Evita Sings for the People in London; Gangs in Peru Target Schools
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You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon.

In a few minutes, the summer's most talked about performance in London's theatre district isn't on stage. But first, in the South American nation of Peru, the problem of gang-run extortion has been getting worse and worse. In poorer parts of the capital Lima, extortionists target all kinds of businesses. Now, even going to school can mean having to contend with gangsters.

John Otis takes us to a school to see how administrators and parents are dealing with the threats.

At this Catholic elementary school on the ramshackle outskirts of Lima, students are rambunctious and seemingly carefree. By contrast, school administrators are stressing out. This one tells me that gangsters are demanding that the school pay them 100,000 Peruvian soles, or about $28,000.

They send us messages saying they know where we live, says the administrator, who requested anonymity because he fears retribution from the gangs. They send us photos of grenades and pistols. These are not empty threads. A few weeks ago, he says, police arrested a teenager in the pay of a criminal gang as he planted a bomb at the entrance to the school.

Schools in Peru are easy targets for extortion. Due to the poor quality of public education, thousands of private schools have sprung up. Many are located in poor barrios dominated by criminals, who are now demanding a cut of their tuition fees. Miriam Ramirez, president of one of Lima's largest parent-teacher associations, says at least 1,000 schools are being blackmailed.

To reduce the threat to students, some schools have switched to online classes, but at least five have closed down. If this keeps up, Ramirez says, the country is going to end up in total ignorance.

Extortion is part of a broader crime wave in Peru that gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Peru also saw a huge influx of Venezuelan migrants, including members of the Tren de Aragua criminal group. There is a very big situation of corruption.

Francisco Ribedeneira, a former Peruvian police commander, says corrupt cops are part of the problem. In exchange for bribes, he says, officers tip off gangs about pending police raids. NPR reached out to the Peruvian police for comment, but there was no response.

Political instability has made things worse. Due to corruption scandals, Peru has gone through six presidents in just the past nine years. In March, current president Dina Boluarte ordered the army into the streets to help fight crime, but it's made a little difference. Extortionists now operate in the poorest patches of Lima.

They target hole-in-the-wall bodegas, street-side empanada stands, and even soup kitchens, like this one in the squatter settlement of Villa Maria. Genoveva Guatarango, who helps prepare 100 meals per day for the needy, says thugs stabbed one of her workers, then left a note demanding weekly payments. It seems like she pays.

To avoid similar attacks, Guatarango says, nearby soup kitchens now pay the gangsters $14 per week.

But there is some pushback. After its front gate was dynamited in March, the San Vicente school in North Lima hired private security guards. Violeta Upangi, whose 13-year-old daughter studies here, says the children were told to go to class in street clothes rather than school uniforms. That's to avoid being identified as San Vicente students and attacked by the gangs.

Still, many schools have buckled to their demands. The administrator at the Catholic elementary school says his colleagues reported extortion threats to the police. But instead of going after the gangs, he says, the police recommended that the school pay them off first.

for their own safety. That's why, he says, the school ended up forking over the equivalent of $14,000. For NPR News, I'm John Otis in Lima, Peru. London's West End is like Broadway in New York. It's synonymous with the theater scene. But this summer, you don't even need a ticket to see the performance that's generating the most buzz. NPR's Lauren Freyer takes us there.

kind of a bizarre hour for London's Theatre District to be hopping. Tourists have all disappeared behind the theatre doors. The evening performances are well underway. And yet I am shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of people streaming down to stand in front of the Palladium Theatre. There are barricades. The roads are closed to traffic. Are you going where I'm going? We're going to see Rachel Ziegler sing Evita.

Don't cry for me, Argentina. Amy and Mark Bailiff from Fargo, North Dakota, are here for the musical Evita about the life and times of Eva Perón, Argentina's first lady in the 1940s and early 50s. The lead role is played by Ziegler, who was in Disney's Snow White movie. She's Snow White. What was she in? West Side Story. There we go. I got the Rachel Ziegler trivia. But the Bailiff family does not have tickets.

They're here to see what Ziegler does outside the theater. Around 9 p.m. at the start of Act II, Andrew Lloyd Webber's soundtrack gets piped out onto the street and the star emerges on a balcony to sing the musical's signature song to passersby in the street. Don't cry for me, our Anita. The truth is I never.

Just like the real Eva Peron, who appealed to Argentina's masses and peasants, the masses here, that's all of us in the crowd, essentially become on-camera extras because the whole scene is live-streamed back into the theater for those who actually have tickets.

I think it's quite cool to make people outside a prop in the show. So that's quite unique for me. We'll be on the screen on our West End debut. Londoners Jamie Ball and Alana Carlton and practically everyone else I meet here heard about this only one way. Online. Online.

Yeah, just on TikTok. I feel like everyone has. It's all over TikTok. Now, normally, if you film a show and post it on social media, it can get taken down for copyright issues. But that has not been the case here. I'm very, very excited that this scene at the Palladium has had 50 million views so far on TikTok. 50 million. This is the owner of the Palladium, whose name...

is Andrew Lloyd Webber. Yes, the Andrew Lloyd Webber. He wrote the music, owns the theater, collaborated with director Jamie Lloyd, no relation, and even petitioned the city to close the street out front. It took quite a lot of negotiation, I can tell you. Now, this is signature Lloyd and Lloyd Webber, whose New York production of the musical Sunset Boulevard had one of the characters walk out of the theater and stroll down Broadway singing.

Lloyd Webber admits he does worry, though, if crowds keep doubling in size every night here as they have been.

It looked like a thousand people when I went. I slightly wake up at night thinking, if it gets any bigger, are they going to say, look, this is getting a little bit out of hand? But it's a thousand people who may be, you know, not able to afford to go to the theatre, you know, experiencing something which is a live theatrical production. And I think that's fantastic. As for the people inside the theatre, some of whom paid hundreds for a ticket to end up watching that famous scene only on a screen.

A few people did come out of the theater grumbling. Don't cry for me, Argentina. But others were singing. Princess, I never left you. And some say they'll just come back tomorrow night and stand outside. I kept my promise. Don't keep your distance. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, on London's West End. And ask for fortune. And ask for fame.

That's State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.

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