Peruvian environmentalist didn't actually die: Indigenous group

An Indigenous organization in Peru on Wednesday went back on its word after announcing the death of an Indigenous environmental defender, stating that he was in fact alive and well.

The ORAU collective previously stated that Americo Pascual, leader of the Amazonian Asheninka community, had been shot dead on Sunday.

The organization retracted the claim after a video showed the supposed victim plucking a bird which he was preparing to eat in his own home.

"They say I'm dead; what are they playing at?" the 57-year-old says in the recording released by state television channel TV Peru.

"I'm right here, calm, in my house," he adds.

"Our brother Americo Pascual is alive and is currently with his family," ORAU said.

An Indigenous group traveled to the remote Yurua district, located in the Ucayali region bordering Brazil, to confirm that Pascual was alive, it added.

It had previously reported that the environmental defender had been "hit by gunfire" from "third parties" extracting copaiba oil from trees in his ancestral lands.

ORAU said it had made the original statement after "a community member informed brother Americo's son about an alleged act of murder."

The report had prompted Peruvian prosecutors to open an investigation into homicide.

Authorities have not yet commented on the revelation that Pascual is alive.

The Peruvian culture ministry, which had condemned the supposed death online, deleted the post on Wednesday.

Scores of Indigenous activists across Latin America face threats for their environmental advocacy work, particularly when denouncing crimes such as deforestation.

At least 62 land and environmental defenders were killed in Peru between 2012 and 2024, according to the NGO Global Witness.

More than half of those victims belonged to Indigenous communities.