One year on from the murder of indigenous leader Quinto Inuma, we demand full justice

Today, 29 November 2024, marks one year since the physical disappearance of Quinto Inuma Alvarado, who was a Peruvian indigenous leader and part of the Steering Group of the Zero Tolerance Coalition (ZTI). Quinto was brutally murdered in the context of his tireless defence of the human rights of his people and the collective protection of the lands of his community; Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu. This communiqué is not only a tribute to his struggle but also a firm demand for the following terms:

1) Access to justice: Of the seven people allegedly implicated in the murder of Quinto, four are in pre-trial detention and one is awaiting a court summons. Although the proceedings have advanced after much advocacy by Quinto’s relatives, the community, the indigenous movement and the technical team that accompanies them, the mere presence of a suspect still at large - in the vicinity of the community - generates potential threats for Quinto's family. In this context, it is necessary that the Peruvian authorities redouble their efforts to investigate the case properly and swiftly, and thus generate solid legal accusations in a timely manner.

2) Land titling that is still not granted: A year after his murder, Quinto Inuma's dream of seeing his community with legal territorial security is still a long way off. The Technical Committee for the Titling of Native Communities in the San Martin region - as well as the activation of an Ad Hoc Committee to resolve the territorial conflict in the community in 2021 - has not generated results, nor has it shown the political will to unblock all the obstacles and advance towards the definitive titling of the community's lands.

Such has been the indifference to Quinto's death, that a few months after the murder, the regional forestry authority granted rights to third parties over the territory claimed by the community. Thus, the lack of territorial security deepens the situation of vulnerability of the community in particular. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), when granting precautionary measures in favour of the Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu Community, has already indicated to the Peruvian state the link between the structural causes relating to the threats to the territory and the lack of legal protection of the territory. 

In this sense, we demand that the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI), in particular the Executive Unit for the Management of Sectoral Projects (UEGPS) - which executes the titling project PTRT3 - as well as the Regional Agrarian Directorate of San Martin, consider the titling of the community within the San Martin region as their main goal.

3) Protection of lives in the community: Unfortunately, despite the requests of the community - and even within the framework of the precautionary measures granted by the IACHR - the police have rejected the creation of a Rapid Aid Post of the Peruvian National Police in communal territory, despite the fact that the nearest police station is six hours away. They justify this refusal by a lack of resources. However, this lack of budget and logistics cannot be the justification for denying or delaying the activation of the post that the community has been demanding for years. Inaction in these cases only contributes to perpetuating impunity and putting at risk those who dedicate their lives to the defence of their territories and ancestral rights.

4) Removal of the positions of Municipal Agent and Lieutenant Governor within the community: The native community of Santa Rosillo has been asking for years that these positions - appointed by the District Municipality of Huimbayoc and the Ministry of the Interior - be removed, as they undermine the legitimacy of the communal authorities, favouring settlers who have arrived through land trafficking and generated an increase in illegal activities within the communal territory. These charges have also contributed to the emergence of the hamlet of Santa Rosillo, with individual rural plots, which overlap and oppose the collective titling of the community's lands.

In this context, we demand the removal of these authorities and thus respect the for the legitimate communal authorities.

5) Reparation for Quinto's family and the community: The state is also responsible for Quinto's murder. His death could have been avoided if there had been the political will to protect his life, which had all the protection papers, and not only for state authorities to arrive in San Martin one day after his death in a media stampede. The State's indifference to the threats that Quinto Inuma suffered during his lifetime constitutes a form of complicity with those who perpetrated his murder. We therefore demand that the Peruvian State be able to provide appropriate reparations to Quinto and his family - including sensible and life-affirming compensation - as well as to his community, even though we know that nothing will bring back the smile of the memory of Quinto when he was alive.

6. Effective protection of indigenous defenders, not paper ones: The assassination of Apu Quinto is an irreparable loss for his family, for his community and for the indigenous cause in general. Quinto's murder also exposes the serious situation of risk and vulnerability in which indigenous defenders in Peru and Latin America find themselves. This is so because Quinto Inuma, despite having personal guarantees and the activation of the intersectoral mechanism for the protection of human rights defenders of the Ministry of Justice in his favour, was shot dead. The protection of the lives of indigenous leaders continues to fail in the country, therefore we call on the State to protect - effectively - their lives in practice and not on paper.