Edwin Chota was one of four Asháninka leaders who were murdered in Peru. Photo © Scott Wallace
Authorities in Peru are investigating the murders of four prominent indigenous leaders who had been speaking out against illegal logging in the Amazon. Edwin Chota, Jorge Ríos Pérez, Leoncio Quinticima Melendez and Francisco Pinedo were from Saweto, an Asháninka village in eastern Peru. They were on their way to a meeting with other indigenous leaders in Brazil when they were fatally shot, sometime around September 1. Chota, who was 54 years old, had previously feared for his life due to his activism against illegal logging. He said he received death threats. “The law does not reach where we live,” Chota told The New York Times last year. “They could kill us at any time.” Get the Story:
Peru Investigates the Killing of an Environmental Advocate (The New York Times 9/11)
Anti-logging activist Edwin Chota killed in Peru (Voxxi 9/10)
Amazon Indian leaders shot dead by suspected illegal loggers (Survival International 9/9)
Illegal loggers blamed for murder of Peru forest campaigner (The Guardian 9/8)
Join the Conversation