- 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.
“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.”
The flyover was organized by AIDESEP, together with Indigenous leaders from FENACOKA and representatives from Peru’s Ministry of Culture. The Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve was established in July 2021.
Images of devastation
The flyover took a closer look at 12 locations identified by satellite mapping in May 2023, which showed clandestine landing strips, unauthorized forest roads, and deforested areas in and adjacent to the reserve.
The 2023 satellite imagery, along with photographs taken in the field, also showed coca maceration pits for drug production. This prompted AIDESEP and its regional chapter, as well as FENACOKA, to send a letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) at the time. The organizations requested the IACHR to impose precautionary measures on the Peruvian government, citing to the seriousness of the threats to the Indigenous people.
Satellite data and imagery from Global Forest Watch show the landing strip first appeared in August 2021, then was expanded two years later in August 2023.
The organizations then went one step further, photographing the illegal activities during the flyover. These images, exclusively reproduced by Mongabay Latam, show a rainforest under assault, with patches of deforestation, recently felled trees and illicit coca crops. There are reports of camps in some sectors.
“Since its creation in 2021, more than 1,500 hectares [3,700 acres] of illegal deforestation has been detected within [the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve’s] borders, and most of these deforested areas are destined to become illicit crops,” Cusurichi said.
He added the Peruvian government hasn’t implemented any measures to protect the rights of the Kakataibo people, which is why the groups called on the IACHR to demand precautionary measures be taken to guarantee the isolated tribe’s rights.
A FENACOKA member who participated in the flyover said, “We’ve been able to see the complete disaster that is happening in … the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve. The authorities only meet in the capital of the regions to address some issues, but no concrete actions are taken against these threats. Nothing has been done.”
The flyover first toured an area inhabited by the Muruina native community, just outside the reserve. In this area, known to house Indigenous people in voluntary isolation, they confirmed the presence of deforestation and illicit coca crops. The next five locations on the flyover route were in the northern sector of the reserve.
“At the second location we observed deforestation and saw invaders along the riverbank. We also observed various crops, most of them illicit and some agricultural, such as pineapple,” said the Indigenous leader from FENACOKA. “We saw the same in the next locations, up to the fifth location. In some areas there were two or three houses, possibly so that people would group together and form a small village over time.”
When they flew over the sixth location, they found “the first clandestine landing strip in the very center of the reserve,” the leader added.
The photographs published by Mongabay Latam confirm the Indigenous leader’s accounts.
A threatened territory
The flyover confirmed a second clandestine landing strip outside the reserve to the south, in a territory that’s part of the Puerto Azul native community. This is also the location of the Ministry of Culture’s only control and surveillance post in the reserve, responsible for monitoring almost 150,000 hectares (371,000 acres) of Indigenous land.
The flyover also uncovered a third clandestine landing strip crossing the reserve’s border, with deforestation, illicit coca crops, roads and evidence of encroachment common across the area.
“The threat is constant within the community,” said a representative from the Puerto Azul native community, who asked not to be named for their safety. “We’ve made complaints, but within the community, our family and the entire population are exposed to threats. It’s not easy; we can file complaints, but we’re the ones who risk our lives.”
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.
Since first reaching out to the IACHR, the NGOs involved have sent five updated reports on the threats in the territories, most recently in February 2024.
In that last report, the organizations noted that they’d sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture last November requesting urgent protection measures for the Kakataibo people, both within the reserve and in its surrounding area.
The organizations also noted that, despite repeated requests, “the Peruvian government has not implemented any direct measures to guarantee the fundamental rights of the Kakataibo Indigenous people.”
In response to questions from Mongabay Latam, the Ministry of Culture noted that its representatives took part in the flyover and that they were “aware of the activities that could put at risk the lives, health and integrity of the Kakataibo Indigenous people living in isolation.”
The ministry also said it had repeatedly notified drug enforcement authorities about the trafficking activity since 2021, and noted that it had approved a protection plan for the reserve in April 2022.
“Without a doubt, illicit coca and other crop activities, illegal roads and other activities impact isolated communities, because they are people who are completely dependent on natural resources,” said Miguel Macedo, coordinator for public policy at the Common Good Institute, an NGO that advocates for social justice. “If the forest is cut down, if roads are built, if other people are permanently present, ecosystems will most certainly be altered, putting the lives of peoples in isolation at risk.”
Macedo added that illegal activities put a lot of pressure on communities that live in the reserve’s surrounding areas, as well as those in the central regions of the Peruvian Amazon.
Macedo said some local and regional authorities were opposed to the creation of Indigenous reserves; some even deny the existence of Indigenous peoples living in isolation.
Last year, legislators proposed a bill, which ultimately failed, that would have given regional governments the power to create and even cancel already declared Indigenous reserves.
Macedo said those officials who are against the protection of isolated tribes and the creation of protected natural areas are more concerned with exploiting natural resources for development, rather than with sustainability.
“More state presence is needed, as well as working closely with communities and putting an end to local authorities’ populist policies,” he said.
Huertas, the anthropologist, said the presence of drug trafficking must be addressed with a comprehensive governmental policy, which takes into account the special care required by people living in voluntary isolation.
“You can’t use explosives or act as you would in any other place where illicit crops are destroyed,” she said.
She pointed to a plan completed in February 2023 that gives recommendations for how to better care for Indigenous people living in voluntary isolation, both within and outside reserves.
Banner image: A clandestine landing strip in the northern sector of the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve. Image courtesy of AIDESEP.
This story was reported by Mongabay’s Latam team and first published here on our Latam site on Mar. 25, 2024.
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Drug trafficking imperils national park and Indigenous reserves in the Peruvian Amazon