Drug traffickers are fiercely seizing Peru’s Amazon land, clearing up rainforests and growing coca. To combat drug trafficking, the new report calls for titles to Indigenous territory along major trafficking routes.
Since 2020, 27 Indigenous leaders in Peru have been believed to have been assassinated. It protects the land of more than dozens of people killed in connection with drug trafficking. New Report Published by Amazon Watch.
“We, Indigenous advocates, face threats from drug traffickers when they speak up.” Marcelo Odicio saidleader of the indigenous Kakataibo. “We are looking for a real change in how this crisis is being addressed.”
Drug traffickers can grab land through organized invasions and solidify their holdings with fraudulent contracts. More than 270 indigenous communities in Peru are at risk of being attacked and uprooted by drug traffickers, the report says. They sought the title of Indigenous Territories to protect native lands and to stem the loss of forests.
Until recently, the US International Development Agency supported Indigenous groups in Peru in the fight against deforestation related to cocaine production. However, under President Donald Trump, the agency’s recent dismantling threatened to reinvigorate drug trafficking, Associated Press Report.
Even Yale E360
US aid cuts are stricken at global conservation projects
