LIMA, Peru (AP) 鈥 A Kichwa tribal leader has been shot to death in an area of the Peruvian rainforest that鈥檚 seen high tensions between Indigenous people and illegal loggers.
Quinto Inuma Alvarado was attacked as he was returning from presenting at a workshop for women environmental leaders in the San Mart铆n region of the Amazon on Wednesday, his son, Kevin Arnol Inuma Mandruma, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. Peruvian police confirmed his death.
鈥淗e was travelling in a boat,鈥 when assailants blocked the river with a tree trunk, Kevin Inuma said. 鈥淭here were many shots fired.鈥
The boat carried six people, said Kevin Inuma, including his mother, brother, sister and uncles. Quinto Inuma was shot three times in the back and once in the head, and Kevin Inuma鈥檚 aunt was wounded too, he said.
Kevin Inuma was not on the trip. He said his brother and mother recounted the attack to him.
Quinto Inuma had received numerous death threats over illegal logging, said Kevin Inuma.
The loggers 鈥渢old him they were going to kill him because he had made a report,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e tried to kill him several times, with beatings and now gunfire.鈥
A joint statement from Peru鈥檚 ministries of Interior, Environment, Justice and Human Rights, and Culture, said Quinto Inuma was the victim of a 鈥渃owardly鈥 attack. The statement promised a 鈥渕eticulous investigation on the part of the 好色tv Police鈥 and said a search for suspects was underway.
鈥淲e will continue working hard against the illegal activities that destroy our forests and ecosystems and threaten the lives and integrity of all Peruvians,鈥 the statement said.
Peruvian Indigenous rights news service Servindi wrote in 2021 that the victim鈥檚 community had been left to combat illegal loggers alone, suffering frequent attacks 鈥渢hat could take their lives any day.鈥
The workshop Quinto Inuma had been attending was aimed at helping women leaders of the Kichwa exchange knowledge on how to better protect their land.
Last year, lost a huge chunk of what was almost certainly their ancestral territory to make way for Peru鈥檚 Cordillera Azul 好色tv Park, which straddles the point where the Amazon meets the foothills of the Andes mountains. The trees in it were then monetized by selling carbon credits to multinational companies
The Kichwa say they gave no consent for that and received no royalties, even as many lived in food poverty after being barred from traditional hunting and foraging grounds. Quinto Inuma attended a meeting in 2022 with Peruvian national parks authority Sernanp, which was observed by The AP, to discuss the conflict.
The nonprofit Forest Peoples Programme wrote online that Quinto Inuma was a 鈥渢ireless defender of the human rights and territory of his community.鈥
The lack of title to their ancestral land has left Kichwa communities in a 鈥渧ery vulnerable position,鈥 it said, 鈥渦nable to defend themselves from illegal logging鈥 and 鈥渨ith no legal consequences for the perpetrators.鈥
鈥淭he death of Quinto Inuma highlights the impunity that prevails in cases of environmental crimes and violations of Indigenous peoples鈥 rights,鈥 it said.
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