San Martin: the full story of logging company threats against the Puerto Franco native community

26 July 2024. The full story of the threats suffered by members of the Kichwa community of Puerto Franco, in the San Martin region of the Peruvian Amazon, begins long before 16 July. On that day, community members were reported to be at risk due to the presence of 27 people working for the logging company and who were armed in the Tornillal - Remanso sector of the community's territory, on the banks of the Biavo River.

This incident caused alarm and demonstrated the violence to which Indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon are exposed for defending their territories, but it is also only the most recent milestone in a long history of threats against members of Puerto Franco.

Behind the threats usually appear the names of people linked to the company Agrupación Maderera Alto Biavo S.A.C., mentioned by land-invaders who enter the community's territory to illegally extract timber. According to testimonies from the villagers, these people have identified themselves as representatives of the company and have mentioned Marco Pérez Rengifo, the company's general manager.

The origin of this situation is a forestry concession granted to the company in an area of forest designated as ‘Permanent Production Forests’ (“Bosques de Producción Permanente”), from which timber is being extracted. This is occurring within the territory of Puerto Franco which it overlaps, and puts the subsistence and security of the community members at risk, as well as destroying forests and natural resources of which the community members are the owners.

Violations of structural rights as the genesis of violence

The logging concession for timber purposes was granted without prior consultation with the community members, on the territory of the Puerto Franco Kichwa community. In response to this, the community filed an amparo lawsuit against several state institutions, which is currently being processed.

The lawsuit demands that the State recognise, title and demarcate the community's territory overlapped by the concession granted to the logging company, which is also being sued. The lawsuit also targets the Cordillera Azul National Park (PNCAZ), which since 2012 has been selling carbon credits without respecting the rights of the community, without transparency or distribution of benefits.

These facts are known to the company in question, which was summoned in the legal process and was informed of the area of the community's territory where it has started its activities.

 

"By creating the concession without consultation or the community’s consent, their right to communal property has been violated, and therefore, in accordance with article 31 of the Constitution, the concession is null and void. The rights of the community have also been violated, in accordance with article 89 of the Constitution, interpreted in accordance with article 21 of the American Convention on Human Rights, as well as articles 13 and 14 of ILO Convention 169", says lawyer Cristina Gavancho León.

 

 

"Likewise, we must remember that the fifth complementary and final provision of the Forestry and Wildlife Law, Law 29763, expressly states that no forestry and wildlife titles be granted in areas in the process of recognition, titling or expansion of peasant and native communities, in accordance with international treaties in force", adds the lawyer.

 

Long history of threats

At the end of May 2024, in the middle of a territorial patrol, community members reported the presence of a camp with six people who were preparing to extract timber within the territory of Puerto Franco. In response, the community members, making use of their right to autonomy and Indigenous justice within their ancestral jurisdiction, intervened and told them that they had to leave the area.

Already at that time, information had been circulating in neighbouring villages that the concessionaire Marcos Pérez would enter the community's territory to extract timber. For this reason, the villagers organised patrols in order to protect and watch over their territories and the centenary trees that still remain there.

In this intervention, they found a 16-calibre reloading gun, a Starlink internet line, a generator and two GPS devices. In addition, one of the people in the camp said that they had come from Pucallpa to work, after being sought by Wilber Cueva and Valerio Cueva, who are allegedly investors of Marcos Pérez.

Unusually, during the March patrol, the Cordillera Azul National Park’s boat was reportedly seen being used by loggers, which generated indignation in the community.

"...We are taking care of and fighting for what our grandparents have left. We are told that we have no title. Better than a title is our ancestral presence and ancestral possessions that our grandparents and parents have left us. I demand: No logging! This forestry concession must be cancelled before something unfortunate happens. Puerto Franco has been in existence since 1940. They say that we are supposedly just being created as a community. We are not being created, they [the State formally] recognised us in 2015, as a community. They are in their infancy.”

• Alpino Fasabi, ex-apu of Puerto Franco and member of the patrol carried out in mid-July.

The testimonies of members of Puerto Franco indicate that, after this event, people have constantly come to the community to seek out the authorities and talk to the villagers. However, at all times, the community members responded that they would not allow the extraction of timber from their territory, as these are their natural resources, which they guard and care for for future generations.

After all this, the community of Puerto Franco recently received the Minutes of an Extraordinary Session, dated 9 June 2024, in which a meeting between neighbouring hamlets and opponents of the community's territorial surveillance activities was held. There, it is reported that Marcos Pérez Rengifo spoke of an "outrage" caused in the area of the Operational Plan of his concession by the community, and that he announced the arrival of 40 armed people to the camp.

The Municipal Agent, Lieutenant Governor, Presidents of Rondas Campesinas and Deputy Mayor of Puerto Bermudez were also present at the aforementioned meeting, along with authorities from all the basins one and two of Alto Biavo Cuzco. These authorities, instead of respecting the autonomy and self-determination of the community, encouraged Pérez Rengifo's actions and even promised to provide security for the extractive works.

Growing tension in Puerto Franco

On 22 June 2024, the apu of the community, Henry Fasabi Tuanama, reported during an assembly that people frequently come to the communal territory to ask for him, and that they identify themselves as representatives of the company Agrupación Maderera El Biavo S.A.C.

The apu also explained that both Mr. Marco Pérez Rengifo and these people ask if they are going on patrol, if they travel and when they are going to leave the village, as a result of the intervention they made previously against workers found to be extracting timber. A panorama that, of course, increased the risks to the integrity of the authorities and villagers of Puerto Franco.

At the beginning of July, this situation was brought to the attention of the Directorate of Human Rights Policies and Management of the Ministry of Justice (MINJUSDH), with the aim of activating the Mechanism for human rights defenders. Thus, the alert was communicated to the Human Rights and Intercultural Prosecutor's Office of San Martín, the Chief of the San Martín Police Region and the Directorate of Special Authorisations and Guarantees.

As a result, on 9 July, the Human Rights and Intercultural Prosecutor's Office of San Martín opened a preliminary investigation against Marcos Pérez Rengifo and those responsible for the crime of coercion against the community's apu.

Only a few days later, the most dangerous event reported to date, took place against the integrity of the community members of Puerto Franco. A patrol had been scheduled for the 15 to 18 of July in the Tornillal - Remanso sector of the community's territory. A group of 11 members of the Puerto Franco patrol, carrying GPS equipment and a satellite phone, went there and found the camp of the company Agrupación Maderera El Biavo S.A.C. again, after having asked them to leave in May

After asking these two workers to go to their base camp and look for the person in charge to talk, the patrol entered the logging camp in Remanso. At that moment, members of the Puerto Franco community saw how several loggers went to look for cartridges and dispersed to their mosquito nets, while one of them placed a cartridge in his backpack, which he held in his hand. At that moment, the patrol heard another tree fall, a giant one, by the sound of it, pulling others safely tied up in the forest canopy.

It was 13:30 on 16 July. The scene was extremely risky, with 27 armed people resisting removal from the site. According to the testimony of the community members, these people ignored their demands and pointed out that they had all the corresponding permits to continue extracting wood as they pleased.

Testimonies from community members also indicate that the loggers ignored the national and international rights that protect Indigenous peoples in relation to their territories, claiming that it was "a matter for lawyers" and that any impasse or doubt, whether they were working inside or outside the ancestral territory of Puerto Franco, should be "settled at that level"

In addition, they said that the community was 'recently' established, alluding to the late resolution of recognition by the Directorate of Agriculture and ignoring the decades of existence, possession, use and conservation of these Kichwa forests. Meanwhile, the members of the patrol indicated that the area where the loggers were found is part of the ancestral territory, where the community also has traditional sites on its route to Remanso, such as the raquina camp, the wauwki mikuna, the lluychu lomo, kacha cuna, among others. 

In the minutes of the intervention, it is reported that the people present were commanded by Jhoel Jesús Ríos, who mentioned that they would not move from the camp and that they would communicate with the owners of the concession.

 

"When we arrived, we arrived calmly and one of their workers grabbed a cartridge and put it in the back loader. That kind of people I think are against us, that they can kill us. At the last moment, we told them that they should leave, stop logging! So many years of walking in that forest and someone comes and clears the forest there! All the time we wanted to see that forest intact. I ask directly that this concession be annulled! Stop this logging in our territory!"

 

• Wilder Isuiza, president of the Indigenous patrol.

On 17 July, early in the morning, in communication with community leaders, it was reported that at least 20 police officers from the Bellavista police station were in the community's territory, in the urban area, accompanied by the district sub-prefect of Alto Biavo. In a meeting with the population, they made it known that they were waiting for the arrival of the patrol and the technical team to the community.

Although on this occasion the villagers managed to stay safe, they demanded that the authorities intervene to protect them, in the midst of a tense scenario of severe risk for the community of Puerto Franco.

In addition, some of the hamlets surrounding the concession see the territory and forests of Puerto Franco as a booty to be divided up and converted into rural properties after the timber extraction operations.

The history of Permanent Production Forests and forest concessions in the Peruvian Amazon backs up and justifies the fears of Puerto Franco, that their forests will end up being occupied by others, and thus the State would once again fail in its climate and forest protection commitments. Thus, there remains an urgent call for immediate action to the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR), the Forest and Wildlife Resources Oversight Agency (OSINFOR) and the Regional Environmental Authority of GORESAM.

 

"We ask the ministries to take action on this matter, to annul this logging concession given to Mr. Marcos Pérez and the company Negocios Amazónicos, which has been exploiting the forest! We don't want this to escalate. We are going to declare a struggle. We are going to unite as a people to get these people out. If the law and the State has guaranteed this concession, we have all our international protections because this territory belongs to us".

 

• Roberto Guerra, member of the patrol that took place in mid-July.

Finally, it is essential that the judiciary suspend the titles that authorise the forestry concession held by Agrupación Maderera El Biavo S.A.C., which presents a latent danger for the Kichwa community and is creating a time bomb in the midst of a scenario of violence in Alto Biavo, which could explode at any moment.