Indigenous forest defenders call upon Peruvian State for protection amidst surge in illegal logging, narcotics production and threats

Hicler Rodriguez Guimaraes, apu koshi (chief) of the community, said, “All our community members are at imminent risk of being killed by drug traffickers and illegal loggers. If the authorities do not pay attention, we could suffer serious consequences.”

“We call upon public opinion and the international community to say that the lives of the defenders of the forest and territory are under threat,” he added.

The Shipibo community, which is located in the Utuquinia river basin of the Ucayali region, is home to 365 people. In recent years, community leaders have denounced land grabbing and the aggressive expansion of logging and illicit coca cultivation for cocaine production on their lands.

However, according to Miguel Guimaraes, President of FECONAU, the situation has worsened since the COVID19 pandemic reached the Peruvian Amazon:

“During the health emergency declared by the Government due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many illegal activities have increased, affecting Indigenous Peoples’ territories and putting at risk the lives of our communal authorities and leaders of our federation.”

In June 2020, community monitors came across illegal loggers when undertaking a monitoring patrol of their territory. The president of the community’s territorial monitoring committee, Saul Martinez Guimaraes, began receiving death threats after confiscating the illegal timber. Later, while maintaining their boundary paths during August, community members discovered that around 30 hectares of their forests had been cleared for illicit coca production.

The situation in Flor de Ucayali reflects a broader pattern across the Peruvian Amazon, where at least half a dozen Indigenous leaders and human rights and land defenders have been killed during 2020.

On 11 September, Roberto Carlos Pacheco Villanueva, was murdered in his forestry concession in Madre de Dios, supposedly by land invaders linked to illegal mining.

On 9 August, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, Peruvian police opened fire on a group of Indigenous Kukama protesters demanding basic services such as water and electricity, healthcare and medicines in the community of Bretaña, in the Loreto region. This police repression claimed the lives of William López, Chemilton Flores and Elix Ruíz, and wounded at least ten more. Six police officers were also wounded.

Other Indigenous leaders murdered earlier this year include Gonzalo Pío Flores, leader of the Ashaninka community of Nueva Amanecer Hawai in Puerto Bermudez, Junin, and whose father, leader Mauro Pío Pena, was murdered in 2013; and Arbildo Meléndez, leader of the Cacataibo community of Unipacuyacu in Puerto Inca, Huanuco.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will hold a hearing on 6 October 2020 focused on the links between State corruption and attacks and killings of Amazonian rights defenders. The Commission will examine the emblematic cases of four Indigenous communities: Alto Tamaya-Saweto, Santa Clara de Uchunya, Unipacuyacu and Nuevo Amanecer Hawai.

Flor de Ucayali differs in one important regard from other Amazonian communities where defenders have suffered threats and assassination: the community is already in possession of a State-issued land title for its territory.

In this respect, the currently critical situation facing Flor de Ucayali raises the question as to what extent this form of de jure protection really provides Indigenous communities with effective land tenure security. Communal land titling may be necessary, but alone it is not sufficient to ensure territorial protection. This is particularly true in a context where the State fails to stem land dispossession and the associated expansion of destructive logging and narcotic production, and to hold those responsible to account.