BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- An attack by armed assailants on a patrol of a mission by the Indigenous Wampis guards last week in the Peruvian Amazon has again brought into focus the issue of illegal gold mining in the ancestral territory.
The 60-member mission was ambushed and shot at as they were patrolling near the Wampis community of Fortaleza on Saturday, just days after the Peruvian government's sudden withdrawal from a planned joint enforcement operation to confront the illegal mining.
No one was hurt in the attack.
For two years, the Wampis Nation has pressed state agencies and the public prosecutor's office in Peru to work together to monitor for and remove illegal mining operations from the Santiago River basin.
Days before a scheduled joint operation, government agencies pulled out without explanation, according to Amazon Watch, a U.S.-based environmental and Indigenous rights nonprofit.
In response, the Wampis launched their own mission and its first patrol was attacked on Saturday.
Indigenous leaders say the incident highlights the growing risks faced by land defenders and the government's failure to uphold its promises.
A Wampis official described the attack to The Associated Press. The around 60 Indigenous leaders, community guards and technicians were tasked with monitoring the environmental impacts of illegal gold mining in the Bajo Rio Santiago region.
"People started throwing explosives -- I don't even know what kind they were -- and then came the gunfire," said Evaristo Pujupat Shirap, 45, communications officer for the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation.
"Bullets hit the vehicle and even pierced a teacher's jacket at chest level," Shirap added.
The Peruvian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Members on the Wampis mission were armed with hunting rifles, but according to Shirap, leaders had instructed the group not to fire under any circumstances.
While they did fire a few warning shots into the air, no direct confrontation took place, Shirap added.
"We will not stand by while our rivers are poisoned and our forests destroyed," said Galois Yampis, vice president of the Wampis government.
Peru's "government failed to honor its commitments, so we are acting to defend our territory and the future of our people," he added.
The Indigenous Wampis territorial guards are community-led environmental defenders trained and organized by the autonomous territorial government of the Wampis Nation.
Their aim is to protect Wampis ancestral lands from illegal activities such as mining, logging, and drug trafficking, while upholding their cultural values and vision of Tarimat Pujut -- a life in harmony with nature.
Raphael Hoetmer, Amazon program director at Amazon Watch, a longtime ally of the Wampis, said they only confront violent criminals -- "yet are left to face danger without state protection."
The Wampis Nation has long been urging Peru and gold-importing nations to strengthen enforcement against illegal gold trade and invest in Indigenous-led territorial monitoring and sustainable development.
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