Recent progress gives us hope that Peru will finally overcome the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. But recovery in the the Peruvian Amazon will be especially difficult, and Indigenous communities will need international support.

During the height of the pandemic, the government abandoned the Amazon region. Indigenous peoples responded with a strategy they have used for more than 500 years: go deep into the jungle to avoid infection.

Unfortunately, since they've left left their communities, illegal loggers have deforested large areas of protected primary forests and drug trafficking increased in the region. Narco-trafficking is usually contained by Indigenous communities, which serve as barriers to criminal deforestation.

This year, the increase in violence related to drug trafficking and illegal logging has led to the murders of 12 Indigenous leaders. However, the movement achieved a key victory via an international advocacy campaign which led to the creation of a joint task force to protect threatened leaders.