The number of **[indigenous leaders](https://noticiasambientales.com/compromiso-ambiental/los-pueblos-indigenas-son-la-clave-para-proteger-el-medio-ambiente/)** assassinated in the Peruvian regions of **Ucayali, Pasco, and Huánuco** has increased in recent months. This is a matter of strong concern, as it is pointed out that they became **victims of drug traffickers** who invaded their territories.
According to local estimates, there are at least 67 clandestine “narco-pistes.” This was detected by **Earth Genome** and **Mongabay Latam** using satellite information from official sources and artificial intelligence.
Assassinated indigenous leaders: the main theory
As indicated, Ucayali has become a **new focus of drug trafficking in the country**.
But this plea for help is just one of many coming from **various indigenous communities in the Peruvian jungle** that live “surrounded by illegality.” Mongabay Latam, as part of a year-long investigation, was able to track a total of **128 illegal airstrips** in six regions of the Peruvian Amazon: Ucayali, Huánuco, Pasco, Cusco, Madre de Dios, and Loreto.
Subsequent verification work confirmed the existence and episodes of violence **behind 76 of them**.
Each of these **illegal paths in the forest was detected** or corroborated by Earth Genome, an organization from California, **United States**, specialized in satellite analysis of the territory.
Both organizations worked together on this research and had the support of the **Pulitzer Center**. The experts developed a search tool that **uses artificial intelligence** (AI) to detect clandestine airstrips in three regions of the Peruvian Amazon.
How the research was done
The investigation into the murders of indigenous leaders.
For the analysis to work, the teams worked with information from **Open Street Map**, with data from official tracks reported by the **Ministry of Transportation and Communications**, and with samples of narco-paths identified by Dirandro and the Regional Government of Ucayali.
With all this information, artificial intelligence was able to **track similar patterns in the territory**.
The AI was asked to **look for similar features in satellite images**, the specialists explained.
“Imagine locating an airstrip from space in the Peruvian Amazon, it’s like finding a hidden stick in an **irregular soccer field**, like locating it among the grass, weeds, and bare earth,” they detailed about the difficulties.
Once the satellite analysis was done, each detected track was verified with local and official sources by a journalistic team from Mongabay Latam.
This confirmed the location, extension, use, opening date, presence within prohibited areas (such as **protected areas, indigenous reserves, and forest concessions**), as well as the proximity to roads and rivers.
Presence of drug trafficking
The satellite analysis of the clandestine tracks detected confirms the existence of solid drug trafficking routes that, as they maintain, are outside the **control of the authorities**.
The **ease with which destroyed tracks are reopened** is proof of this. According to Colonel **PNP James Tanchiva**, head of the Division of Maneuvers Against Illicit Drug Trafficking in Pucallpa, it takes drug traffickers just a week to resume operations if their tracks are disabled.
“Drug trafficking organizations have good logistics, they have their armed wing, and they have money. That’s the reality,” he adds.
Assassinations of indigenous leaders
The tracks and illicit coca crops are the crime scene of at least 11 indigenous leaders and residents, according to the National Coordinator of Human Rights.
Although the number rises to 15 in the count of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (**Aidesep**). Sources on the ground, however, point out that **deaths not reported for fear of reprisals** are not being considered.
“I know of two indigenous brothers murdered in 2023 and one who disappeared this year,” says a leader of an important indigenous federation in the area, who requested the protection of his name.
The killings and disappearances are part of the **violence that 28 indigenous leaders have to live with** under threat in the three regions. This was revealed by the mapping done by the Regional Organization Aidesep Ucayali (**ORAU**).
The research also **confirmed that the 67 clandestine airstrips serve drug trafficking**.
Some communities were forced to share their territory with settlers working on illegal crops, in charge of **transporting drug shipments, monitoring laboratories, or opening new tracks**.
“When an airplane lands to be loaded with drugs, all traffic stops. The population too. It doesn’t happen very often, but that’s how we live,” narrates an Amazonian leader who lived in a community in the province of Atalaya and had to **abandon his territory for safety**.
However, fighting such a powerful enemy without help is impossible. Criminal organizations, explain the experts, **restructure all the time and change strategies**. Now, for example, they outsource some of the tasks in the chain of illegality, making it harder for the police and army to find those responsible.
Indigenous communities, victims.
“They should create a VRAEM-type operations center in Ucayali because drug trafficking is no longer sustainable. We’ve **learned to live with it, as long as we don’t interfere with them**,” a representative of a forest concession where a clandestine airstrip was detected told Mongabay Latam.
Despite the complaints filed by the concessionaire, he says the authorities have not acted.
“Thirty-six **indigenous leaders have been murdered (since 2013)**, and this number will increase until the root problems are resolved. This will continue,” says **Miguel Guimaraes**, vice president of Aidesep.
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