Four leaders of indigenous communities have been assassinated in the last week in Peru for defending their territory against illegal activities, according to the complaint of several native organizations that reiterated their protests this Saturday.
"Both this government and the rest have always viewed indigenous people as a minority group, a group that does not deserve to be heard, so they are not included in a public policy that helps to have equal opportunities and rights, it is a great sadness"the president of the Aidesep Ucayali Regional Organization (ORAU), Berlin Diques, lamented to Efe.
This organization denounced the murder of three indigenous leaders of the Asheninka people on March 22 in Puerto Inca, in the Huánuco region: Jesús Antaihua and his wife Nusat Benavides, and Gemerson Pizango.
"The three community members returned to their homes in the afternoon and were arrested by these criminals and shot with bullets, in addition the lady was gestating"Diques said in a phone call in which he explained that this community "is fleeing from the presence of drug trafficking and illegal mining"which causes these towns to be in "permanent alert".
This triple crime is added to the murder of a protector of the Tambopata National Reserve, in the Madre de Dios Amazon region, Juan Julio Fernández Hanco, murdered last Sunday.
Fernández Hanco was attacked near La Pampa, an area that is home to one of the centers of illegal mining in Peru and where prostitution, violence and human rights violations are combined with deforestation and the destruction of jungle biodiversity.
"We call on the State to pay more attention to the indigenous populations than to protect their territories, defend the environment and the continuous ineffectiveness means that at this time murders of indigenous leaders continue to take place, it is unfortunate"said the activist.
The Regional Organization Aidesep Ucayali, along with other associations of native communities, stated in a statement published as a result of this wave of violence that the illegal practices that involve these crimes are "boosted by infrastructure projects without technical support and state corruption of authorities in charge of administering justice, which ensures their impunity".
"The intersectoral mechanisms, the measures arranged by the State, prove not only to be insufficient, but also untimely. These do not reach the communities, they only promote the identification of threats"they warned.
Since the pandemic began, 14 environmental defenders have been murdered, according to the Peruvian Society of Environmental Law.
In addition, they denounced that kidnappings, violence and blackmail are numerous by mafias and groups linked to illegal activities.