{"id":32264,"date":"2014-11-20T13:47:09","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T05:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=32264"},"modified":"2014-11-20T13:13:38","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T05:13:38","slug":"widows-of-slain-indigenous-leaders-complained-of-stalled-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/20\/widows-of-slain-indigenous-leaders-complained-of-stalled-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Widows of slain indigenous leaders complained of stalled investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Indigenous<\/a>
Indigenous groups are seeking title to more than 77,000 square miles (20 million hectares) of Peru\u2019s Amazon, according to the country\u2019s main indigenous organization, AIDESEP. Tadd and Debbie Ottman<\/a> \/ Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LIMA, Peru\u2014The widows of four indigenous leaders allegedly slain by illegal loggers in Peru\u2019s remote Amazon complained Monday that the investigation into their husbands\u2019 September deaths is stalled.<\/p>\n

Only two of the four bodies of the Ashaninka leaders have been recovered so far, including of village chief Edwin Chota.<\/p>\n

Chota petitioned for more than a decade for title to the ancestral 300-square-mile (80,000-hectare) tract on the border with Brazil, resisting death threats from illegal loggers, several of whom have been arrested as suspects in the killings.<\/p>\n

The widows complained on Monday in Lima that the investigation is stalled. They say authorities\u2019 claim a lack of funds to hire a helicopter to visit the remote village of Saweto.<\/p>\n

Late Monday, prosecutor Edder Farfan confirmed the difficulty of reaching the village but described the investigation as \u201cvery active.\u201d He said that despite the difficulties, a third suspect in the case had been arrested in the regional capital of Pucallpa.<\/p>\n

The widows, who have been staying in Pucallpa, said they continue to receive threats and fear the journey home, a strenuous three-day river trip.<\/p>\n

David Salisbury, a University of Richmond geographer who has long assisted Saweto in its land ownership quest, said the widows don\u2019t believe all the killers have been caught.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community feels there are more people involved, not just intellectually but materially,\u201d he told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

After the killings, Prime Minister Ana Jara promised a thorough investigation. And authorities told the widows they would expedite the land title request.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout title to our property in the jungle we are nothing. We are rich in natural resources but without titles, without the paper, we can\u2019t get loans or economic support,\u201d Chota\u2019s widow, Julia Perez, told the news conference.<\/p>\n

Indigenous groups are seeking title to more than 77,000 square miles (20 million hectares) of Peru\u2019s Amazon, according to the country\u2019s main indigenous organization, AIDESEP.<\/p>\n

The non-profit group Global Witness says Peru is the world\u2019s fourth most dangerous country for environmental activists after Brazil, Honduras and the Philippines, with 57 slain since 2002.<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LIMA, Peru\u2014The widows of four indigenous leaders allegedly slain by illegal loggers in Peru\u2019s remote Amazon complained Monday that the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":32265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-w","mauthors-franklin-briceno","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}