Photographs confirm the presence of clandestine tracks and illicit crops in the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve in Peru

The dense green mantle of the Amazon forest is divided in two by a furrow that cuts the vegetation and exposes a wide line of land in the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve. This is shown in a photograph taken during an overflight on Friday, March 15, 2024. That image is evidence of a clandestine landing strip in the middle of the territory intended for indigenous people in isolation and initial contact. They inhabit this reserve located between the regions of Loreto, Ucayali and Huánuco, in Peru.

It is not the only thing that the people who participated in this flyover saw from the air, during the tour of the northern and southern sectors of this indigenous reserve. Two other open pits in the thick of the forest and a large amount of illegal coca leaf crops They confirmed that drug trafficking is taking over the territory of the Kakataibo people.

“It is very worrying because it is the territory to protect our brothers in isolation, but at the same time it is terrifying to be able to see that drug trafficking is unstoppable. The more we denounce, the more they accelerate and advance,” says one of the indigenous leaders of the Native Federation of Kakataibo Communities (Fenacoka) who participated in the overflight and who prefers to keep his name reserved due to the risk of living in an area taken over. for drug trafficking.

The flight was organized by the Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (Aidesep), with the participation of indigenous leaders from Fenacoka and representatives of the Ministry of Culture (Mincul), in order to verify how illegality continues to advance in the Reserve. Indigenous Kakataibo North and South that is not even three years old, as it was categorized in July 2021.

Images of desolation

Twelve georeferenced points were defined to organize the map of the route through the North and South Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve. These sites were established following satellite information recorded in May 2023. Satellite images captured at that time showed clandestine landing strips, unauthorized forest roads and deforested areas in and around the indigenous reserve.

The satellite information collected last year, along with photographs in the field, which showed maceration pools of coca leaves for drug production, were the basis for Aidesep, Fenacoka and the Aidesep Ucayali Regional Organization (ORAU) to send a letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requesting that it adopt precautionary measures against the Peruvian State, due to the seriousness of the threats that exist in indigenous territory.

On this occasion, the indigenous organizations decided to go one step further and record through photographs all the illegal activities that exist within the indigenous reserve. Images now presented exclusively by Mongabay Latam They are forceful and show a wounded jungle, with large patches of deforested areas, recently felled trees and coca leaf crops. There are even sectors that seem to host camps.

“The North and South Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve is, by far, the most invaded indigenous reserve in the entire country. Since its creation in 2021, more than 1,500 hectares of illegal deforestation have been detected within its limits and the majority of these deforested areas are destined for illegal crop fields,” says Julio Cusurichi, member of the Aidesep board.

Cusurichi points out that the Peruvian State has not implemented any concrete measure to protect the fundamental rights of the Kakataibo people in isolation, which is why precautionary measures have been requested from the IACHR to guarantee their rights.

The indigenous leaders of Fenacoka also question the lack of action by the Peruvian government. “We have been able to see the total disaster that is occurring in the North and South 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,” comments one of the members of the indigenous federation who was at the flyover.

According to the flyover route, the first point of the tour corresponds to the Muruina native community, a sector outside the reserve. In that area, deforested areas and illegal coca crops were found, where the presence of indigenous people in isolation has also been confirmed. Point two and even six are located in the northern area of ​​the reserve.

“At the second point we found forests and saw invaders on the banks of the rivers. We were also able to see various crops, most of them are illicit and some are agricultural, such as pineapple. We observe the same in the following sites, up to point five. In some areas there were two or three houses, possibly so that people would group together and over time form hamlets,” describes the indigenous leader of Fenacoka.

When they arrived at the sixth point marked with the GPS, they found “the first clandestine landing strip that is in the very center of the reserve,” explains the leader of the Kakataibo people who was on the aircraft that made the journey.

The photographs published in Mongabay Latam confirm the details of each of the sectors described by the indigenous leader. The lines in the forest that correspond to clandestine clues are clear, as well as some details of the roofs of possible homes. All in the middle of the thick forest.

A threatened territory

A second clandestine runway appears in the southern sector, in territory that is not part of the reserve but rather the expansion area of ​​the Puerto Azul native community. The only control and surveillance post that the Ministry of Culture has in the indigenous reserve has also been installed in that sector. Almost 150,000 hectares of land dedicated to the indigenous people in isolation and only one post to monitor this territory.

A third clandestine track appears crossing the limit of the reserve, while deforestation, illegal coca leaf crops, roads and invasions are repeated at the following points along the route.

“In the community, the threat is constant,” says a Puerto Azul representative who prefers to remain anonymous for security reasons. “We have made complaints, but within the community our family and the entire population are exposed to threats. It is not easy, we can file complaints but we are the ones who risk our lives.”

Since 2020, 13 leaders of indigenous communities in the regions of Ucayali, Huánuco, Pasco and Junín — departments with a strong presence of drug trafficking — have been murdered, four of them were from the Kakataibo people.

“In the surroundings of the reserve is where the murder of several indigenous leaders has occurred,” says anthropologist Beatriz Huertas, specialized in indigenous peoples, who considers that this is currently the indigenous reserve most affected by illegality.

After Aidesep, ORAU and Fenacoka requested the IACHR to adopt precautionary measures against the Peruvian State for the protection of the reserve where the Kakataibo live, the indigenous organizations have sent five update reports on the threats in these territories; the last one is from February 2024.

In that document, the organizations report that, on November 27, 2023, they sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture to request that urgent protection measures be implemented for the Kakataibo indigenous people in isolation, both within the reserve and in the area that was left. outside its limits where evidence of its presence has been found.

They also point out that, despite repeated requests, “the Peruvian State has not implemented absolutely any direct measures in order to try to guarantee the fundamental rights of our brothers the Kakataibo PIA in the face of the massive invasions of their territories of life and the destruction of their habitats and sources of subsistence.

Mongabay Latam contacted the Ministry of Culture to request its version on the measures that are being taken to protect indigenous reserves; They reported that they would answer the questions sent, but until press time they did not send their answers.

“Definitely, the activities of illegal coca crops and other crops, illegal roads and other activities impact isolated towns, because they are people totally dependent on natural resources. “If the forest is cut down, if roads are built, if there is a permanent presence of other people, they are definitely altering the ecosystems and putting the lives of isolated people at risk,” says Miguel Macedo, coordinator of the Public Policies and Management Area. the Common Goods of the Common Good Institute.

Macedo adds that there is also a lot of pressure from illegal activities towards the communities that surround the reserve, as well as in the central area of ​​the Peruvian Amazon, in the regions of Ucayali, Huánuco, Pasco and Junín, identified by the strong presence of drug trafficking.

Another issue that Macedo addresses is the opposition of some local and regional authorities against the creation of indigenous reserves and even deny the existence of isolated peoples.

Until July 2023, the Congress of the Republic had a project on its agenda to modify the current Law for the Protection of Indigenous or Native Peoples in a Situation of Isolation and in a Situation of Initial Contact (PIACI). This proposal proposed granting regional governments the power to decide on the creation of an indigenous reserve and even allowed them to cancel those that had already been declared. The project was sent to the archive in July 2023, however, opposition to the creation of the reserves persists.

For Macedo, the authorities who are against the protection of isolated peoples and the creation of protected natural areas do not have an idea of ​​sustainability, but of development based on the exploitation of natural resources. “What is needed is more State presence, working closely with communities and putting a stop to the populist policies of local authorities.”

Beatriz Huertas adds that the presence of drug trafficking must be addressed with a comprehensive State policy, which considers the special care required for territories inhabited by peoples in isolation and initial contact. “You cannot use explosives or act as you would do in any other place where illicit crops are destroyed.”

Huertas points out that the multisectoral working group for the protection of indigenous peoples in isolation, created in 2018, completed its protection plan in February 2023, which contemplates a special cross-sectoral regime of care for isolated peoples, both in reserves as in other areas where they live.