Case files / alto-nanay-peru-2023
Alto Nanay: the night visitors
- When
- Late July and early August 2023 · 2023 on the timeline
- Where
- San Antonio de Pintuyacu, an Ikitu community on the Nanay River, Loreto, Peru
- Reported by
- Members of the Ikitu Indigenous community
- Released
- Statements by Peru's environmental prosecutors (FEMA), August 2023
- Status
- Blamed on illegal miners by prosecutors
In early August 2023, people from the Ikitu community of San Antonio de Pintuyacu reported being attacked at night over several days by strange beings, which some called pelacaras ("face peelers"), a name from local legend. One resident described them: "Their head is long, their mask is long and their eyes are sort of yellowish." Some villagers said they were not of this world.
Peru's specialized environmental prosecutors (FEMA) traveled from Iquitos, five to seven hours by boat, with the Navy. Prosecutor Carlos Castro Quintanilla told RPP it was highly likely that Brazilian and Colombian illegal gold miners working the Nanay basin were responsible, using high-tech equipment to frighten people indoors so they would not see the dredges.
The Nanay supplies drinking water to more than half a million people in Iquitos, and the miners' dredges and mercury have been the subject of raids since 2020. Residents of the area have also reported death threats from miners.