Over the last few decades, the Peruvian Amazon has become a hotspot for coca cultivation. Drug traffickers in the region have shown a willingness to destroy the rainforest and kill anyone in the name of profit.

Indigenous leaders working to protect their Amazonian communities from land invasions, deforestation, and violence come into the cross-hairs, and they are forced to choose between two paths.

One is to stop denouncing the violence and flee the region. The other is to raise the profile of their struggle by going to the media, national authorities, and the international community, in the hope that the attention will give them a modicum of protection.

Kakataibo leader Herlín Odicio has opted for the latter path. In the wake of killings of various Kakataibo leaders and community members, he has spoken out in numerous interviews and even took his people’s story to the U.N. Climate Summit.