Recently, "Oxygen for Ucayali" has been the rallying cry on social media by a group of Shipibo and Ashaninka indigenous leaders and activists. Disaster capitalists across Peru are taking advantage of the crisis to vastly increase the price of a cylinder of oxygen, pushing an already inaccessible resource fully out of reach for indigenous peoples with the virus.

Indigenous leaders of the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon are demanding that the Peruvian government undertake a more effective and rapid response to the Amazonian communities dealing with high rates of COVID-19. Like many health systems around the world, the Peruvian system is collapsing and unprepared to address the health of its people, but above all the health of indigenous peoples.

On May 12th, due to a lack of oxygen supply in the clinic, Silvio Vallés, the Shipibo-Conibo Mayor of Masisea in Ucayali, died from complications of COVID-19. The government authorities' lack of response and the outrageous increase in the cost of oxygen has led to the deaths of at least 45 Shipibo-Conibo people.

Our Amazon Defenders Fund was founded on the principle that philanthropy needs to be responsive to needs on the ground. Our fund is often the last line of defense and support, stepping in to fill a funding need like in Ucayali.