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In an oil spill’s aftermath in Peru, new voices lead an Indigenous fight for justice 18 December, 2020 - 18:50
Flor de María Paraná, 47, describes the bleakest moment of her life as the one that made her the leader she is today. “It was the day that everything changed,” she says when she remembers June 22, 2014. That Sunday, she saw some black spots, and noticed the strong smell of fuel, along with dead fish in the Marañón River. The damage extended from the creek from the Indigenous community of Cuninico, located in the district of Urarinas, in Peru’s Loreto province. Without knowing it, Flor de María was seeing the first evidence of one of the largest oil spills recorded in recent years in the Peruvian Amazon. “When the spill happened, there was nothing to eat. All the fish and our crops were contaminated. So, the men went to work cleaning the oil,” Flor de María recalls. State-owned Petroperú, oper
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