A nuevo crimen de un defensor ambiental shakes the Peruvian Amazon. The victim was the indigenous leader Héctor Ramírez Chota, who was shot dead on July 24 in the Ucayali region, in the eastern part of the country.
Various organizations report that it was a retaliatory attack due to his work in defense of the Amazon rainforest against the advance of illegal activities such as drug trafficking and deforestation.
Ramírez Chota, 60 years old, was a leader of the San Juan de Uchunya indigenous community and an active member of the Federation of Native Communities of Ucayali and Affluents (FECONAU).
In recent years, he had been involved in complaints about invasion of indigenous territories, illegal logging, and land trafficking in the area.
A new crime and a long list of attacks against environmental leaders
The organization Global Witness and other human rights entities have repeatedly warned about the high risk faced by environmental defenders in the Amazon, especially in Peru, Colombia, and Brazil.
The danger faced by environmental defenders in the Amazon.[/caption>
According to recent data, Peru is one of the most dangerous countries for activists fighting for land and environmental rights.
FECONAU directly blamed the Peruvian State for not guaranteeing the security of indigenous communities or acting against the threats faced by their leaders. For some time now, the federation has been demanding urgent protection measures for those who expose illicit activities in the Amazonian territories.
After the murder of the environmental defender, they demand justice and protection
Various national and international organizations, such as IDL, the National Coordinator for Human Rights, and Amnesty International, demanded that the crime be quickly investigated and that the communities still exposed to armed groups, land traffickers, and drug trafficking networks be protected.
The Peruvian Ministry of the Interior and the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office were also asked to act promptly. Transparency is requested to clarify the case and punish those responsible for the murder, both material and intellectual.
Environmental violence, a growing threat in Latin America
This new case reflects a structural problem in Latin America, where indigenous leaders, farmers, and environmental defenders are killed or persecuted for protecting natural resources, denouncing illegal economic interests, or claiming territorial rights.
In Mexico alone, at least 84 environmental defenders have been killed since 2016, in a possible direct relation to their tireless work. The alarming figure underscores the profound debt that the Mexican State owes to those who risk their lives to protect the country’s natural resources.
The Amazon, considered the green lung of the planet, continues to be a scene of violence, accelerated deforestation, and conflicts over land use.
Protecting its defenders is essential for the conservation of biodiversity and respect for indigenous peoples.
