Hundreds of bus drivers were largely paralyzed by the Peruvian capital with their vehicles Monday, as part of the mobilization in order to report blackmail from organized crime gangs, the French agency said.

Since the beginning of the year, they have been murdered 47 professional driversaccording to Anitrathe main trade union organization of the industry, which includes 460 companies in Lima and the neighboring port Kayoo. The scourge of blackmail is particularly affected by their profession.

Gangs require up to $ 14,000 a month from transport companies, according to the industry. If they refuse, their drivers are targeted, whether they carry passengers or not.

The protesters excluded road axes of the capital of 10 million inhabitants, set fire to tires, while bus traffic stopped almost completely. Public transport in Lima are almost exclusively by bus, as the city has only one subway line.

Many stores downloaded rolls and schools and universities suspended courses or made them remotely.

‘We don’t feel safe’explained to AFP the Juan Carlos Pinedaa 42 -year -old bus driver, whose vehicle had blocked a central highway. ‘I go for work not knowing if I will go back alive or if they kill me’he added.

“We have to get on the way to defend life in front of an inexplicable government which, so far, does not solve the problem,” Martin Valeriano, the president of Anitra, told the French agency.

Protesters had placed messages in the windscreen and windows of their vehicles to report the scourge of blackmail, the most serious challenge for the not exactly a popular government under the president Dina Boluarte.

“We want to live, not even a dead man”read in some messages, decorated with black ribbons or photos of murdered drivers.

Is The fifth time From February that drivers are mobilized to denounce blackmail.

Yesterday’s mobilization was convened after the murder of a driver, an immigrant from Venezuela, and the attempted murder of a second professional who was seriously injured, at Lima’s weekend.

The government has taken the army on the streets of the capital from March. But transport companies are demanding that the government take more drastic measures.