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An oil palm front advances on an Indigenous community in Peru
Indigenous Shipibo leaders in Peru’s Ucayali region say they live under the threat of attacks from suspected land traffickers who continue to invade their territory.
The Indigenous community of Santa Clara de Uchunya says these invasions have been exacerbated by the advancement of oil palm plantations in the Amazonian district of Nueva Requena.
In August 2020, an outside group was caught cutting down trees that belong to the community.
“The invasions do not stop, the deforestation does not stop, and the threats do not stop,” Iván Flores Rodríguez said by phone from the Indigenous Santa Clara de Uchunya community. A leader of the Shipibo people, Flores Rodríguez outlines the history of his community in the Peruvian Amazon, when, in 2012, the oil palm company Plantaciones de Pucallpa S.A.C. (now Ocho Sur P S.A.C.) settled on the far side of the Aguaytía River, less than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from their homes.