A nightmare choice for Peru’s Indigenous leaders
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “If we continue like this, with the advance of narcotrafficking, this region will become a second VRAEM,” says Angel Gutiérrez, the interim governor of Ucayali, referring to Peru’s principal coca-growing zone. Environmental monitors read the coordinates where illegal coca crops are found “We can’t go to the police or prosecutors because they act so slowly anyway,” he says. “Without economic development, it’s going to be very difficult.” Environmental monitors from Yamino, Peru, walk through a coca field outside their village President Pedro Castillo, a populist leftist whose base is the rural poor, including coca growers and Indigenous peoples, has been notably absent on the subject. “They’re the most vulnerable, even more than us, but if we tried to help them, it would be a bloodbath.” Soberón, the Devida chief, admires the goal of Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s new leftist president.
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