The widows of saweto. families of leaders ashaninkas murdered by logging businessmen report that the threats continue to this day.
The widows and children of the four leaders ashaninkas murdered in 2014 demanded to be heard and attended by the State to protect the Amazon forest of unscrupulous logging businessmen.
Ergilia Rengifo, widow of one of the victims, pointed out that the threats against their lives continue to this day, despite which they will continue to fight and demand justice.
“No one is going to cure this pain for me. We have come asking for justice. I am walking, defending my rights, for my people, for my children. I am Ashaninka, I am not a gringa, we want the State to listen to us,” Rengifo said.
“Threats,” he continued, “have come before, until now we have threats, they can kill us. I need justice. If we don’t take care, what will become of us, we are going to stay like Lima, full of cement.”
Rengifo recalled that her husband and his murdered companions always denounced illegal logging and the threats they received, but the Peruvian State did not want to listen to them and that is why they decided to go to Brazil.
No one will bring him back to life
“I am sad because my father has died, nobody is going to give me back his life. I ask for justice and that the murderers do not get out of jail because my father is not alive, no one will bring him back to life,” said Lina Rengifo, daughter of Francisco Pinedo.
The relatives of the assassinated Asháninka leaders gave these statements at a press conference that they offered together with their lawyer, Óscar Romero, before the Power of attorney read the full sentence against the five murderers.
Judgment
On September 1, 2014, Edwin Chota, Leoncio Quintisima, Jorge Ríos and Francisco Pinedo, leaders of the native community of Alto Tamaya-Saweto, in the Ucayali region, They were killed after denouncing illegal logging for years.
On February 17, a judge read the advance of the sentence that finds those responsible for this crime the logging businessmen José Carlos Estrada Huayta and Hugo Soria Flores, as instigators, and the brothers Segundo and Josimar Atachi Félix and the Brazilian Eurico Mapes Gómez, as material authors of the murder.
This February 27, the entire ruling was read, more than eight years after the crime occurred. However, none of the murderers are in prison. According to Criminal Procedure Codethe judge suspended the effects of the verdict until the sentence is confirmed by a Superior Chamber.
The lawyer for the next of kin, Óscar Romero, stressed that, even though it arrives late, the sentence establishes an important precedent since it not only condemns the perpetrators, but also the instigators of the crime. crime.
He emphasized that for crimes like those of the leaders natives not happen again, it is important that the authorities and public opinion listen to their voices and attend to their claims.
Far
Journey. The trip from Saweto to Pucallpa, the capital of ucayaliit takes two days by river transport.
Title. A year after the assassination, the State gave the Asháninka community the title to 76,800 hectares of forest.
