An attack by armed assailants on a patrol of a mission by the Indigenous Wampis guards last week in the Peruvian Amazon has again brought into focus the issue of illegal gold mining in the ancestral territory. The 60-member mission was ambushed and shot at as they were patrolling near the Wampis community of Fortaleza on Saturday, just days after the Peruvian government’s sudden withdrawal from a planned joint enforcement operation to confront the illegal mining. No one was hurt in the attack.
For two years, the Wampis Nation has pressed state agencies and the public prosecutor’s office in Peru to work together to monitor for and remove illegal mining operations from the Santiago River basin. Days before a scheduled joint operation, government agencies pulled out without explanation, according to Amazon Watch, a U.S.-based environmental and Indigenous rights nonprofit. In response, the Wampis launched their own mission and its first patrol was attacked on Saturday. Indigenous leaders say the incident highlights the growing risks faced by land defenders and the government’s failure to uphold its promises.
“We will not stand by while our rivers are poisoned and our forests destroyed,” said Galois Yampis, vice president of the Wampis government.
Peru’s “government failed to honor its commitments, so we are acting to defend our territory and the future of our people,” he added. The Indigenous Wampis territorial guards are community-led environmental defenders trained and organized by the autonomous territorial government of the Wampis Nation. Their aim is to protect Wampis ancestral lands from illegal activities such as mining, logging, and drug trafficking, while upholding their cultural values and vision of Tarimat Pujut — a life in harmony with nature.
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