companies, which shows the lack of action of the Executive,” said the CIT director.

Insufficient measures against insecurity

Extortion to small businesses and carriers is a recurring problem. It obeys structural factors already tangible elements such as the existence of an illegal market of weapons or explosives that makes them accessible to commit these misdeeds. According to Erika Solís, an IDHPUCP researcher, Executive’s measures to counteract this scourge have not worked, lack a comprehensive approach and are designed to respond to the perception of the population.

“In the short term, media fires are being turned off, but it is not going to the structural problem. Budget would have to be allocated to look for suitable profiles in intelligence, both operational and police. There is National Citizen Security Council And the National Criminal Policy Council, but I could tell you that no more than twice they have met in 2024. In itself, a poor political will is noted, ”he said.

For Nicolás Besich, emergency states are effective measures that show the absence of a territorial control strategy. In addition to this, there is an inefficiency in the execution of the budget of the Home Office For investment projects. “It’s hard to have results with those levels of expenditure,” he noted.

From the CIT they ask the State to establish a trust to finance the police and strengthen security in the sector; second, avoid the promulgation of norms that favor organized crime; and third, improve the management of transport and interior ministries to guarantee support for formal transport.