Indigenous Ashaninka leader Americo Pascual Tomisa has been shot dead by one or more gunmen while patrolling his community's land in eastern Peru, the Peruvian government announced.
The 57-year-old environmental defender was killed on Sunday in the department of Ucayali, near the border with Brazil. Regional indigenous organization ORAU reported that Pascual suffered gunshot wounds during an encounter on community land with trespassers who had entered to harvest copaiba tree resin.
According to ORAU, a regional collective representing around 20 indigenous organizations in Ucayali, Pascual had repeatedly reported and denounced the presence of illegal intruders on his community's territory since 2020.
Investigation and official response
Erlin Odicio, vice president of ORAU, condemned the attack at a press conference, describing it as a cowardly murder and stating that violence against indigenous communities in the Amazon must not go unpunished. The prosecutor's office announced that it has launched a formal homicide investigation into the killing.
The Ashaninka are one of the largest indigenous ethnic groups in the Amazon basin, inhabiting rainforest territories across eastern Peru and western Brazil. Ucayali, an eastern administrative department bordering Brazil's Acre state, has seen recurring deadly attacks against indigenous groups defending their ancestral forests.
Copaiba harvesting and forest threats
Copaiba is an oily resin extracted from trees of the genus Copaifera native to the Amazon rainforest. The substance is widely harvested for use in traditional medicine as well as commercial varnish production, making tree stands a target for illegal gatherers.
Threats against leaders who speak out against illegal deforestation and forest exploitation have become alarmingly frequent across Peru's Amazonian territory. Land invasions, illegal logging, and unauthorized resource extraction routinely put frontline indigenous patrols in conflict with armed groups.
Pattern of violence against land defenders
The killing comes amid ongoing legal proceedings over past attacks on environmental activists. On Monday, Peruvian courts sentenced four individuals for the 2023 murder of Quinto Inuma, a leader of the Kichwa tribe who was killed in the San Martin region of the Peruvian Amazon.
Data from environmental non-governmental organization Global Witness highlights the scale of violence facing land defenders in Peru. According to the organization, at least 62 environmental defenders were killed in the country between 2012 and 2024, and 35 of those victims belonged to indigenous communities.
