Santa Clara de Uchunya land defenders continue struggle to protect their territory and denounce divisions caused by palm oil company Ocho Sur

Between 24 and 25 October 2022, members of the Shipibo-Konibo Indigenous community of Santa Clara de Uchunya met in Yarinacocha to reflect on their efforts past and present to defend their ancestral territory against agribusiness-led land trafficking and deforestation and oil palm expansion in the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon. They issued the following agreement and made additional statements during a press conference with regional media (videos in Spanish here and here).

MINUTES OF AGREEMENT

We, community members of the Native Community of Santa Clara de Uchunya, gathered in the town of Yarinacocha on October 24 and 25, 2022 in the framework of the "Workshop for the socialization of actions and achievements in the territorial defence of Santa Clara de Uchunya against the expansion of the oil palm agroindustry", convened by the President of the community, Carlos Hoyos Soria, with the institutional support of the Federation of Native Communities of Ucayali (FECONAU), the Regional Organization AIDESEP of Ucayali (ORAU), the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP), the Council of the Shipibo Conibo Xetebo People (COSHICOX), the Institute of Legal Defense (IDL) and Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), we sign the present minutes of agreement as a sign of conformity:

1. We are genuine and authentic members of the community stretching back many generations. That is why we reaffirm the defence of our ancestral rights, which are non-negotiable. Our territory is a single whole, and it is the property of the community of Santa Clara de Uchunya.

2. We ratify our will to continue with our process of struggle for our territory and against the destruction of our forests, in alliance with the Indigenous movement and its allies. In this sense, we ask to continue with the legal and judicial actions that we have been taking to ensure respect for our human rights at the national and international level. It will be the international bodies that will have to protect our territory.

3. We support the decision of Judge Liz Ivonne Torres Diaz, head of the Permanent Civil Court of Campoverde, which recognizes our brother Carlos Hoyos Soria as the head of the community. We demand that the precautionary measures granted by the Judiciary be respected so that we might live in a climate of peace between families.

4. We demand that the operators of the company Ocho Sur P stop manipulating community members and leaders, trying to cause divisions between us. We also demand that they stop financing the orchestrated media campaigns against the community president Carlos Hoyos Soria, the Amazonian Indigenous movement and its allies. These bad practices will be denounced in due time, in accordance with the law.

5. We declare Jorge Ulises Saldaña Bardales and Victor Manuel Rojas Villacres* persona non grata, for their participation in the divisionism and misinformation about the struggles of our community.

6. We renew our interest in participating in media and advocacy actions in defence of our territory and the environment, for which we ask for the support of our federation FECONAU and other organizations of the Indigenous movement.

7. Finally, we hold the company Ocho Sur P responsible for any situation that threatens our personal and family security that may occur against those of us who sign this document. We ask the corresponding authorities to take preventive measures to protect our lives.

{Signatures of community members}

* Ocho Sur’s Community relations officer and Assistant Prosecutor at the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office respectively.

LINK TO ORIGINAL AGREEMENT (SPANISH)

 

Background notes:

• The Ocho Sur group companies, including Ocho Sur P, Ocho Sur U and Servicios Agrarios de Pucallpa SAC, are owned by Peruvian Palm Holdings Ltd, based in offshore tax haven Bermuda, and have received international investment led by the Anholt group. Connecticut-based Anholt Services (USA) Inc. has invested in the Ucayali plantation development since 2012. Anholt Services is wholly owned by Anholt Investments Ltd, a Bermuda-based company, and is a wholly owned affiliate of the Kattegat Trust, also registered in Bermuda. Ocho Sur has also received private equity investment from New York-based Amerra Capital Management LLC.
• Ocho Sur is currently subject to at least two grievances brought by European palm oil buyers – Louis Dreyfus Company and Bunge Loders Croklaan (BLC), due to allegations of human rights abuses and deforestation. In October 2022, BLC announced via its website that it "encourage[d] Ocho Sur to work with AIDESEP to address the allegations of the Open Letter: "AIDESEP repudiates Ocho Sur palm oil group intimidation, demands buyers step up to protect human rights and forests." Moreover, BLC found that "recent land clearing/deforestation has occurred inside and around concessions", adding that "the company in question and its associates will remain blocked in Bunge's supply chain until a credible and robust Recovery Plan is developed."