Killing of Indigenous environmentalist sparks controversy in Bolivia

SÃO PAULO, Brazil – In Bolivia, the killing of an Indigenous leader and the ensuing detention of another Indigenous man for being allegedly responsible for the crime have mobilized members of the Church in the South American country, who have claimed the interests of miners and ranchers may be behind the crime.

The lifeless body of Francisco Marupa, a 67-year-old member of the Indigenous Leco people, was found on Feb. 14 in the Madidi natural reservation, in La Paz department. An autopsy demonstrated that he was murdered three days before and that the injury to his head was the cause of death.

Shortly after the discovery of his body, the police detained a 20-year-old Indigenous man of the Tsimane people. The authorities declared that the suspect had been seen in the victim’s room a couple of weeks before the killing and that he was also involved in the theft of bananas from Marupa’s ranch. They allegedly had an altercation, which was followed by the murder.

Local news websites showed footage of the Tsimane man being taken by police agents in a boat. He’s asked by one of them if he was responsible for Marupa’s death and he says “yes.” He’s then asked what kind of weapon he used and he says he threw an arrow at him. The suspect seems to have difficulties understanding Spanish and smiles timidly every now and then. Some media outlets emphasized that he “confessed the killing with a smile on his face.”

“That young man was hunting with his younger brother. He speaks just a bit of Spanish. His smile was certainly because he was trying to look sympathetic although he didn’t understand what the people were saying,” Willy Llanque Campos, Executive Secretary of the Pan Amazon Ecclesial Network (REPAM) in Bolivia, told Crux.

REPAM Bolivia issued a statement on Feb. 17 repudiation Marupa’s death and denouncing that the Leco people, as well as the Tsimane and other groups, have been facing continuous attacks from miners who want to exploit their territories.

“That crime is not an isolated fact, but the result of the harassment and systemic violence by the economic interests connected to land trafficking and illegal mining,” REPAM’s letter read, adding that such Indigenous peoples have been violently evicted from their villages, their houses were burned, and their territories have been invaded.

The document emphasizes that Marupa was a long-time environmentalist and defender of that rainforest and expresses solidarity with his children and grandchildren. The letter is co-signed by the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) and the apostolic vicariates of Pando, Reyes and Beni.

Dozens and dozens of Indigenous associations also released letters asking for independent and profound investigations and also pointing out that there are more reasons for Don Francisco’s killing than those presented by the police.

“A journalist interviewed the suspect’s family and discovered that, by the time of the murder, he was in another place – he was at the parish charging his phone,” Llanque said.

Despite that, the Tsimane man was sent to a prison in La Paz and will probably remain there for at least 5 months. His family doesn’t have the means to travel nor to keep him there. Llanque said that REPAM will accompany the man with the help of the local Prison Pastoral Ministry.

Indigenous activist Alex Villca, a spokesperson for the National Coordination for the Defense of Indigenous Peasant Territories and Protected Areas (known by the Spanish acronym CONTIOCAP), said the Indigenous movement has been worried not only with Marupa’s murder at this point, but also with the charges against the Tsimane suspect.

“We issued a public letter asking for a deep inquiry on that crime. Justice needs to be served both for those who lost their relative and for those who are seeing a relative being detained [without being guilty],” Villca told Crux.

He described how mining endeavors have been affecting Indigenous groups over the past 10 years, with the government incentivizing them to the detriment of the environment.

“With the approval of a new law regarding metals and mining, three agents have been considered legal explorers of mines: State agents, private companies, and cooperatives,” he said.

As co-ops are the most flexible kind of legal person for mining, many groups have created a cooperative in order to work in the region.

“Unfortunately, many of them established alliances with the private capital. Some are really façades for international interests,” said Villca.

Such miners have been terrorizing Indigenous villages over the past years, along with ranchers interested in expanding their farms.

“At times, they burn the houses and the boats of the Indigenous groups. Even sexual attacks have happened. The villagers many times run up to the local mountain as a form of escaping the invasion,” Llanque added.

He explained that the administration of President Luis Arce has been desperately without funds since the exploitation and exports of gas began to decline. But the government has been pushing the same extractivist policies, especially focusing on gold exploitation and on beef production.

“To make things worse, most gold is deposited near the reservation’s valleys and rivers, exactly where the Indigenous live,” Llanque added.

In 2022, clashes between the invaders and the Leco people led to 17 detentions, but only an Indigenous man remained in custody.

Since then, violence has been generated by land disputes on a regular basis.

“Since 2023, it’s been clear the rise of agribusiness. Every Indigenous territory in Bolivia is surrounded by farmers and miners,” Villca said.

“At the same time, the government has been incentivizing the Indigenous peoples to join the mining cooperatives,” he told Crux.