Civil society asks President Vizcarra to fight against impunity in the Tamshiyacu case - CEDIA

Posted on 10/31/2020

Lime. Different civil society organizations sent a letter to President Martín Vizcarra requesting actions in relation to the case of the Tamshi SAC company, formerly known as Cacao del Perú Norte, which is being investigated for illegal timber trafficking in the town of Tamshiyacu, located in the province of Maynas, in the Loreto region.

Photo: Public Eye

As it is recalled, on July 25, 2019, the company Cacao del Perú Norte (today Tamshi SAC) and two workers were convicted of illegal trafficking of timber forest products and obstruction of the procedure. The letter has also been addressed to the entities that are investigating the case (Special Prosecutor for Environmental Matters, Environmental Assessment and Enforcement Agency, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Ombudsman's Office and the General Comptroller's Office of the Republic), in order to encourage support for the work that these entities have been doing.

Read the letter sent or download it at the following link: by clicking here.

Lima, October 23, 2020

Mister

Martín Alberto Vizcarra Cornejo President of the Republic of Peru

Present.-

Mr. President, those of us who signed this letter respectfully salute you and come to you to share our concern regarding the situation in Tamshiyacu, a town that you visited on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, as part of your official visit to the region of Loreto.

Tamshiyacu is a town known for its small and medium-scale pineapple production, its agroforestry systems, ecotourism and mystical tourism, as well as its subsistence fishing. But it is also a town where, in 2013, a large-scale cocoa plantation linked to the so-called “Grupo Melka” was installed.¹ that deforested without legal authorization nearly 2,000 hectares of primary forest, buying land from small farmers at ridiculous prices and grabbing land from farmers who did not want to give it to the company. The company, Cacao del Perú Norte SAC, today Tamshi SAC has been sanctioned multiple times by administrative and criminal means and it has even received the order to paralyze its operations for not having the authorizations of the law, but this has not led to a change in the conduct of the company, since it continues to operate, without facing and implementing the sanctions imposed by regional state entities and nationals.

From the beginning of its operations, the company failed to process and approve the respective environmental impact study. After this issue became a public scandal, the company tried to regularize its situation with an Environmental Adaptation and Management Plan (PAMA), which was definitively denied by Ministerial Resolution No. 019-2019-MINAGRI-DVDIAR of 12 August 2019. This resolution has established that the activities carried out in the Tamshiyacu Farm - Jaguar Zone are illegal agricultural activities that under no circumstances can be regularized with a PAMA as they tried.

Likewise, on July 25, 2019, the company and two workers were convicted of illegal trafficking in timber forest products and obstruction of the procedure.. Sentence² issued by the Second Unipersonal Criminal Court of Maynas analyzed the illicit behaviors committed by those sentenced. Throughout the process, it was possible to discern all the fallacious arguments used by the defense, which, among other things, 

unusual is the existence of forests, the application of the Forestry and Wildlife Law (Law No. 27308 in force as of 2013) and the need, clearly established in the regulations, to have a previously approved environmental management instrument. The judgment would not have been possible without the effort and dedication of the representatives of the affected communities who denounced the events, the work of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office, which carried out various operations to gather information and prepare the case, and the participation of the Attorney General of the Ministry of the Environment, in charge of supporting the report on the valuation of damage to the environment and natural resources.

The sentence ordered a civil reparation in favor of the State for more than 15 million soles, sentenced Rubén Antonio Espinoza to 8 years of imprisonment - Company manager currently on the run - and established suspended sentences against Ernesto Vega Delgado and Giovanni Cubas Ramírez. The first, head of operations, and the second, field staff of the agro-industrial cocoa plantation project at the Tamshiyacu Farm.

It is the first time that the Judicial Power has been able to sanction abusive and illegal practices that seek to implement large-scale agricultural activities in the Amazon, openly ignoring the regulation and environmental institutions in the country.

In parallel, the Environmental Assessment and Enforcement Agency - OEFA has initiated an administrative sanctioning process against the company that must be concluded in the next few weeks. Likewise, the continuous violations committed by the company against forestry and environmental legislation have already been the subject of analysis of official reports from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, the National Forest and Wildlife Service, the Ombudsman's Office and the Comptroller General of the Republic.

The sentence of July 2019 was appealed by the sentenced parties and is currently being reviewed by the Appeals Chamber of the Superior Court of Loreto. Despite the abundant evidence that validates the conviction, the Tamshi SAC company and the other sentenced persons have questioned the ruling using arguments that seek to confuse the members of the Chamber. In effect, the arguments would seek to question the rigor of the economic valuation for the damage caused to the forests, and attenuate the responsibility of the other natural persons involved in the commission of the crimes under investigation.

As you can see, the case of Tamshiyacu is emblematic in the fight against the expansion of large-scale agribusiness based on illegal strategies in the Peruvian Amazon. These corporate practices spread throughout Loreto Ucayali and San Martín, seek to legitimize the conduct of companies, indicating that they act for the development of productive activities, sometimes hiding behind local leaders or authorities.³.

Mr. President Vizcarra, as is documented in this letter, the actions of Tamshi SAC represent the antithesis of a sustainable and respectful production model of the Peruvian Amazon, the rule of law, the laws and the climate commitments of our country.

Our population needs to overcome poverty and we will not be able to achieve that goal by validating illegal and abusive operations. For this, it is a priority:

• Implement land use planning and zoning

• Update the Land Classification Regulations for their capacity for Greater Use, ensuring the sustainable use of our forests under the standards approved by Law No. 29763, Forestry and Fauna Law

• Complete the process of environmental adaptation in the agricultural sector as established in article 40 of the Agricultural Environmental Management Regulation (approved by Supreme Decree No. 019-2012-AG)

• Promote investment or business plans that internalize the valuation of our natural resources, that respect our legislation and that generate fair income for the population

We agree with his statements made on October 20 in Tamshiyacu, in the sense that it is necessary to “maintain the balance between productive activities and the conservation of nature” and that “this pandemic has shown us the lack of balance that we have had for For many years, this pandemic has even given nature a breather. It is a lesson that tells us: take care of the water, take care of the river, take care of the trees, take care of your environment ”.

There is abundant evidence produced by the Peruvian State itself⁴, civil society organizations⁵, academics and journalistic media⁶ that They allow us to assure you that Tamshi SAC has not sought to maintain this balance but, on the contrary, has deforested the Amazonian natural forest and has violated human and territorial rights of peasant families of Tamshiyacu and its surroundings.

Now that you know Tamshiyacu and its situation, we ask you to support the work of the entities of your Government that are already investigating and working to properly sanction the company in question., as is the case of the efforts of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in Environmental Matters and the Environmental Assessment and Enforcement Agency, and of the investigations and sanctions carried out and applied by the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation⁷, the Ombudsman's Office⁸ and the Comptroller General of the Republic⁹.

We remain at your disposal to meet with you and talk more widely about this case and its problem, provide you with the documentation you want to request and propose concrete solutions for the fight against deforestation and in favor of the protection of vulnerable communities and Environmental Defenders of the Peruvian Amazon.

Sincerely,

The signatory institutions:

1. AIDESEP

2. Pro-Purus Association

3. Amazonians for the Amazon - AMPA

4. Amazon Center for Anthropology and Practical Application - CAAAP

5. Center for the Development of the Amazonian Indigenous - CEDIA

6. National Coordinator of Human Rights - CNDDHH

7. Water Defense Committee - Iquitos

8. Environmental Investigation Agency - Peru

9. Law, Environment and Natural Resources - DAR

10. Federation of native communities of Ucayali and Affluents - FECONAU

11. Forest Peoples Programm

12. Institute for the Common Good - IBC

13. Institute of Legal Defense - IDL

14. Kené Institute of Forestry and Environmental Studies

15. Citizen Movement Against Climate Change - MOCICC

16. National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru - ONAMIAP

17. Regional Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the East - ORPIO

18. Aidesep Ucayali Regional Organization - ORAU

19. OXFAM - Peru

20. Peace and hope

21. Proética - Peruvian Chapter of Transparency International

22. Amazon resurgence

23. THE VOICE OF THE JUNGLE RADIO

24. Peruvian Society of Environmental Law

25. Peruvian Ecodevelopment Society

26. Friday for the Future - Peru

27. TierrActiva

28. Wildlife Conservation Society

• 1 For more information about the Melka Group, see:

• Environmental Investigation Agency. 2015. Deforestation by definition. The Peruvian Government fails to define forests as forests, while palm oil expansion and the Malaysian influence threaten the Amazon. " https://content.eia-global.org/assets/2015/04/Deforestation_By_Definition.pdf

• Summons, 03/10/2016. Ravaged Amazon. https://amazonia.convoca.pe/

• Juan Luis Dammert. (2016). Land grabbing in the Peruvian Amazon: the case of Tamshiyacu. Lima Peru: Wildlife Conservation

• 2 Environmental News 07/25/2019. Historic ruling: Judicial Branch sentences Cacao Peru del Norte https: //www.actualidadambiental.pe/loreto-hoy-dictan-sentencia-a-empresa-que-deforesto-cerca-de-2-mil- hectares-of-forests-in-tamshiyacu /

• 3 As he was able to appreciate in his recent visit to Tamshiyacu, where the mayor asked him for the approval of a PAMA of a company located in his district - indirectly referring to the case of Tamshi SAC - when the procedure has already been reviewed and denied by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation itself.

  • 4The Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, the Comptroller General of the Republic, the Ombudsman's Office

  • 5 See https://actualidadambiental.pe/tamshiyacu/publicaciones-sobre-el-caso/

  • 6See, Public Eye, 10/13/2020, Company investigated for deforesting operating without environmental authorization https: // eye- publico.com/2146/empresa-investigada-por-deforestar-opera-sin-certificacion

• 7 Office 026-2014-MINAGRI-DM, Report n ° 0037-2019-MINAGRI-DVDIAR / DGAAA-DGAA-JJEA, Resolution of

  General Directorate No. 140-2019-MINAGRI-DVDIAR-DGAAA, General Directorate Resolution No. 462-2014-MINAGRI- DVDIAR-DGAAA, Ministerial Resolution No. 236-2015-MINAGRI

  • 8 Adjunct Report N ° 001-2017-DP / AMASPPI.MA

  • 9 Compliance Audit Report No. 691-2019-CG / AGR-AC