Event Summary
Hipólito Quispe Huamán, an environmental defender from the Tambopata National Reserve, was murdered on 26 July 2025. He was a founding member of the Nueva Esperanza Farmers Association of Santa Rosa and participated in the Tambopata National Reserve Management Committee. Through this role, he contributed to forest conservation efforts and collaborated with others to combat illegal mining and safeguard the reserve’s buffer zone. Authorities took more than 12 hours to recover his body, prompting public criticism of both the government and the Intersectoral Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.
On 31 July 2025, the Management Committee released a statement urging the government to provide immediate protection and resources for Quispe Huamán’s family. The National Coordinator for Human Rights (CNDDHH) condemned the killing and called on the Peruvian state to take urgent and effective action to protect the lives and work of human rights defenders. The Management Committee also expressed concern over the State’s failure to implement the protection mechanism in a timely and adequate manner. The Ombudsman’s Office also issued a statement, condemning the murder and urging the Public Prosecutor’s Office to advance the investigation swiftly, activate all relevant protocols, identify those responsible, and offer support to the victim’s family through the Victim and Witness Assistance Unit. The case has been taken up by the Supraprovincial Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Human Rights and Interculturality, as it is being investigated as a possible homicide related to Quispe Huamán’s environmental advocacy.
This incident highlights the level of violence in areas most affected by illegal mining and other environmental crimes in Peru. Defenders who speak out against illegal mining, logging, and drug trafficking—especially Indigenous leaders and community organizers—face intimidation, criminalization, and targeted killings. A report by ProPurús and ORAU, using Ministry of Justice data, documented that more than 650 defenders and their families faced risk situations between 2019 and 2024, with over half of the cases concentrated in Amazonian departments like Loreto, Ucayali, San Martín, Amazonas, and Madre de Dios.