Indigenous organizations from across the Amazon and Latin America have warned the United Nations that state-backed militarization, a response to rampant transnational organized crime, has failed to resolve the crisis in their territories, leading to the "deterioration of the identity and life of Indigenous peoples." A letter sent Monday to U.N. member states and agencies, including the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, details how expanding criminal networks are undermining Indigenous governance systems and threatening communities, while governments' preferred military solutions are causing displacement, fear, and psychological harm, affecting their relationship with land, water, and sacred sites.
The letter asserts that criminal networks are expanding across parts of the Amazon and other Indigenous lands in Latin America, threatening communities, ecosystems, and local governance. Signatories contend that this expansion of organized crime is systematically undermining Indigenous governance systems, displacing communities that have historically acted as stewards of biodiverse ecosystems.
Indigenous communities across the Amazon find themselves caught between these expanding criminal networks and state security operations. Illegal gold mining, logging, and drug trafficking have spread deeper into remote rainforest regions in countries such as Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador, bringing violence, mercury contamination, and widespread deforestation.
International rights groups and U.N. experts have raised concerns regarding rising attacks on Indigenous leaders and environmental defenders, linking these to disputes over land, natural resources, and illicit economies across the Amazon. Global Witness reports that at least 2,253 land and environmental defenders have been killed or disappeared globally between 2012 and 2024, with Latin America accounting for the vast majority of these cases.
In Peru, five men are currently on trial for the 2023 killing of Indigenous defender Quinto Inuma Alvarado, who had repeatedly denounced illegal logging and drug trafficking within his territory. Rights groups indicate that most similar killings in the region go unpunished, highlighting a systemic failure of justice.
Raphael Hoetmer, Western Amazon Program Director at Amazon Watch, an environmental and Indigenous rights advocacy group, stated that the letter reflects a growing sense of urgency among Indigenous organizations as these threats expand. He noted, "More and more Indigenous Peoples are experiencing the violence and impacts of illicit economies in their territories, so it is higher on the agenda," adding that "Even four years ago this was not a central topic for most of our partners, but now it is one of the central topics for the wide majority."
Hoetmer further explained that the expansion of organized crime is increasingly shaping life across large parts of the Amazon. He warned, "The expansion and control of organized crime and violent conflict is taking over more and more of the Amazon, becoming a risk to their ways of living and to the global climate."
The Globalist Mechanism
The letter warns that these dynamics are not only driving environmental destruction but also weakening Indigenous governance and territorial control, a clear mechanism of managed decline. Illegal gold mining, in particular, has become a major driver of deforestation and mercury contamination, while armed groups and trafficking networks seek control over strategic river routes and Indigenous lands, eroding national borders.
Jeremy Douglas, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Deputy Director of Operations, commented in a written statement that, "Drug trafficking in the Amazon often connects with illegal mining, logging and land grabbing — a criminal ecosystem where environmental degradation disproportionately impacts local populations and Indigenous people." This acknowledgment from a supranational body highlights the transnational nature of the threat.
However, the U.N. agency stated it had not yet seen the Indigenous organizations’ letter at the time of sending comments, and that its response should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its contents. This bureaucratic distance underscores the elite capture of local issues by global institutions, even as UNODC offices in Latin America claim to be working with Indigenous communities and national authorities to strengthen territorial protection and combat environmental crimes.
The document was signed by major Indigenous organizations, including the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin (COICA), Brazil’s Indigenous umbrella organization APIB, Peru’s AIDESEP, and Ecuador’s CONAIE, alongside dozens of regional Indigenous federations and international advocacy groups, demonstrating a unified resistance against both criminal and top-down state interventions.
Cultural Dispossession and Elite Indifference
Ercilia Castañeda, vice president of Ecuador’s largest Indigenous organization, CONAIE, reiterated that governments have increasingly responded to organized crime and illegal mining with militarization, a strategy that has demonstrably failed to resolve the crisis in many Indigenous territories. She stated, "Militarization has not provided answers," and detailed how communities face displacement, fear, and psychological harm, affecting their relationship with the land, water, sacred sites, and spiritual life, leading to the "deterioration of the identity and life of Indigenous peoples."
Herlín Odicio, vice president of ORAU, an Indigenous organization representing communities in Peru’s Amazon region of Ucayali, reported that organized crime groups have adapted their strategies in Indigenous territories. He noted, "Organized crime in Indigenous territories has changed its strategies significantly," and, "They no longer make direct threats. Now they use other strategies," indicating a deeper infiltration into local structures.
Odicio further explained that criminal groups are increasingly embedding themselves in local political structures and campaigns to maintain influence and continue operating in Indigenous territories. He highlighted how the expansion of organized crime deeply affects Indigenous communities, where poverty and the absence of state services leave many vulnerable to recruitment into illegal activities, leading to the cultural dispossession of their youth. He stated, "They recruit young people to work as ‘mochileros,’" referring to people used to transport drugs or supplies, adding, "Then, in the end, when they no longer want them or do not want to pay them, they kill them."
Odicio also warned of growing sexual exploitation of Indigenous girls in communities and border areas affected by criminal groups, with some victims as young as 13 and 14 years old.
The Cost to the People
The letter explicitly warns that government responses focused primarily on military force risk worsening conditions for Indigenous communities if they fail to recognize Indigenous territorial rights and systems of self-governance. The organizations demand that, "In light of this situation, it is essential that responses to organized crime and illicit economies do not translate into new processes of militarization, criminalization, or the subordination of Indigenous governance systems," directly challenging the post-national order's top-down approach.
The letter calls for a significant sovereignty transfer, urging the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to conduct a dedicated study on organized crime and illicit economies in Indigenous territories. It also demands that U.N. agencies include Indigenous perspectives in anti-crime and anti-corruption policies, effectively inviting globalist institutions to shape national policy in areas where local and national governance has been undermined.