On the 11th of April 2025, we welcomed photographer Diego Pérez Romero and his special guest and journalist Ivan Brehaut for an in-depth discussion around the crisis that Indigenous territorial defenders face from the threats arising from the construction of highways through their lands.

The evening began with a screening of the short documentary “Shirampari” and the story of Arlindo, an Ashéninka leader, and his son Ricky, whom he teaches to hunt giant catfish. A mythical journey of men in an inhospitable territory, with unique cultural diversity and lush Amazonian nature similar to paradise.

We witnessed the beauty and dehumanization of a jungle territory through Diego Pérez Romero's photographic poetry, his ability to tell a story, introducing us through the eyes of Arlindo and his son Ricky to an initiatory process such as hunting, a time among men in the middle of the jungle, taking care of their livelihood, and being protectors of their ancestral territory.

We were able to appreciate not only the beauty that exists in the territory of Yurúa, but also the socio-environmental problems caused by the highway project Breu – Nueva Italia, based on an old forest road that was built by the Forestal Venao company in early 2000. Today, it is also the result of various political ambitions and those of timber entrepreneurs who see it as a drug trafficking route to bring cargo to and from Peru and Brazil.

We delved deeper into this topic via Zoom with journalist Ivan Brehaut, who brought us up to date on complex issues such as social inequality, drug trafficking, and the current crisis facing indigenous defenders whose lands are disturbed by deforestation, coca crops, the intangibility of reserves for isolated Indigenous peoples, issues that we explored in depth with the information that Ivan generously shared with us.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this very special event. Thank you to Diego and Ivan for sharing their experiences sensitively and consistently, without losing hope or their sense of humor, despite the injustices currently experienced by Yurúa.

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Biography | Diego Pérez Romero

Diego Pérez Romero is the Communications Coordinator for the Biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples program of the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law. He is also the founder of Taller.pe. He graduated with a degree in communication sciences from the University of Lima. He has more than 15 years of experience in the field of conservation, and has spent much of this time visiting native communities throughout the Peruvian Amazon with his camera, taking photos and shooting documentaries, collaborating with the main organizations dedicated to conservation in the country, such as WWF, WCS, CI, National Geographic, and several others.

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Biography | Ivan Brehaut

Ivan Brehaut is a journalist specializing in reporting on Indigenous peoples, the Amazon and environmental issues with more than 30 years of experience developing multidisciplinary scientific and social management projects in different regions of Peru.

He devoted himself to journalism in 2006 and since 2020, has been a continuous collaborator with La Mula, SERVINDI, and other digital media platforms. His work has been supported by the Amazon Rainforest Journalism Fund; a grant to investigate environmental crimes in Ucayali, and was selected for the digital publication "Narratives from the Amazon in the Bicentennial" by USAID-PREVENIR. Brehaut first studied Forestry Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina and then obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism at the Universidad Jaime Bausate y Meza.

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