Overview
- Américo Pascuala Tomisha, a 57-year-old Ashéninka leader and former chief of Onconashari, was shot dead during a territorial patrol on Sunday, August 23 while confronting people who were allegedly extracting copaiba oil from communal land.
- The Organización Regional Aidesep Ucayali (ORAU) and AIDESEP condemned the killing, demanded that the Ministerio Público enter Onconashari to recover the body and carry out impartial investigations, and asked for immediate security guarantees for the community.
- No public arrests have been reported in connection with Pascuala’s death as of the latest coverage, and local leaders say weak police and judicial presence in frontier areas allows illegal extractive groups and drug routes to operate inside native territories.
- Civil society and a senator, Ruth Luque Ibarra, demanded a deep probe and stronger state action, citing earlier cases such as arrests tied to the Alto Tamaya-Saweto murders that raised questions about timely justice and prosecution of those who order attacks.
- Peru has recorded more than 60 killings of environmental and indigenous defenders since 2012, and activists warn that without faster investigations and better protection protocols more community monitors who defend forests and resources will remain at high risk.