He Fought to Save the Amazon Rainforest. Then He Was Murdered — and Authorities Fear He Was Targeted for His Work

An environmental activist fighting against the destruction of the Amazon rainforest was shot and killed in the Peruvian jungle, possibly in retaliation for his advocacy, according to local authorities.

Hipólito Quispe Huamán was killed Saturday night while driving along the Interoceanic Highway in the southeastern Madre de Dios region, CBS News reported, citing the local prosecutor’s office. 

“This is a murder with a firearm of yet another defender of the Madre de Dios region,” Karen Torres, a local prosecutor, told the outlet, adding that the motive for the shooting might be connected to Quispe Huamán’s Amazon advocacy work. 

The National Coordinator for Human Rights (CNDDHH), a human rights organization in Peru, is demanding the government take more effective measures to protect the rights of environmental advocates like Huamán.

“We condemn the murder of environmental defender Hipólito Quispe Huamán in Madre de Dios, another victim of the growing violence against those who protect our territories and ecosystems,” CNDDHH wrote in a statement. “Not one more death!”

The Ministry of Justice intends to “work on the legal defense of the victims, so that this crime does not go unpunished” amid a rise in attacks against environmental activists in Madre de Dios, per CBS.

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In July 2024, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP), an organization representing indigenous people and governments in the Amazon, declared a state of emergency after alleging in a statement that an indigenous leader was tortured and murdered in central Peru. 

The group claimed indigenous communities in the area face “constant threats from coca growers, who supply transnational drug networks.”