The still arrow in the forest with no trees

The defence of ancestral territory in the Peruvian Amazon

Peru, 2022

This project follows the return of armed Indigenous patrols in the Peruvian Amazon – as a response to land invasion, extractive crime, and institutional neglect.

“These arrows are not symbolic. I have been hunting animals forever – with these arrows I can kill,” says Jorge Puente.

On the night of 22 – 23 March 2022, Nusat Parisada Benavides (42), her husband Berti Antaihua Quispe (42), and Gemerson Pizango Narvaes (46) were murdered in the Puerto Inca area, in the Huánuco region. Those responsible have not been identified.

Benavides, Quispe, and Narvaes belonged to an Asháninka community whose ancestral territory lies in the forests of Huánuco. Peru is widely considered the world’s second-largest cocaine producer after Colombia, and the Pichis – Palcazú – Pachitea basin, where Asháninka territory sits, is often described as one of the country’s main production areas.

The Asháninka are repeatedly targeted through threats, kidnappings, and assassinations because they oppose illicit coca cultivation, illegal gold mining, and deforestation. For decades they have defended their territory. In the late 1980s they founded the Ejército Asháninka to resist criminal activity and violence.

In 1989, the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) assassinated Alejandro Calderón – the founding leader of the Asháninka Nationality Association (ANAP) – because of his work on titling territories that stood in the way of the illegal rule of Puerto Bermúdez. In response, the Ejército Asháninka armed itself with rifles, bows, and arrows to repel the MRTA and other armed groups operating in the region.

The Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación) estimates that between the 1980s and the 1990s around 10,000 Asháninka were forced to leave their territories and that another 6,000 died. During those years of violence, 34 communities disappeared.

Today, amid the growth of drug trafficking, illegal mining, and illegal logging, many Asháninka communities feel once again that their rights are being violated. Land titles remain incomplete, and public investment is scarce. For these reasons, in October 2021 ANAP – which represents more than 12,000 Indigenous people – declared that the Asháninka would return to arms to confront crime and drug trafficking.

Following those statements, communities in the Huánuco, Junín, and Pasco regions began to organise armed groups. In this project, I follow the activities of one of them. Seguridad Indígena Amazónica (SIA) was formed between 2021 and 2022 and operates mainly north of Puerto Inca, in the rainforests east and west of the Pachitea River.

SIA’s main activities are patrolling the territory and defending local communities from night attacks. In recent months, they have identified seventeen illegal gold mines and three coca fields. Several times, they have had direct clashes with miners and drug traffickers. Their dedication is absolute – but without decisive intervention by the central government, the occupation of their territory could soon become complete.

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