Friends of the Earth International denounces massacre of peasant farmers in Peru
Six farmers murdered in apparent Amazon land grab for palm oil plantation.
13 September, 2017
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13 September, 2017
Friends of the Earth International denounces the killing of six peasant farmers in the Peruvian Amazon on 1 September.
The victims, Jorge Calderón Campos (33), Elías Gamonal Mozimbite (31), Feliciano Córdova Abad (71), Edil Córdova López (41), Alcides Córdova López y Orlando Burillo Mendoza (53), were all members of the Asociación Agrícola Bello Paraíso in the Ucayali region of Peru.
The murders fit a global pattern of violence committed with impunity against environment, land and community defenders. This violence must end.
All the evidence suggests the massacre could be part of a violent campaign to evict local farmers and indigenous communities from their ancestral territories against their will, to make way for palm oil plantations.
This massacre is the latest act of violence in the Ucayali region of Peru; a region known for 'land trafficking': a racket whereby criminal gangs allegedly use violence to take control of forested lands, obtain land titles from regional authorities and then sell the land to agribusiness companies for plantations. This recent massacre occurred almost three years to the day after the killing of human rights activist Edwin Chota and several indigenous Ashininka forest defenders; a crime that has yet to be properly investigated.
We urge Peruvian authorities to act immediately:
Attacks on environmental defenders threaten environmental, social and gender justice, as well as the collective human rights of peoples everywhere.
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