Oakland, CA – Peruvian Indigenous leader Gerardo Keimari Enrique of the Matsiguenka people was found dead on October 7 in the Madre de Dios River near his ancestral territory, sending shockwaves throughout frontline Indigenous communities grappling with increased violence against Indigenous Earth defenders.
This tragic incident occurred just a few months after AIDESEP, the organization representing Peruvian Amazonian Indigenous peoples, declared a permanent state of emergency in the Peruvian Amazon this July following the discovery of Katakaibo leader Mariano Asacama’s tortured and murdered body in Huanuco.
Keimari was actively defending his Indigenous territory and leading the process advocating for an expansion of his community’s land title in a region facing imminent threats from illegal mining and drug trafficking. Despite the fact that Indigenous members of the Shipetiari community had turned to the intersectoral Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders within the Peruvian Ministry of Justice amid armed attacks and death threats waged against community members, the government failed to provide protection and prevent his murder.
We stand in solidarity with the Shipetiari community mourning Keimari’s death and echo the calls of AIDESEP for an expeditious and full investigation into his death.
The proliferation of criminal economies in the Peruvian Amazon coupled with the lack of government action to protect Indigenous land defenders has forced Indigenous communities to resort to increasingly dangerous forms of self-defense to protect their territories. Transnational criminal economies pose an existential threat to frontline Indigenous communities and the health of our climate at large. A recent report entitled Amazon Underworld released by Amazon Watch and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime revealed that illegal economies are a burgeoning driver of deforestation in the Amazon.
Ahead of UNTOC COP12 and CBD COP16 this month, we amplify the demands of Indigenous organizations calling on the Peruvian government and international institutions to fulfill their obligations to protect Indigenous communities fighting to protect their territories, which is also essential in order to protect the Amazon and mitigate the global climate crisis.
Ricardo Pérez, Peru Communications Advisor of Amazon Watch, issued the following statement:
“This tragic incident is yet another case of an Indigenous leader who was targeted while advocating for a full land title for his community’s territory in a contested area of the Peruvian Amazon. The increasingly violent clashes between Indigenous communities protecting their ancestral territories and illegal settlers attempting to expand illegal mining and cocaine production has resulted in land title advocacy becoming one of the most dangerous activities for Indigenous leaders in Peru and the Amazon Basin. This reality underscores the importance of focusing on international measures to stop illegal land grabs and protect Indigenous land rights at upcoming international conferences on biodiversity and the climate crisis.”
