Luis Choy Killed: Peruvian Government Increases Police Presence After Two Shootings

Luis Choy, a photojournalist for El Comercio which is Peru's main newspaper, was shot and killed in front of his house in Lima. Police officials are saying that Choy's death was a murder-for-hire but no motives have been released.

Peru President Ollanta Humala announced that 1,000 police officers were moved from desk duty and put on the streets in an attempt to lessen crime on the streets of Peru.

"I lament that another Peruvian has fallen victim to crime. Even more so because we got to know Luis Choy during the campaign," said Humala referring to his successful presidential campaign in 2011.

Choy's killing came only days after a businessman was robbed and shot in the head outside of a notary's office which sat half a block from a major police station in Lima's financial district.

The killings have made residents of Peru very weary and as a result they have less faith in the national police force. The murder rate in Peru is low when compared to other countries in the region Peru sits. About 10 per 100,000 are murdered in the country according to United Nations data, which is half the rate for South America as a whole.

The crime rate in metropolitan Lima, the capital of Peru, doubled between 2000 and 2011 with kidnappings and homicides tripling according to government data. Peru's economic growth throughout the 2000s due to many economic reforms and investment in the country's mineral wealth created a strong middle class. Officials feel that the economic boom in the county during the span of 2000 to 2011 is the reason for increased crime in the metro Lima area.

The poor security is starting to have an effect in the normally popular Humala administration in Peru. The president's approval rating is holding at 54 percent according to the polling firm Ipsos. The main priority and issue for voters is safety and the president knows that if the citizens do not feel safe, it could affect his present and future political career.