Division and misinformation in Santa Clara de Uchunya

This article was first published in Spanish by Servindi.org.

23 November 2023 - The peace and tranquillity in which the Santa Clara de Uchunya Indigenous community in Ucayali used to live has been disturbed since oil palm companies intervened in the life of the community.

Today, the Defence Front for the Interests of the Indigenous Community of Santa Clara de Uchunya denounces and holds the Peruvian State and the company Ocho Sur responsible for any reprisals they may receive.

 

In a press release, they point out the "harassment, manipulation and divisiveness" caused by the company in the community, taking advantage of "the absenteeism of the Peruvian State".

 

They accuse Wilson Barbarán Soria, the current head of the community, of having expelled the community member Carlos Hoyos and intimidating those who do not think like him and his group, influenced by the interests of the company.

From peace to conflict

 The Santa Clara de Uchunya Indigenous Community is located on the banks of the Aguaytía River, in the district of Nueva Requena, province of Coronel Portillo, Ucayali region.

The community was unified for the purpose of defending and recovering the ancestral territory that had been severely affected by settlers and the company Plantaciones de Pucallpa SAC and its successor Ocho Sur P SAC.

The Defence Front points out that the depredation of the territory has been indiscriminate, as tractors and forestry loaders have been used to deforest the ancestral territory.

Even the part of the territory that after years of struggle they managed to legally secure through a title extension.

Since 2020, threats against Carlos Hoyos and other community members for defending the environment and the territory of Uchunya have intensified.

Taking advantage of the needs of the community’s families, divisions and confrontations between community members have been stirred up, generating clashes "that could take many years to heal".

It is worth remembering that in February 2023 Mary Lawlor, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, issued an alert about alleged threats and acts of harassment against Indigenous defenders in the Peruvian Amazon.

The alert highlighted the vulnerable situation of indigenous leaders Carlos Hoyos Soria and Efer Silvano Soria, from the Santa Clara de Uchunya community in Ucayali.

Carlos Hoyos Soria and Efer Silvano Soria are indigenous leaders of the Shipibo-Konibo people and environmental defenders of the Indigenous Community of Santa Clara de Uchunya, in the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon.

Both defenders are members of the Federation of Native Communities of Ucayali and Affluents (FECONAU).

The members of the Native Community of Santa Clara de Uchunya were declared beneficiaries of precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in October 2020.

Refutation by the Defence Front

In the face of disinformation campaigns, the Defence Front demands that people and institutions that collaborate in solidarity and willingly help the community's cause stop being intimidated.

Such is the case of the lawyer Linda Vigo, who defends some of the community members at the request of the Defence Front, whose members are also part of the community.

They also categorically deny that the non-governmental organisations Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) and the Institute for Legal Defence (IDL) "are inventing or trying to confuse our community or the public".

 

"We don't have enough money to publish on social networks, on the radio or in the print press, as do those who are in favour of deforestation and the spread of oil palm in the territories of Indigenous communities where there are still forests".

 

The disinformation campaign undertaken by some uninformed media or those who only report the version that favours the company is intended to distract from their just demands, they say in a press release.

Defence Front for the Interests of the Indigenous Community of Santa Clara de Uchunya - Statement

The Defence Front for the interests of the Indigenous Community of Santa Clara de Uchunya, made up of 24 members of the Native Community of Santa Clara de Uchunya, located on the banks of the Aguaytía River, in the district of Nueva Requena, province of Coronel Portillo, Ucayali region, makes the following public knowledge:

That the current head of the community, Wilson Barbaran Soria, has been intimidating us for thinking differently from him and those who follow him. Our purpose is to defend our ancestral territory and our right to it, as well as to defend the environment, which has been indiscriminately plundered in our community over the years.                                                                                        

Our territory has been seriously affected by colonists and the palm oil plantation companies Plantaciones de Pucallpa SAC and its successor Ocho Sur P SAC, which allow heavy machinery such as caterpillar tractors and forestry loaders to pass through their paved roads to deforest our ancestral territory, including the part which after years of struggle we have managed to legally secure through a title extension.

We regret that our brother Carlos Hoyos has been expelled from our community by Wilson Barbaran and his people for defending the environment, as well as other attempts to silence our voices that have intensified since 2020.

In the face of the threats and attacks that Carlos and other community members have suffered for raising their voices, we ask for guarantees for our lives and we hold the Peruvian State and the Ocho Sur group responsible for what may happen to us for denouncing acts of harassment and the manipulation and division of our community by this company.                                                                                                                                                

The company has not hesitated to take advantage of the absenteeism of the State and the needs of our kin, pitting our families against each other and leaving us with divisions that may take many years to heal. 

We demand that they stop intimidating the people who willingly help us with our cause. We clarify that the lawyer Linda Vigo is the lawyer of some of the community members and is defending us at our request and that we are also part of the community.

We categorically deny that the NGOs Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) and the Institute of Legal Defence (IDL) are inventing or trying to confuse our community or the public. "We don't have enough money to publish on social networks, on the radio or in the print press, as do those who are in favour of deforestation and the spread of oil palm in the territories of Indigenous communities where there are still forests, in their eagerness to distract from our just demands and the crimes of Ocho Sur.

Santa Clara de Uchunya, November 2023.