The Utopía nightclub fire started at 3:15 a.m. (PET) on July 20, 2002, in the Jockey Plaza shopping centre, located in Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru, killing 29 people and injuring 54 others.

[1] The nightclub did not have an operating license from the Municipality of Santiago de Surco because it did not meet the minimum Civil Defense standards, lacking basic equipment such as fire extinguishers.

[4] The administration of the nightclub contracted with the Mexican circus Los Hermanos Fuentes Gasca the presence in its premises of a lion, a bengal tiger, a chimpanzee and a horse.

[1] Faced with this situation, the staff of the shopping centre disconnected the electricity supply, the music was cut off, the light went out and the cries of the animals, frightened by the flames, sowed panic and despair in the attendees, who called the fire brigade.

[1][7] Then president of Peru Alejandro Toledo expressed his dismay on Saturday morning and extended his condolences "to the relatives of the young people who lost their lives in the nightclub."

[2] Then mayor of Lima Alberto Andrade proposed that all nightclubs and mass entertainment centers be closed for 60 days so that firefighters, Civil Defense and the communes themselves can verify which venues meet the required safety standards.

After the tragedy, the parents of the victims filed a lawsuit against the local administrators: Percy North, Alan Azizollahoff Gate, Édgar Paz Ravines and with the minority shareholder Fahed Mitre.

After the 4-year sentence was handed down for Alan Azizollahoff and Edgar Paz in 2014, both would have already fled Peru,[11] which is why the Court ordered that both defendants be notified at their real addresses and requested their international capture.

On August 26, 2020, in the midst of the health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Judiciary of Peru announced that the extradition process for Edgar Paz Ravines would be finalized on September 5 of the same year.