Indigenous leader, anti-cocaine, murdered in Peru

UPDATE DAY

An indigenous leader, who was leading a fight against the coca fields, was assassinated in the center of the Peruvian jungle, the government announced on Sunday. 

The authorities “condemn the assassination of the indigenous leader of the district and province of Satipo, in the region of Junin, Santiago Contoricon Antunez, and express their solidarity with his relatives and the indigenous Ashaninka people”, she tweeted. 

According to media in the Junin region, Mr. Contoricon was shot several times in the head by a man during the night from Saturday to Sunday at his home in the small town of Puerto Ocopa.

El Ministerio de Cultura, @MininterPeru y @MinjusDH_Peru contain the asesinato del líder indigena del distrito y provincia de Satipo, región Junín, Santiago Contoricón Antúnez y expresa su solidarity con sus deudos y el pueblo indigena Ashaninka. pic.twitter.com/VllIQvXKNe

— Ministerio de Cultura (@MinCulturaPe) April 9, 2023

“Drug traffickers murdered Santiago Contoricon last night,” former interior minister and drug policy expert Ruben tweeted. Vargas.

Puerto Ocopa is located in the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro (Vraem) rivers, the largest coca-producing region in the country.

The native chief was a figure of the Ashaninka people. In the 1990s, he led the resistance against the Maoist Shining Path guerrillas, responsible for the murder of more than 400 Ashaninka Amerindians during the Years of Lead in Peru, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

El Ministerio de Cultura, @MininterPeru y @MinjusDH_Peru contain the asesinato del líder indigena del distrito y provincia de Satipo, región Junín, Santiago Contoricón Antúnez y expressa su solidarity con sus deudos y el pueblo indígena Ashaninka. pic.twitter.com/VllIQvXKNe

— Ministerio de Cultura (@MinCulturaPe) April 9, 2023

Last December, another indigenous leader who fought against the depredation of the Amazon was also gunned down in the central jungle of Peru.

The Ashaninka, who live in central and southeastern Peru, are the largest of the country's 65 ethnic groups.