In Peru, an Indigenous Group Fights to Protect Land from Drug Traffickers and Deforestation
The Santa Martha territory of Peru is experiencing unprecedented deforestation as drug traffickers and land grabbers encroach. Owned by the Indigenous Cacataibo community, a majority of this 14,485-hectare territory had been officially preserved as forestland. But traffickers have been illegally occupying and logging land for coca plantations and airstrips in recent years, Mongabay reported.
Satellite data from the University of Maryland has documented the extensive deforestation in and around the Santa Martha territory, a region of the biodiverse Amazon rainforest. In the first nine months of 2020, more than 2,500 deforestation alerts were issued in Santa Martha.
Indigenous Cacataibo of Peru threatened by land grabbing and drug trade
The Santa Martha Indigenous territory is one of the nine Indigenous Cacataibo communities between Huánuco and Ucayali in Peru.
Increasing numbers of outsiders are invading the territory and deforesting large swaths of Indigenous land, largely to grow coca which is used to make cocaine.
Residents report they are often subject to intimidation, threats and even murder attempts if they speak out about the incursions.
Already under-monitored due to their remoteness, these areas have gotten even less government attention during the COVID-19 pandemic due to movement restrictions put in place to reduce the infection rate.