Remains Believed to Be Those of Murdered Indigenous Leader Found in Peru

Source: Telesur English

Four indigenous leaders were killed in September whilst protecting their lands from loggers.

​On Monday, what is believed to be the skull of Jorge Ríos, perforated by a bullet, was found in the Peruvian Amazon.

Rios was one of four Ashaninka Indigenous people murdered on September 1, while on their way to prevent illegal loggers from operating in their ancestral land. Clothes and other bones were also found.

Together with other members of this community, the four indigenous leaders had repeatedly denounced the perpetrators of the logging and demanded protection from the government as well as an enforceable title to their land.

They were on their way to the Apiwtxa village on the Brazilian side of the border to participate in a coordinated effort to prevent the deforestation of the area.

However, Jorge Ríos Pérez, Edwin Chota Valera, Leoncio Quinticima Meléndez, and Francisco Pinedo were tied up and shot dead before they could reach their destination.

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