Safety of Peru's land defenders in question after killing of Indigenous leader in the Amazon

[Judi Lynn]

by Geraldine Santos, Gloria Alvitres on 7 December 2023 | Translated by Maxwell Radwin

• Quinto Inuma was killed on November 29 while traveling to the Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu community in Peru’s Amazon following a meeting of environmental defenders.
  
  
• For years, the Indigenous Kichwa leader had been receiving threats for his work trying to stop invasions, land trafficking, drug trafficking and illegal logging in his community, forcing him to rely on protection measures from the Ministry of Justice.
  
  
• After Inuma’s death, a group of 128 Indigenous communities released a statement appealing for justice and holding the Peruvian state reponsible for its inaction and ineffectivtieness in protecting the lives of human rights defenders in Indigenous territories. Several other Indigenous leaders who receive threats have requested protection measures from the state but have not gotten a response.
  
  
• According to an official in the Ministry of Justice, providing the Kichwa leader [with protection measures was very complex because he lived in a high-risk area. The only thing that could be done, they said, is to provide permanent police protection, which wasn’t possible for the local police.

Kichwa leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado, president the Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu community, was murdered last Wednesday, November 29, in the San Martín region of the Peruvian Amazon. The crime took place around five p.m. when the activist was traveling with several relatives on the Yanayacu River. When his boat hit a tree and got stuck, a group of masked men ambushed him, shooting him several times.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/safety-of-perus-land-defenders-in-question-after-killing-of-indigenous-leader-in-the-amazon/