Thirty-seven leaders of Peru's Amazonian indigenous peoples have been killed since 2013, and 43 more defenders currently face threats, according to the Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana (AIDESEP), the country's main indigenous rights organization.
AIDESEP said the killings and threats are linked to the expansion of illegal economies in the Amazon, including drug trafficking, illegal logging, illegal mining and land trafficking, which have affected peoples such as the Huitoto Murui, Shipibo Conibo, Kukama Kukamiria, Awajún, Matsiguenga, Asháninka, Iquito, Kichwa, Arabela, Ashéninka and Kakataibo.
James Pérez Pacaya knows firsthand what it means to be a target. As president of the Asociación Indígena de Desarrollo y Conservación del Bajo Puinahua, in the northern region of Loreto, he has spent much of his life protecting his people from the mafias that plunder the Amazon rainforest, who he said have vowed he will pay with his life. He now wears a bulletproof vest even when he attends talks with government representatives, and is one of the 43 defenders AIDESEP has listed as being in danger.
Threats facing indigenous communities
An AIDESEP study identified the main threats facing indigenous peoples and territorial defenders, showing the close relationship between the advance of illegal economies and violations of collective rights. The threats include illegal logging and mining, drug trafficking and illicit crops, hydrocarbon extraction, land trafficking, illegal fishing and the impacts of infrastructure projects, as well as the presence of armed groups and conflicts arising from overlapping claims to indigenous territories.
According to AIDESEP, leaders including Graciela Álava, Miguel Guimaraes, Arthur Cruz, Zoila Ochoa, Martha Negrete, Edith Huanio, Carmen Macahuachi, Juana Guatica, Ramón Tenteis, Percy Nanchijam, Ronildo Gushi, Rafael Canchari, Gil Inoach, Marcelo Odicio, Elías Mozombite, Herlim Odicio and Grimaldo Villacorta are on the list of threatened defenders, living in fear of the constant intimidation they receive from criminal groups.
A history of killings
The situation for environmental defenders in Peru began badly in 2013. Mauro Pio Peña, chief of the Nuevo Amanecer Hawai native community, was shot twice and killed by hitmen working for land traffickers as he was about to enter his home in Satipo, in the Junín region, on the night of Monday, May 27. Since then, 37 indigenous leaders have been killed in the country, most recently Isaí Shuk Shawit in 2025. Leaders of various indigenous organizations say protection mechanisms remain insufficient.
Peru's Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (MINJUSDH) has recorded more than 600 risk situations affecting defenders since 2019. About 70% of those cases are linked to illicit activities such as illegal logging, drug trafficking or illegal mining, according to the ministry. The regions most affected are Ucayali, accounting for 18.6% of cases, Loreto with 11.4%, San Martín with 11% and Madre de Dios with 9.3%.
Julio Cusuriche Palacios, a prominent environmentalist from Madre de Dios and a winner of the 2007 Goldman Environmental Prize, said the threat is not only linked to illicit economies such as illegal mining, illegal logging and drug trafficking, but to the criminal structures behind them. He said organized crime is gaining ground because it is not only those who pull the trigger who are responsible, but also those who allow criminal groups into the territory and facilitate their activities.
Franco Salinas, Peru's former deputy minister for human rights and access to justice, said the Intersectoral Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, coordinated by MINJUSDH together with nine executive branch agencies, has handled more than 600 risk situations involving more than 900 human rights defenders since it was created. He said timely intervention by the mechanism has helped safeguard the lives and personal safety of defenders and, in many cases, their families too, particularly in cases tied to environmental defense and indigenous rights in the Amazon.
State response criticized
Miguel Guimaraes, vice president of AIDESEP, criticized what he described as a lack of concrete action by the state to protect indigenous leaders. He warned that communities remain exposed to drug trafficking, illegal mining and the illegal extraction of natural resources.
Guimaraes told La República that communities have reported threats against indigenous leaders, but said the protection measures put in place by the state have not translated into an effective presence within the territories. Paper does not stop a bullet, he said, arguing that documents recognizing a risk situation are not enough to protect those who directly confront criminal organizations.
Guimaraes said one of the main difficulties is the remote location of communities, with some leaders needing to travel one, two or even three days to reach a police station to file a complaint. He said indigenous territorial monitoring committees carry out patrols without weapons and often with limited resources, leaving them highly vulnerable to criminal groups.
He added that many communities lack phone signal and internet access, which prevents them from reporting risk situations to authorities in time. In response, AIDESEP has installed communication modules with internet access and solar panels in the communities it considers most at risk. Guimaraes said more than 300 modules have been installed so far, though he acknowledged that is still insufficient given that more than 2,400 communities form part of Peru's indigenous organizational structure.
