2 minutes read
By Fernando Gimeno
Lima, Mar 9 (efe-epa).- “Only indigenous justice remains to us,” Herlin Odicio, the leader of the Cacataibo tribe, said.
He is tired of the impunity with which his “brothers” are being murdered for opposing drug traffickers and illegal logging in their territories in the Peruvian Amazon.
In less than a year, four Cacataibo and two other members of the Ashaninka tribe have been murdered in the same region for confronting the invaders of their native lands, the last two in just the past three weeks, although Odicio said in an interview with EFE that this has been going on for some time.
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Eight Indigenous leaders from Ucayali and Huánuco have received threats for months from narco-trafficking mafias, land invaders, and illegal loggers. Several days ago, they were in Lima demanding protection from the Peruvian government. They fear for their lives.
It couldn t have been a coincidence. A threatening message arrived on October 2nd in the afternoon. It was left in the front door of the offices of ORAU (Regional Organization of AIDESEP in Ucayali) in Pucallpa. That same day, only hours before, one of their office workers was shot in an alleged robbery.
The threat was directed at Berlín Diques, President of ORAU, and his advisor Jamer López. The organization, which represents 300 communities among 15 different Amazonian Indigenous Peoples of the Ucayali region in Peru, had denounced various mafias that operate in the rainforest. They filed charges, activating the Ministry of Justice s protocol for human rights defenders, and both received police protection. But this pr