EP02 They Are Going to Kill Us | English

The international success of Venezuela’s most infamous criminal export, Tren de Aragua, was built on a model of exploiting the vulnerable.  In Peru, they arrived on the backs of migrants. Then, they built their business on the backs of sex workers.The gang’s takeover of the city’s sex trade has left a trail of dead women as they have killed women who refuse to pay their extortion fees, then used their murders to send a chilling message to those that remain. But amid the atmosphere of fear, there remain those willing to raise their voices in resistance against the terror—and in remembrance of those lost to it.In 2024, InSight Crime reporters met with Leida Portal and Ángela Villón, two activists who had spent decades defending Lima’s sex workers from a state that neglected them, police that abused and extorted them, and a society that didn’t care. Today, their struggle is not just for the rights of sex workers to a dignified life. It is for survival.   This episode is also available in Spanish. Visit insightcrime.org to learn more about Tren de Aragua and the criminal dynamics shaping Perú and the region.