When Danyluz picked up her baby girl and went to cultivate her family plot in the Shipibo-Conibo community of Flor de Ucayali, she never thought she would be risking death. It was just another morning of work for her Indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon, some getting together for the rounds of communal labour at the new plant nursery, others tending to their family plots or preparing the firewood. It was a dry July and a little colder than usual, morning mist rising out of the fields beading the pineapple plants with dew.
She was alone with her daughter when two men suddenly appeared out of the dense rainforest ringing the perimeter of the village and shoved her to the ground. They had guns. One of them, speaking in Spanish, said: “We should off her.” The other looked at the baby and decided against it. Instead, they hit her, then disappeared back into the thick rainforest surrounding the community.
The identity of the attackers was never confirmed, but, for the community, it was clear what this was about.
