Indigenous leader who fought for communities and conservation mourned in Peru

[Judi Lynn]

by Anna-Catherine Brigida on 25 November 2020

Benjamín Rodríguez Grandez, a leader from the Huitoto tribe who dedicated his life to preserving Indigenous customs and the natural resources they depend on in the Peruvian Amazon, died of COVID-19 on July 16, 2020.

Rodríguez was a key player in efforts to lobby for the creation of Peru’s Yaguas National Park, an area of 868,927 hectares (2.15 million acres) of forest home to more than 3,000 species of plants, 500 species of birds, and 550 fish species.

He was also a teacher and a “judge of the peace,” a special title in Peru that allows community leaders to resolve certain disputes even if they don’t have a law degree.

“If Benjamín convened the meeting, everyone attended,” one source told Mongabay. “He had that influence in the area.”

When Benjamín Rodríguez Grandez, an Indigenous leader in the Putumayo region of the Amazon in northern Peru, became sick with apparent COVID-19 symptoms in July, he was evacuated to Iquitos, the nearest major city.

Getting there was the only way to receive treatment in a hospital with an intensive care unit, and it highlighted the vulnerability of Indigenous Amazonian communities during the pandemic, cut off as most are from main highways and infrastructure by jungles, rivers, and state negligence.

Rodríguez, a leader from the Huitoto tribe who dedicated his life to preserving Indigenous customs and the natural resources they depend on, died of COVID-19 on July 16.

“Everyone mourns the loss of a leader who was so wise as Benjamin was,” said Jackson Coquinche, a friend. “Of all the people who have died in this region, they have mostly been elders, who are the most wise.”


More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/indigenous-leader-who-fought-for-communities-and-conservation-mourned-in-peru/