A regional critic is killed
Ezequiel Nolasco Campos had served as a regional councillor in Áncash and became publicly associated with allegations of corruption and organized criminal influence surrounding the regional government. On March 14, 2014, while in Huacho, he was approached by gunmen and fatally shot.
The murder immediately drew national attention because Nolasco had survived an earlier attack and had continued denouncing wrongdoing. Those circumstances became important investigative context, but they were not by themselves proof of who ordered the 2014 killing. Responsibility had to be established through the later criminal proceedings.
The organized-crime investigation
Peruvian prosecutors investigated the murder together with allegations that a criminal organization had operated around the Áncash regional government. Former regional governor César Álvarez Aguilar was accused of playing a leadership role, while former Santa provincial mayor Luis Arroyo Rojas and several alleged intermediaries and gunmen were also prosecuted.
During the investigation and early court stages, many people were named as suspects. This page does not treat that entire group as convicted. The final 2021 ruling differentiated between defendants who were convicted, defendants who received lesser penalties, fugitives whose proceedings were reserved, and others whom the court found were not sufficiently linked to Nolasco's murder.
The 2021 verdict
On January 25, 2021, after a trial lasting several years, the national criminal court convicted César Álvarez and Luis Arroyo Rojas and sentenced each to 35 years in prison. The court concluded that the two men headed a criminal organization whose interests were threatened by Nolasco's oversight and denunciations.
Cristhian Cruzate Pereda, identified in the proceedings as a confessed gunman in the killing, also received 35 years. Rubén Moreno Olivo, known as “Goro,” received 33 years. Other defendants received shorter terms or suspended sentences according to the roles the court found proven.
The ruling also matters for what it did not establish. The court found insufficient evidence linking several other defendants to the murder, while proceedings against certain fugitives were reserved. That distinction prevents the broader political scandal surrounding Áncash from being used as a substitute for individualized criminal responsibility.
Later record
Álvarez's legal problems did not end with the Nolasco case. He was later sentenced in other corruption proceedings. A 2024 review of his criminal record by Peruvian media continued to identify the 35-year Nolasco murder sentence as one of the prison terms he was serving.
This case file therefore reports the Nolasco prosecution as adjudicated while avoiding the claim that every allegation surrounding the wider Áncash corruption network was proven in this specific trial.
Timeline
July 20, 2010: Nolasco survives an earlier attack that later becomes part of the broader investigative history surrounding threats against him.
March 14, 2014: Nolasco is shot and killed in Huacho.
May–June 2014: prosecutors and courts move against César Álvarez and numerous other suspects as the organized-crime investigation expands.
August 2017: the national criminal court begins the oral trial against Álvarez and numerous co-defendants.
January 25, 2021: Álvarez, Arroyo and other defendants are convicted; Álvarez and Arroyo receive 35-year prison terms.
March 2024: subsequent reporting on Álvarez's criminal record continues to list the 35-year Nolasco murder sentence.
Current status
The murder is classified here as solved / adjudicated. Multiple defendants were convicted after trial, including the former regional governor whom the court found responsible for the killing. Some broader allegations tied to the surrounding political and criminal network involved separate proceedings, acquittals or unresolved defendants and are not collapsed into this single case.
Sources
- Agencia Andina — 2021 verdict and sentences in the Ezequiel Nolasco case
- Poder Judicial del Perú — preventive detention order and organized-crime allegations, June 1, 2014
- Poder Judicial del Perú — opening of the oral trial, August 30, 2017
- La República / Perú Legal — 2024 review of César Álvarez's convictions