On 3 February, Presidents Castillo of Peru and Bolsonaro of Brazil issued a joint declaration after meeting in the city of Porto Velho in the Brazilian state of Rondonia in which, among other initiatives, they agreed to promote the construction of a highway from Cruzeiro do Sul in Brazil to Pucallpa in Peru. As we previously reported, this same road project had been promoted by the Peruvian Congress last year, only to be vetoed by then president Francisco Sagasti following opposition from the environment ministry and the national ombudsman’s office (Defensoría del Pueblo), as well as Amazonian indigenous organisations and human rights and environmental NGOs.

In their meeting, the two presidents reaffirmed the decision to construct a “strategic alliance between Brazil and Peru”. Amongst the 36 points in the declaration, the eighth point indicated their interest in promoting a road connection between Cruzeiro Do Sul in the state of Acre and Pucallpa in Ucayali region. In doing so, both presidents disrecarded the rights of indigenous peoples along the route and downplayed the threat to the environment.

As revealed last year, the proposed highway would cross the Sierra del Divisor National Park and the Isconahua indigenous reserve for peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact. The project would deforest large swathes of virgin rainforest, facilitate the entry of external actors dedicated to illegal activities, and place at further risk the lives of isolated peoples.

On 7 February, the Regional Organization AIDESEP Ucayali (ORAU) issued an open letter to Castillo reaffirming its opposition to the highway, demanding that Castillo change his position on building highways to integrate Peru with Brazil, and stressing both the environmental and social risk in going along with Bolsonaro’s initiatives.

The ORAU letter described Bolsonaro as one of the main enemies of Amazonian indigenous peoples and a person for whom the Amazon is only a space “from which to extract resources from the land and bring the world closer to the abyss of a climate emergency”. The letter concluded by warning Castillo that “if you are not going to defend our rights as First Nation peoples, then we will revolt because we will not wait this time to spill more blood in the defense of our rights”.

It remains to be seen whether the Peruvian government will clarify its position over the proposed highway.