Latest news with #Amazonian
Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Environmental activist shot dead in Peruvian Amazon
Attacks against environmental activists have risen in recent years in the Amazonian areas of Peru. (AFP pic) LIMA : An environmental activist campaigning against the destruction of the Amazon was shot and killed in the Peruvian jungle, local authorities said yesterday. Hipolito Quispehuaman was killed Saturday night while driving along a section of the Interoceanic Highway in the southeastern Madre de Dios region, according to the local prosecutor's office. Quispehuaman had served as a member of the Tambopata National Reserve Management Committee. 'This is a murder with a firearm of yet another defender of the Madre de Dios region,' local prosecutor Karen Torres told reporters. Torres added that the preliminary motive being considered by investigators was that the murder was in retaliation for the advocacy work he was doing. 'I demand justice for my brother's death. This kind of thing cannot happen,' the victim's brother, Angel Quispehuaman, told reporters. Peru's national coordinator for human rights (CNDDHH) condemned the murder and demanded 'the Peruvian state take urgent and effective measures to protect the lives and work of (rights) defenders'. 'Not one more death! Enough with the murders of human rights defenders!' the CNDDHH said on X. The ministry of justice pledged 'to work on the legal defence of the victims, so that this crime does not go unpunished', it wrote on X. Attacks against environmental activists have risen in recent years in Amazonian areas of Peru, where the presence of national authorities is scarce. In July 2024, indigenous environmental activist Mariano Isacama was murdered in the Amazon region of Ucayali, located around 497km east of capital Lima. Indigenous people face the growing presence of drug traffickers and illegal mining, which are deforesting the Amazon region. At least 54 land and environmental defenders have been murdered in Peru since 2012, more than half of whom were indigenous people, according to NGO Global Witness.
The Journal
a day ago
- The Journal
Environmental activist shot dead in Peru over work to save Amazon rainforest
AN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST campaigning against the destruction of the Amazon has been shot and killed in the Peruvian jungle in what police suspect was retaliation against his advocacy work. Hipolito Quispehuaman was killed on Saturday night while driving along a section of the Interoceanic Highway in the southeastern Madre de Dios region, according to the local prosecutor's office. Quispehuaman had served as a member of the management committee of the Tambopata National Reserve, a large nature reserve in the southeast of Peru with hundreds of species of plants and wildlife. 'This is a murder with a firearm of yet another defender of the Madre de Dios region,' local prosecutor Karen Torres told reporters. Torres added that the preliminary motive being considered by investigators was that the murder was in retaliation for the advocacy work he was doing. 'I demand justice for my brother's death. This kind of thing cannot happen,' the victim's brother, Angel Quispehuaman, told reporters. Advertisement Peru's National Coordinator for Human Rights (CNDDHH) condemned the murder and demanded 'the Peruvian state take urgent and effective measures to protect the lives and work of (rights) defenders.' 'Not one more death! Enough with the murders of human rights defenders!' the CNDDHH said on X. The Ministry of Justice pledged 'to work on the legal defense of the victims, so that this crime does not go unpunished,' it wrote on X. Attacks against environmental activists have risen in recent years in Amazonian areas of Peru, where the presence of national authorities is scarce. In July 2024, Indigenous environmental activist Mariano Isacama was murdered in the Amazon region of Ucayali, located around 497 kilometres east of capital Lima. Indigenous people face the growing presence of drug traffickers and illegal mining, which are deforesting the Amazon region. At least 54 land and environmental defenders have been murdered in Peru since 2012, more than half of whom were Indigenous people, according to NGO Global Witness. © AFP 2025
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Police kept me as sex slave for nine months as baby watched, mom claims
A woman claims she was repeatedly raped by police officers in front of her newborn baby. The 29-year-old Brazilian mother alleges she was held as a sex slave in a prison cell for nine months while cops took turns abusing her. She alleges she was taken to a remote police station in Santo Antonio do Ica, in the rural state of Amazonas, and told she was being held for domestic violence against her husband. A lawyer acting for the woman, who is part of Amazonian Kokama indigenous community, said the attacks began after she was arrested. But when she was taken to the station officers threw her in a cell with male inmates and told her there was an outstanding warrant for her arrest. She then allegedly became a sex slave to the officers who systematically raped her until she was released in August 2023. The woman is now demanding nearly $90,000 in compensation from the state for the horrific abuse she suffered. According to an affidavit, the woman's ordeal was so traumatic that she tried to kill herself several times. 'The psychological damages of the gang rape committed in the presence of the newborn and during the period of imprisonment caused her permanent damage,' the document said. Additionally, the level of abuse she suffered was so physically brutal that two years later she continues to suffer from uncontrollable bleeding in the uterus, her legal team said. 'The physical pain acquired as a result of sexual violence is added to the deep psychological wound that marked the Plaintiff's soul. 'The depression, the suicide attempts inside the prison and the constant fear are silent witnesses to the barbarity suffered.' Lead attorney Dacimar de Souza Carneiro noted that the abuse happened everywhere in the station - from the cell to the kitchen and even in the weapons arsenal. 'The rapes happened at night, during shifts. In all areas of the police station. The other prisoners didn't say anything because they were also tortured.' And when she begged them not to rape her in front of her baby son, cops reportedly told her: 'We're the ones in charge here.' When she was not being raped, the document alleges that she was locked in the police station's only cell with other men and lived in constant fear of further attacks. The victim identified four military police officers and a municipal guard as the perpetrators. She was only spared when she was transferred to a women's jail in August 2023, and she told wardens about what had happened to her. The Amazonas Public Security Secretariat and the Civil Police say they are investigating her allegations.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Bloomberg
Peru Seizes Mercury Cargo in Battle Against Illegal Gold Mining
Peruvian authorities last month seized about four metric tons of mercury shipped from Mexico as authorities in the Amazon region battle to stem the flow of the neurotoxin used in illegal gold mining. The seizure by customs officials — acting on intelligence provided by the Environmental Investigation Agency — was the biggest ever reported by an Amazonian country, the EIA said in a statement Thursday.
Scoop
5 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Toxic Tons: The Largest Flow Of Illegal Mercury To The Amazon Ever Exposed
Washington, D.C. - The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA US)'s new report, Traffickers Leave No Stone Unturned, exposes the large scale trafficking of mercury from mercury mines in Mexico - located in a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere reserve, to gold mines in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru in violation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. According to EIA's findings, from April 2019 to June 2025, approximately 200 tons of mercury have been trafficked–resulting, by conservative estimates, to the production of at least US$8 billion worth of illegal gold, at current prices. The investigation shows how mercury and gold trafficking intersects with organized crime in both Mexico and Colombia. Acting on EIA's intelligence, Peruvian customs authorities stopped approximately 4 tons of Mexican mercury in June 2025, the largest seizure ever reported by an Amazonian country. This groundbreaking case sheds new light on the enforcement gaps and loopholes of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, raising urgent questions about its effectiveness to face the often highly covert and organized criminal groups that control mercury and gold trafficking. Due to a combination of economic, geopolitical, and market factors, the price of gold has risen sharply since 2023, reaching a historic high in April 2025 with a price of US$3,500 per ounce. This was largely attributed to trade tensions between the United States (U.S.) and China, which led investors to look for safe investments opportunities, like gold. A significant portion of the gold being produced globally each year comes from illegal sources. Estimates for illegally extracted gold in Amazonian countries run from roughly 28% to nearly 90% of total production, depending on the country, while illegal gold mines have spread in recent years, becoming a significant regional driver of deforestation. Recent studies show that the cumulative deforestation footprint from gold mining across the Amazon reached over 2 million hectares (nearly 5 million acres) by 2024, having increased by over 50% in the past six years. A third of the impact is located in protected areas and Indigenous territories, including on Yanomami, Munduruku, and Kayapó territories. The current onslaught of illegal gold mining in the Amazon wouldn't be possible without mercury. Miners use mercury to form an amalgam with gold-bearing sediments. The amalgam is then heated, vaporizing the mercury and leaving behind gold. This process, while rudimentary, is central to illegal mining operations across the region and is the main driver of mercury pollution in the Amazon. This process also releases large amounts of mercury into the environment. Gold mining is now the world's largest source of airborne mercury pollution, releasing over 800 tons annually into the atmosphere. The mercury used in these operations contaminates soil, waterways, and forests. Mercury, which is a highly dangerous neurotoxin, enters the food chain, bioaccumulates, and causes severe neurological disorders and multiple other serious health problems for Amazonian communities. Alexander von Bismarck, Executive Director at EIA US, explains: 'The toxic flow of mercury to the illegal gold mines in the Amazon has been presented and accepted as inevitable for too many years, it is time to challenge this status quo that affects Amazonian communities and benefits organized criminals.' From April 2019 and June 2025, EIA has investigated and documented the smuggling of approximately 200 tons of illegal mercury, which represents the largest flow of illegal mercury ever reported globally. The mercury route starts in the state of Queretaro in Mexico where a few active mercury mines are producing dozens of tons of mercury each year in order to feed gold mining demand in the Amazon. Several of these mines are located within the Sierra Gorda UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Evidence collected by EIA indicates that some of the mines are controlled by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. As of May 2025, sources from the Queretaro mines told investigators that a new 'mercury fever' has hit the region since 2025, triggered by record high prices (US$330 per kilogram of mercury) offered by mercury traffickers, as a consequence of skyrocketing gold prices. According to EIA's investigation, Mexican mercury flows to often cartel-controlled gold mines in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, with some transhipment via the U.S. For instance, drug cartels in Colombia control an important part of domestic mercury trafficking routes. According to conservative estimates, the smuggled Mexican mercury has been used for the extraction of, at the very minimum, US$8 billion worth of illegal gold (at the current price of US$3,300 per ounce). Based on EIA's intelligence, Peruvian customs authority (Superintendencia Nacional de Aduanas y de Administración Tributaria - SUNAT) disrupted the Peruvian branch of a transnational organized criminal network via the seizure of a shipment of approximately 4 tons of smuggled mercury transhipped in Peru and inbound to Bolivia. The shipment was transported by Ocean Network Express (ONE) on a Hapag Lloyd vessel. This mercury seizure represents the largest ever reported by an Amazonian country. Alexander von Bismarck comments: 'As long as mercury mines remain open, in Mexico or elsewhere, smugglers will find their ways around. The problem must be addressed at its roots.' While the Peruvian success against organized smuggling is a major step forward in the effort to combat illegal gold and mercury in the Amazon, EIA's findings raise serious questions regarding the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention on Mercury and in particular its implementation in Mexico. Several critical issues must be urgently addressed – particularly at the upcoming 6th Conference of the Parties of the Convention in November 2025 – including: the grace period that allows mercury mines to remain open and continue to produce primary mercury fueling illegal gold mines around the world; the lack of effective enforcement that allows mercury mines to remain active albeit formally illegal or unauthorized; the fact that ASGM is considered an 'allowable' use of mercury under the Minamata Convention – a loophole that every day hurts ecosystems and hundreds of families across the Amazon.
