Violence against women in Peru has increased as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns. 14,912 people were reported missing from January to November 2020, more than half of them minors and 64 per cent women. People have been confined to their homes for months, many forced to endure poor physical, economic and social conditions. A situation that
Joys Estefani Qqueccaño Huamani, 24, disappeared from her rural community in Peru on 9 October. Her family began looking for her independently of the authorities and despite the resistance of relatives of Joys Estefani’s ex-partner Arturo Ccana Condori, 32, charged with committing violence against her on 28 September, eleven days before Joys Estefani disappeared. Photos
Indigenous peoples in the isolated region are suffering from poor access to health, with several cities becoming hotspots of coronavirus in the Amazon. Indigenous leaders, health experts and NGOs are calling for international help.
The Canadian oil company Pacific E&P, who had been granted the right to explore and extract oil in the Peruvian Amazon by the national government, has halted its exploration activities in block 135 of the rainforest (which is divided into “blocks” of oil and gas exploration). The company released a statement saying it “has made the decision to relinquish its exploration
The Munduruku block the Tapajós dam, Brazil The hydroelectric São Luiz do Tapajós dam would have been one of Brazil’s largest. It was planned to alter the course of the Tapajós River, one of the Amazon River’s largest tributaries, inundating over 700 square kilometres, including of Munduruku land. But it won’t go ahead. Together with organisations such as Greenpeace and Survival International the
Il papà di Diana Rios è stato fatto a pezzi perché difendeva la foresta. Anche lei rischia la vita, ma non ha rinunciato a partecipare alla Cop 21.
Oil spills in the Amazon are nothing new. Another pipeline has broken in the Loreto region of Peru, threatening local communities’ health and the environment.
Survival International, a global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, has denounced mercury poisoning in Latin America in a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur for Health. The organisation highlights Venezuela, Peru and Brazil as countries that don’t comply with procedures to monitor the effects of mining on the environment. Mercury contamination, which commonly follows illegal
Many of us grew up with the legend of Atlantis, an island described in one of Plato’s works, said to have sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after having fallen out of favour with the gods. A similar narrative has persisted in Peru in the form of a boiling river, Paititi. It is said that the
One child has already died due to mercury poisoning, which has put the safety of up to 80% of the indigenous Nahua tribe, who live in the Peruvian Amazon, in jeopardy. The circumstances as to why the majority of the community presents symptoms of intoxication caused by the substance remain unclear. Its high levels in
