By Eduardo Franco Berton When the veil of darkness falls on the forest, men armed with .22 caliber Marlin rifles come with it, and they are determined to pursue their prey. Once a bullet hits its target, the injured animal falls into the water and has to swim to the shore, where it bleeds to […]
Category: Corruption
Colombian and Ecuadorian criminal groups expand their violent influence throughout the Amazon
By Plan V* The Comandos de la Frontera, a Colombian armed group that also operates in northern Ecuador, and the Ecuadorian gang Los Choneros have imposed a regime of terror in the Amazonian provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana, although the alliances between them are unclear. One of the illegal activities that has grown the most […]
Drug gangs threaten communities in Amazon ‘cocaine corridor’
Indigenous, African-descended and other traditional communities are caught in escalating violence from drug trafficking in Amazon “cocaine corridor.”
Brazilian drug gang takes root in Peruvian Amazon
The notorious Brazilian gang Comando Vermelho has seized control of the cocaine trade in Peru’s Ucayali region.
Gold, not potassium: the real interest of mining on indigenous lands
Forty three percent of all mining requests on the indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon lands are for gold extraction, an InfoAmazonia data analysis reveals. In several of these targeted areas, satellite images show that there is gold mining already taking place without authorization.
A Brazilian congressman created an armed militia in the Legislative Assembly that spied on and kidnapped opponents
Confidential documents obtained by InfoAmazonia detail how a Brazilian politician commanded an armed militia that spied on and kidnapped opponents in the Amazon.