Overview
- The Ashéninka leader Américo Pascuala Tomisha was shot dead while on a territorial patrol after confronting people reportedly extracting copaiba resin on Sunday, August 23, 2026.
- The Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a formal investigation into his death but authorities have not publicly identified or arrested any suspects.
- Regional indigenous organizations including ORAU, AIDESEP and the CNDDHH have demanded immediate entry by prosecutors and police, secure protection for Onconashari and an impartial, culturally sensitive inquiry.
- Local groups link the killing to illegal extraction networks that target copaiba—a tree resin used by cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries—and to weak state presence in the Yurúa border zone that leaves communities vulnerable.
- The killing fits a wider pattern of attacks on Amazon defenders in Peru while a recent court ruling that sentenced four people to long prison terms for the 2023 murder of Quinto Inuma shows that prosecutions can succeed but many cases remain unresolved.