The Indigenous World 2022: Peru
According to the 2007 Census, there are more than 4 million Indigenous people in Peru: 83.11% are Quechua, 10.92% Aymara, 1.67% Asháninka and 4.31% belong to other Amazonian Indigenous Peoples. The Indigenous or Native Peoples Database (BDPI) reports the existence of 55 Indigenous Peoples in the country, speaking 47 Indigenous languages. On the other hand, 21% of the national territory is covered by mining concessions, and these overlap with 47.8% of the territory of peasant communities.
Furthermore, 75% of the Peruvian Amazon is covered by hydrocarbon concessions. The overlapping of rights to communal territories, the enormous pressure from the extractive industries, the absence of land-use planning and the lack of any effective implementation of prior consultation are all exacerbating territorial and socio-environmental conflicts in Peru, a country that has signed and ratified ILO Convention 169 and which voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007.
2021 was a year marked by presidential elections and a sharp political polarisation that has continued into 2022. On the one hand, under the leadership of Keiko Fujimori, recalcitrant right-wing forces attempted to take over the government, rolling out a multi-million-dollar campaign with wide support from the business and media sectors. One of Fujimori’s reasons for attempting to gain control of the government was her desire to avoid imprisonment as she is currently facing trial in a court of law.
In the run-off election, Pedro Castillo Terrones, a rural teacher and farmer from Cajamarca, one of Peru's poorest departments, garnered the popular vote and was elected president by a narrow margin of 44,263 votes.
The right-wing sectors and concentrated media power in Peru subsequently unleashed a massive campaign claiming electoral fraud and seeking, by various means, to ignore the results and even challenge the electoral institutions.[i] The accusations against Pedro Castillo focused — without any evidence — on his being a communist, a terrorist and an instrument of the outlawed terrorist group, Shining Path. In this context, far right groups linked to ex-military personnel appeared, organising violent demonstrations and even threatening and assaulting public figures supportive of Castillo.[ii]
Since taking office, Pedro Castillo’s government has not known a day of peace. During the first cabinet session, chaired by Guido Bellido, a member of parliament from Cusco, ministers were subjected to harsh challenging under the pretext of “fighting terrorism” in the cabinet. One significant case was that of Héctor Béjar Rivera, a sociologist, university lecturer and former guerrilla fighter in the 1960s who had to quit his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs after only two weeks because of accusations based on media misrepresentations of his statements.[iii]
As part of this ongoing confrontation, the right-wing parliamentary benches then submitted a demand for the president’s impeachment. Although this measure was unsuccessful in Congress, various organisations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed their concern at the indiscriminate use of this legal concept.[iv]
As of October, the government's performance had been strengthened by a change in the ministerial cabinet. More conciliatory and open to dialogue, the new president of the Council of Ministers, Mirtha Vásquez Chuquilín (former congresswoman and human rights lawyer) has developed a policy focused on health, rights and the environment. She has promoted coordinated work with the various ministries and government agencies aimed at resolving the social conflicts and demands of Indigenous Peoples that arose during the first months of the administration.
Responding to the rights of the Amazonian peoples, the Vásquez cabinet has adopted concrete measures by which to continue the titling of more than 50 communities in the regions of Ucayali, Huanuco and Junín. It has also agreed to make progress in addressing the health, education and environmental demands of the communities in the Pastaza, Tigre, Corriente and Marañón river basins in Loreto, where oil exploitation is resulting in constant spills.
In addition, agreements have been promoted and fulfilled in the areas with mining conflicts in the Andes. In Chumbivilcas, Cusco department, mechanisms have been established by which to resume dialogue with the area’s communities, whose territories are crossed by the so-called “Mining Corridor”. Coordination has also continued with the aim of resolving the conflict in the community of Aquia, in Ancash. These agreements have been reached without resorting to repression and despite the fact that the mining companies have adopted new mechanisms for applying indirect pressure in the form of a total stoppage of their work, a decision that resulted in substantial economic losses for the country due to the size of the extractive projects and its economic dependence on these raw materials.
Bearing in mind the fact that the demands of the peoples of the Andes and the Peruvian Amazon date back to previous governments, the ministerial team’s action to establish a policy of dialogue has been significant. “We won’t bring about a return to the rule of law by repressing and killing people. We will bring about a return to the rule of law by channelling these conflicts, institutionalising solutions and engaging in dialogue with the actors,” the Prime Minister said in November, in the midst of renewed conflicts.
This article is part of the 36th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of Indigenous Women standing up and taking the lead in the land rights struggle of their community in Jharkhand, India. This photo was taken by Signe Leth, and is the cover of the Indigenous World 2022 where the article is featured. Find The Indigenous World 2022 in full here
Situation on the Andean Coast
Las Bambas mining conflict, Apurimac, Peru
One of the main conflicts of 2021 involved the Chinese mining company, MMG, its copper mine at Las Bambas in Apurimac, and the communities of Chumbivilcas commune in Cusco due to the impacts of transporting the mineral overland.
The conflict re-emerged with force in September with the communities’ blockading of roads in the Southern Mining Corridor. This blockade was lifted in early October when an agreement was reached between the company and the communities. It was proposed that the communities should become suppliers and provide transport and maintenance services to the company, in addition to resuming discussions to address the communities’ other main demands and prevent future conflicts.
The discussions between the parties nevertheless broke down again in mid-November due to a lack of consensus in the negotiations as regards the amounts and number of contracts for which the communities would act as suppliers, and this led the latter to resume their blockade on 19th of that month. In response, the Chinese mining company announced that, as of 18 December, it would shut down production at its mine, something the communities described as “blackmail”. They continued the blockade until 22 December when the protest was lifted pending a meeting with company representatives, national, regional and local government officials. Finally, on 30 December, the meeting took place and it was agreed to resume a peaceful dialogue. The next meeting was scheduled for 18 January. While talks are ongoing, the communities have agreed not to blockade the corridor and the mining company announced the recommencement of its activities on 31 December. Tensions continue, however, as these and other communities are affected by the transport of minerals but are not considered to be in the direct impact zone despite the noise and dust caused by the movement of large vehicles through their territories.
People affected by toxic metals in the Andes and Amazonia
The struggle to receive care for those affected by toxic metals also featured highly in 2021. In January, they succeeded in getting the government to establish a Temporary Multisectoral Commission for a Comprehensive and Integrated Approach to the Population Exposed to Heavy Metals, Metalloids and Other Toxic Chemical Substances, with the intention that it would sit until 30 June 2021. This was a change to the regulation that created this commission in July 2020, which had restricted its scope to only those exposed to heavy metals.
This working group, under the responsibility of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and made up of 14 vice-ministries, regional representatives and civil society, drew up a technical report that included a proposal for a Special Multisectoral Plan for Comprehensive Intervention for the Population Exposed to Heavy Metals, Metalloids and Other Toxic Chemical Substances. This was finally approved on 23 December and will prioritise the care of people affected by heavy metals in the territories of Cuninico (Loreto), Cerro de Pasco, Espinar (Cusco), the Coata basin (Puno) and La Oroya (Junín).[v]
To meet the needs of the plan, and to guarantee the exposed population’s their right to health, the Public Sector Budget Law for 2022 also approved the financing of actions related to the care of people affected by heavy metal contamination, to an amount in excess of 50 million soles.
Forced sterilisations
The forced sterilisations that took place in Peru are a prominent example of how the sexual and reproductive rights of one of the most vulnerable sectors in the country have been violated. Occurring between 1996 and 2000, during the second government of Alberto Fujimori, the so-called National Reproductive Health and Family Planning Plan sought to reduce poverty by bringing the birth rate down and was aimed primarily at low-income women whose only language was Quechua.
In 2021, the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) published Peru: Las Esterilizaciones en la década del terror [Peru: Sterilisations in the Decade of Terror], a 184-page text edited by anthropologist Alberto Chirif that brought together eight contributions from women on the subject.[vi] For former congresswoman and human rights defender, Rocío Silva Santisteban, it was an aggressive policy of patriarchal and colonial control over the racialised bodies of economically depressed sectors, a form of biopolitical domination.
More than 270,000 women are recorded as having been sterilised to date although the Association of Peruvian Women Affected by Forced Sterilisations (Ampaef) believes the real figure is likely to be in excess of 300,000. Twenty-two thousand (22,000) men also suffered the consequences of this policy, promoted by former health ministers Alejandro Aguinaga, Marino Costa Bauer and Eduardo Yong Motta, with the approval of former President Fujimori.
In 2021, amidst constant rescheduling of the preparatory hearings, the case caught the media’s eye once more during the second round of the presidential elections. While candidate Keiko Fujimori was announcing a possible pardon for her father, she also referred to the forced sterilisations as “isolated events”. This stance is contradicted by the more than 180 pieces of evidence collated by the prosecutor in the case. In the context of the electoral campaign, the women received the support of –and a commitment from– the candidate Pedro Castillo, now president of the country.[vii]
After 25 years of struggle, the trial of the defendants in this case finally commenced in December 2021, a milestone in the victims’ struggle. Ampaef has cautioned, however, that there remains a long judicial road ahead and that there are still outstanding commitments, such as full reparations.[viii]
Situation in Amazonia
Deforestation and major threats
Towards the end of the year, it was revealed that Peru’s deforestation level in 2020 was the highest in the last two decades, with 203,272 hectares of forest lost, a figure that exceeded the previous year’s by 54,846 hectares. This figure is the result of satellite monitoring conducted by the Ministry of Environment through its National Forest Conservation Programme for Climate Change Mitigation.[ix]
This trend seemed to continue throughout 2021, judging by various reports such as that published in late September by the Andean Amazon Monitoring Project, which recorded the loss of more than 860,000 hectares of primary forest in the central Peruvian Amazon between January and October 2021, specifically in the regions of Ucayali, Huanuco and southern Loreto.[x]
This increased deforestation is caused by illegal mining, drug trafficking and monocropping. Other recent examples include a new Mennonite colony in the rainforest which has deforested nearly 300 hectares, and a large-scale rice plantation of nearly 400 hectares on the right bank of the Aguaytía River, near the municipality of Nueva Requena in Ucayali. There are also pockets of deforestation in the Madre de Dios region linked to illegal alluvial mining, especially in the vicinity of La Pampa.
In relation to Peru’s participation in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2021 (COP26), it was one of the countries to sign up to the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. The declaration commits more than 100 world leaders to join forces in bringing a halt to deforestation and to promote the restoration, conservation and sustainable management of natural ecosystems.
Murders of environmental defenders
At least 10 environmental defenders and Indigenous leaders were killed in Peru during the pandemic (2020 and 2021), according to the records of various institutions reviewed by Servindi: six in 2020 and four in 2021.
The murders in 2021 took the lives of Amazonian leaders Herasmo García, Yenes Ríos, Mario López and Lucio Pascual. The deaths of these leaders are linked to the encroachment of illicit activities into the native communities, such as coca leaf cultivation, illegal logging and drug trafficking.[xi]
In June, 86 Indigenous organisations and institutions from Peru and around the world urged the Peruvian State to implement concrete measures to protect Indigenous human rights defenders.
Peoples in isolation and initial contact
In February 2021, the Regional Organisation of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO) requested precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights aimed at requiring the Peruvian State to adopt effective measures to protect Indigenous Peoples Living in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI).[xii]
The Ministry of Culture is the lead agency for the protection of peoples living in isolation and initial contact in Peru, as laid down in Law 28736 (the PIACI Law), in force since 2006. Despite this law approving the creation of a Special Trans-Sectoral System to coordinate and supervise actions to protect peoples in isolation and initial contact, the Indigenous organisations are denouncing that there are thus far no mechanisms in place to fully implement it.[xiii]
The demands and sustained work of the organisations to defend these peoples nonetheless showed concrete results in 2021. Proof of this can be seen in the creation of the North and South Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve and the Yavarí Tapiche Indigenous Reserve,[xiv] which took around 20 years to obtain the State’s approval. In addition, Yavarí Tapiche’s protection plan was approved.
In turn, as part of the actions to coordinate the organisations’ efforts, the initiative of the Yavarí Tapiche Territorial Corridor for Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact and Continuous Forests was submitted jointly by Peru’s and Brazil’s Indigenous organisations. Unlike biological corridors, territorial corridors include an approach focused on the human rights of peoples living in isolation and initial contact, as well as conservation of the biodiversity of their territories, as this is key to addressing the climate emergency.[xv]
In the midst of these achievements, however, the Indigenous organisations continue to be subjected to intimidation, and this is not limited to criminal organisations. Extractive companies have found the courts an effective way to silence the demands of Indigenous Peoples. Such is the case of a ruling against the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and its Tributaries (FENAMAD), which limits its ability to defend peoples in isolation.[xvi]
“The situation facing these peoples is very sensitive. Greater conviction, commitment and effectiveness is required from the State to ensure the peoples in isolation are protected, and Indigenous organisations are offering their full support,” said PIACI anthropologist Beatriz Huertas.
Biodiversity and species trafficking
The movement aimed at creating Territories of Life became a visible strategy with which to address the climate crisis and avoid the depredation of biodiversity in 2021. This strategy seeks to recognise and strengthen Indigenous territorial governance over protected areas, which are conserved by peoples and communities without State intervention.
The Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation has been recognised as a Territory of Life by the United Nations, and the U.N. has included the Wampis territory in the registry of Territories and Areas Conserved by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, as well as in the World Database of Protected Areas. The registry is produced by the UN Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre. The territory of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation covers 1.3 million hectares of forests and water sources in the northern Peruvian Amazon, across Amazonas and Loreto regions.
Among the crimes that are threatening the country’s biodiversity, however, is the illegal trafficking of wild animals, which is still not recognised as an organised crime despite its global seriousness and the five legislative initiatives aimed at obtaining this recognition in Peru since 2019.[xvii] This illicit activity came to the public’s attention in 2021 through a media story that went viral of a small Andean fox that had been sold as a dog in the Comas district of Lima, and which was later transferred to a zoo following its rescue.[xviii]
Specialists indicate that one of the reasons preventing the eradication of this crime in Peru is the lack of controls at borders, highways and identified points of sale, as well as the beliefs of some communities that lead them to use animal parts as amulets or for consumption.[xix]
Outlook for 2022
Autonomous governments emerging
2021 was a fruitful year as regards the emergence of autonomous governments. In December, a large assembly was held to form the Awajún Autonomous Territorial Government (GTAA), the result of a several-year-long coordination process between the organisations, who agreed their statute in 2019 and 2020. The Awajún government represents a people of approximately 70,000 members with roots in four departments: Amazonas, San Martin, Loreto and Cajamarca.
The Awajún government elected Gil Inoach Shawit as its first leader, a well-known leader and lawyer with a long history in the Peruvian Indigenous movement and who served two terms as president of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP). One of the highlights of the year was the launch of the book Siempre Awajún [Forever Awajún], a collection of Gil Inoach's memoirs. The Awajún government received recognition and greetings from the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation, thus expanding and strengthening the experiences of other peoples such as the Kandozi, Chapra and Shawi, who have also embarked on their autonomous organisational processes.
Fledgling government and the right-wing on the prowl
2021 culminated in the failure of the far right, who had been determined to declare Pedro Castillo’s impeachment before the end of the year, in collusion with a media dedicated to sabotaging and delegitimising the president’s image and fostering a climate of political instability that is likely to become the norm in 2022.
Weakened by his own mistakes and limitations, by the absence of a united and strengthened parliamentary grouping of his own, with a recalcitrant right-wing and powerful media ready to pounce, Castillo’s government is an enigma amid what many consider to be a lost opportunity.
This report was produced by Renzo Anselmo, Ian Bravo and Camila Alomía, members of the Servindi journalism team, coordinated by Jorge Agurto.
This article is part of the 36th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of Indigenous Women standing up and taking the lead in the land rights struggle of their community in Jharkhand, India. This photo was taken by Signe Leth, and is the cover of the Indigenous World 2022 where the article is featured. Find The Indigenous World 2022 in full here
Notes and references
[i] “Maniobras fujimoristas contra la voluntad popular” [“Fujimorist maneuvres against the will of the people]. Servindi, 14 June 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad/14/06/2021/maniobras-fujimoristas-contra-la-voluntad-popular
[ii] “Armas, agresiones y bravuconadas en plantón de exmilitares” [Weapons, aggression and bravado at ex-military sit-in]. Servindi, 22 June 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/22/06/2021/armas-agresiones-y-bravuconadas-en-planton-de-exmilitares “Exmilitares en grupos de extrema derecha buscan vacancia presidencial” [Former soldiers in far right groups seek president’s impeachment]. Servindi, 8 November 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/08/11/2021/grupos-extremistas-continuan-con-marchas-en-objetivo-pro-vacancia
[iii] “Béjar, el ‘terrorismo’ y el linchamiento mediático” [Béjar, ‘terrorism’ and media lynching]. Servindi, 19 August 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/19/08/2021/bejar-el-terrorismo-y-el-linchamiento-mediatico
[iv] “CIDH preocupada por mal uso de figura de vacancia presidencial” [IACHR concerned at misuse of concept of impeachment]. Servindi, 10 December 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/10/12/2021/cidh-preocupada-por-mal-uso-de-figura-de-vacancia-presidencial
[v] “Aprueban plan para atender a afectados/as por metales tóxicos” [Plan approved to care for those affected by toxic metals]. Servindi, 23 December 2021. http://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/23/12/2021/aprueban-plan-para-atender-afectados-por-metales-toxicos
[vi] Alberto Chirif. “Perú: las Esterilizaciones en la década del terror” [Peru: Sterilisations in the Decade of Terror]. Perú, IWGIA and Demus,2021. https://es.scribd.com/document/523521570/IWGIA-Peru-Las-Esterilizaciones-en-La-Decada-Del-Terror-Publicacion-2021#from_embed
[vii] See: “Víctimas de esterilizaciones forzadas reciben respaldo de Pedro Castillo” [Victims of forced sterilisations receive support from Pedro Castillo]. Servindi, 31 May 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/31/05/2021/victimas-de-esterilizaciones-forzadas-reciben-respaldo-de-pedro
[viii] ”Esterilizaciones forzadas: reparación integral pendiente” [Forced sterilisations: comprehensive reparations outstanding]. Servindi, 15 December 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/14/12/2021/esterilizaciones-forzadas-reparacion-integral-pendiente
[ix] Yvette Sierra Praeli. “Perú alcanza cifra de deforestación más alta en los últimos 20 años” [Highest deforestation rate of the last 20 years in Peru]. Servindi, 10 October 2021. https://www.servindi.org/10/10/2021/peru-alcanza-cifra-de-deforestacion-mas-alta-en-los-ultimos-20-anos
[x] “Amazonía perdió más de 860 mil hectáreas en lo que va del 2021” [Amazonia has lost more than 860 thousand hectares so far in 2021]. Servindi, 13 October 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/13/10/2021/amazonia-perdio-mas-de-860-mil-hectareas-en-lo-que-va-del-2021
[xi] “Diez defensores y líderes indígenas asesinados durante la pandemia” [Ten Indigenous defenders and leaders killed during the pandemic]. Servindi, 23 December 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/23/12/2021/diez-defensores-y-lideres-indigenas-asesinados-durante-la-pandemia
[xii] “ORPIO solicita a la CIDH que el Estado proteja a los PIACI” [ORPIO requests the IACHR to call on the State to protect PIACI]. Servindi, 2 February 2021.https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/02/02/2021/orpio-solicita-la-cidh-que-el-estado-proteja-los-piaci
[xiii] “Exigen destituir funcionarios del sector Cultura por no proteger a los PIACI” [Dismissal of culture officials demanded for failure to protect PIACI]. Servindi, 4 April 2021. https://www.servindi.org/04/04/2021/exigen-destituir-funcionarios-del-sector-cultura-por-no-proteger-los-piaci
[xiv] "Gobierno aprueba Reserva Indígena Kakataibo Norte y Sur” [Government approves North and South Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve]. Servindi, 22 July 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/22/07/2021/gobierno-aprueba-reserva-indigena-kakataibo-norte-y-sur
Yvette Sierra Praeli. “Perú: se crea Yavarí Tapiche, la primera reserva indígena para pueblos en aislamiento en Loreto” [Peru: Yavari Tapiche, the first Indigenous Reserve for peoples in isolation in Loreto, is created]. Mongabay, 15 April 2021. https://es.mongabay.com/2021/04/yavari-tapiche-la-primera-reserva-indigena-para-pueblos-en-aislamiento-en-loreto/
[xv] “Corredores Territoriales: hacia una verdadera protección de pueblos en aislamiento” [Territorial Corridors: towards true protection of peoples in isolation]. Servindi, 3 January 2022. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-informe-especial-noticias/03/01/2022/corredores-territoriales-hacia-la-proteccion-de-los
[xvi] “Sentencia judicial limita defensa de pueblos en aislamiento” [Judicial ruling limits defence of peoples in isolation]. Servindi, 14 December 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/14/12/2021/sentencia-judicial-limita-defensa-de-pueblos-en-aislamiento
[xvii] “Plantean que tráfico de especies sea delito de crimen organizado” [Proposal to classify species trafficking as organised crime]. Servindi, 3 March 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/02/03/2021/proponen-que-trafico-de-especies-sea-delito-de-crimen-organizado
[xviii] Camila Alomía. “Zorrito andino en cautiverio, traficantes libres” [Andean fox in captivity, traffickers free]. Servindi, 9 November 2021. https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-noticias/09/11/2021/zorro-en-cautiverio-traficantes-libres
[xix] “[Informe] Tráfico ilegal de fauna: un problema latente que no se detiene” [[Report] Illegal wildlife trafficking: a latent problem with no end]. Clima de Cambios, 18 November 2021. https://www.pucp.edu.pe/climadecambios/noticias/trafico-ilegal-de-fauna-un-problema-latente-que-no-se-detiene/
