Indigenous Leader and Environmental Defender Shot Dead in Peru's Amazon
An indigenous community leader and environmental defender, Americo Pascuala Tomisha, was shot dead while patrolling his ancestral territory in the Amazon region of Peru, authorities reported on Tuesday (25/8). The case is now being investigated as a murder by local law enforcement.
Pascuala, 57, was a member of the Asheninka community. He died on Sunday (23/8) in the Ucayali region of Peru, which borders Brazil. The area has previously been the site of deaths of several environmental defenders.
Peru’s Ministry of Culture condemned Pascuala’s death. The national prosecutor has also opened an investigation into the alleged murder of the indigenous leader.
The organisation ORAU, which represents a number of indigenous groups in the region, stated that Pascuala was hit by gunfire allegedly carried out by outsiders extracting copaiba oil from trees in the indigenous territory.
According to ORAU, Pascuala had reported the presence of these unknown parties on his ancestral land since 2020.
ORAU Vice President Herlin Odicio condemned the killing and demanded that the case be prosecuted.
“This cowardly murder is utterly reprehensible. What is happening in our Amazon must not go unpunished,” Odicio said at a press conference.
Pascuala’s case adds to the long list of environmental and indigenous rights defenders in Latin America who face threats as a result of their advocacy work. Activists are often targeted after exposing alleged environmental crimes, including deforestation and the exploitation of natural resources in indigenous territories.
In Peru, law enforcement regarding the killing of environmental defenders also remains a concern. On Monday (24/8), a Peruvian court sentenced four people found guilty of the 2023 murder of Quinto Inuma.
Inuma was a Kichwa indigenous leader known as one of the environmental defenders in the San Martin Amazon region. His murder became one of the cases that drew widespread attention to threats against indigenous leaders in Peru.
According to the non-governmental organisation Global Witness, at least 62 land and environmental defenders were killed in Peru between 2012 and 2024. More than half of the victims were members of indigenous communities.
In the Amazon region, conflicts are often linked to the use of natural resources, logging, deforestation, and other economic activities taking place in indigenous territories.