Photos confirm narcotraffickers operating in Peru's Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve

[Judi Lynn]

by Yvette Sierra Praeli on 17 May 2024 | Translated by Sydney Sims

• During a flyover on March 15 this year, Indigenous organizations and Ministry of Culture officials observed evidence of drug production and trafficking activity inside the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve.
  
  
• They found three clandestine landing strips, one of them located in the center of the reserve, as well as large patches of deforested areas in the middle of the rainforest, some of them planted with illegal coca crops.
  
  
• The reserve was established in 2021 to protect Indigenous groups living in isolation, but has already lost more than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) through illegal deforestation since then.

A wide strip of land cuts through the dense Amazon canopy in Peru’s Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve as shown by a photograph taken during a flyover on March 15, 2024. The images provide evidence of a clandestine landing strip in the middle of a protected area for tribes living in voluntary isolation. Established in 2021, the reserve is now “by far the most invaded Indigenous territory in the entire country,” according to Julio Cusurichi, a member of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP).

The March flyover across the northern and southern sectors of the reserve also observed additional slashes through the thick rainforest, as well as large quantities of illicit coca crops, confirming that large-scale drug trafficking is occurring inside the reserve.



A deforested area in the southern sector of the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve. Image courtesy of AIDESEP.

“It’s very concerning because this territory is for protecting our communities in isolation; at the same time, it’s terrifying to see that drug trafficking is unstoppable,” said an Indigenous leader with the Native Federation of Kakataibo Communities (FENACOKA), who participated in the flyover and is not being named for their safety. “The more we report, the more they accelerate and advance.”

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A clandestine landing strip splits up the reserve’s dense canopy. Image courtesy of AIDESEP.

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Patches of deforested land observed from the air within the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve. Image courtesy of AIDESEP.

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One of the clandestine landing strips is located near the Puerto Azul native community. Image courtesy of AIDESEP.

Since 2020, 13 leaders of Indigenous communities in the departments of Ucayali, Huánuco, Pasco and Junín — sites of intense drug-trafficking activity — have been killed, four of them from the Kakataibo community.

“Several Indigenous leaders have been murdered in the reserve’s surroundings,” said anthropologist Beatriz Huertas, a specialist in Indigenous peoples. She said the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve is the worst-hit by illegal activities.

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The flyover photographed areas that had been deforested and planted with illegal coca crops near rivers. Image courtesy of AIDESEP.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/photos-confirm-narcotraffickers-operating-in-perus-kakataibo-indigenous-reserve/