Widows: Probe into Peru activist killings stalled

[Judi Lynn]

Widows: Probe into Peru activist killings stalled
Published: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 17, 2014 at 8:43 p.m.


LIMA, Peru (AP) — The widows of four indigenous leaders allegedly slain by illegal loggers in Peru's remote Amazon complained Monday that the investigation into their husbands' September deaths is stalled.

Only two of the four bodies of the Ashaninka leaders have been recovered so far, including of village chief Edwin Chota.

Chota petitioned for more than a decade for title to the ancestral 300-square-mile (80,000-hectare) tract on the border with Brazil, resisting death threats from illegal loggers, several of whom have been arrested as suspects in the killings.

The widows complained on Monday in Lima that the investigation is stalled. They say authorities' claim a lack of funds to hire a helicopter to visit the remote village of Saweto.

~snip~
The nonprofit group Global Witness says Peru is the world's fourth most dangerous country for environmental activists after Brazil, Honduras and the Philippines, with 57 slain since 2002.

More:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20141118/API/311189962

[center]





village chief Edwin Chota[/center]

[99th_Monkey]

1. Stop the killing

that is all I have to say.

Just fucking stop the killing.

Thank you.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Peru: indigenous leaders murdered for protecting their forests

Peru: indigenous leaders murdered for protecting their forests

The Ecologist

18th November 2014

As Peru prepares to host UN climate talks, Global Witness exposes the murder of Peruvian eco-defenders - 57 killed since 2002, including indigenous leaders protecting their forests from illegal logging ignored by police and Government.

A new report by Global Witness sheds light on what's driving the high number of killings of environmental defenders in Peru, less than a month before the country hosts the UN climate talks in Lima.

Peru's Deadly Environment calls into question the commitments of Peru to protect its carbon-rich forests and the people who live in them, in light of unfettered illegal logging, disregard for indigenous land claims, and new laws that favour industrial exploitation over environmental protection.

The report comes on the heels of the killings of four indigenous leaders in Ucayali in September, including prominent anti-logging activist Edwin Chota and three of his fellow Ashéninka leaders from the Peruvian Amazon.

"The murders of Edwin Chota and his colleagues are tragic reminders of a paradox at work in the climate negotiations", said Patrick Alley, Co-Founder of Global Witness. "While Peru's government chairs negotiations on how to solve our climate crisis, it is failing to protect the people on the frontline of environmental protection.

Environmental defenders embody the resolve we need to halt global warming. The message is clear, if you want to save the environment, then stop people killing environmental defenders."

More:
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2639050/peru_indigenous_leaders_murdered_for_protecting_their_forests.html