Peru: 89-Year-Old 'Wise Woman' Indigenous Leader Murdered

Arevalo Lomas was a staunch defender of Indigenous people's rights and also served as an ikaro ('singer'), a traditional form of singing-medicine.

Olivia Arevalo Lomas, an 89-year-old leader of the Shipibo Konibo Indigenous group in the Peruvian Amazon, was assassinated on Thursday April 19th afternoon. Witnesses said they saw a man approach Arevalo Lomas' house and shoot her several times in the chest before fleeing on a motorcycle.

The murder ocurred in the intercultural community of Victoria Gracia, 20 minutes from the town of Yarinacocha in Coronel Portillo province, Ucayali.

The Federation of Native Communities of Ucayalo and Tributaries (Feconau) released a statement on Facebook condemning the killing: "We call on national and international opinion for the Peruvian state to provide guarantees for the lives of other indigenous leaders of the Shipibo Konibo people who today face death threats and harassment," the statement said.

Peru's Ministry of Culture described Arevalo Lomas as a wise woman who retained "traditional knowledge of the Shipibo-Konibo people," expressing condolensces and solidarity with her relatives and the Victoria Gracia community.