News
Social media as a weapon
Social media ‘weaponised to criminalise Indigenous leaders and climate activists’ in Guatemala.
12 March 2026
In the context of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Amazon Watch, together with allied organisations, has presented the first report to analyse how illicit economies and repressive government responses threaten the rights, territories and physical and cultural survival of Indigenous peoples.
From illegal gold mining to drug trafficking, these activities operate as interconnected and highly adaptive systems across the Amazon, integrate into global markets, and reshape power, control, and security dynamics in the region.
‘The expansion of illicit economies in the Amazon cannot be understood solely as a problem of criminality or public security, but as an existential threat to Indigenous peoples.’
SOFÍA JARRÍN
Advocacy advisor at Amazon Watch
The analysis, which compares Indigenous territories across Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, shows how these dynamics create forms of criminal governance that replace or weaken both state and community governance systems and impose mechanisms of social and economic control over local populations.
‘Criminal networks restrict access to natural resources, pressure or co-opt leadership, sabotage land titling processes, and force communities to reorganize daily life under regimes of fear, surveillance, and dependency’, the report states.
Criminal governance not only drives public security risks, it also alters the material, cultural and spiritual conditions necessary to sustain life systems in the Amazon, with direct implications for global climate stability.
The report draws on testimonies that Indigenous leaders shared during the International Gathering of Defenders held in Pucallpa, Peru earlier this year, where more than 60 leaders from the western Amazon denounced how illicit economies and organised crime violate their rights to a healthy environment, health, self-determination, autonomy and full exercise of self-governance.
The report recognises the need for state intervention but concludes that governments continue to prioritise reactive strategies centred on militarisation and securitisation of territories, in line with a global trend that favours repression over rights-based approaches.
This approach remains limited because it exacerbates existing risks and fails to address the structural causes driving the expansion of illicit economies in the Amazon.
‘It is urgent to incorporate intercultural approaches into security policies and to control the supply chains that connect these illicit economies to global markets. Without recognizing, financing, and strengthening Indigenous authorities, any strategy will fail.’
RAPHAEL HOETMER
Western Amazon Program Director at Amazon Watch
In the face of state absence, limitations and, in some cases, permissiveness, Indigenous peoples have strengthened their own systems of territorial control and surveillance, including community guards and environmental monitoring networks.
The Wampis Nation’s Charip Guard provides a clear example, documenting and reporting the impacts of oil and mining contamination on rivers and forests to the Peruvian state.
‘States hold specific responsibilities toward communities that face structural vulnerability due to colonization, exploitation, discrimination, and dispossession. These responsibilities include preventing harm, protecting affected communities, repairing damage, and investigating and sanctioning those most responsible.’
SOFÍA JARRÍN
Advocacy advisor at Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch and Indigenous organisations call on the international community, particularly the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and States Parties to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, to recognise the threat that criminal economies pose to Indigenous territories and rights, as well as the vital role Indigenous peoples play in protecting nature and social peace.
This recognition must translate into stronger political and financial support and binding participation mechanisms.
They also call for the development of an international protocol on environmental crimes that recognises their transnational nature, strengthens cooperation and addresses their links to global supply chains, while guaranteeing the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples.
The Amazon basin covers approximately 7.8 million square kilometres and Indigenous peoples manage much of this territory, representing more than 2.2 million people across 511 peoples, including at least 66 in voluntary isolation or initial contact.
In Amazonian countries, criminal networks or armed groups operate in at least 67% of municipalities, and more than one criminal organisation contests control in 32% of these territories.
Amazon regions report homicide rates higher than national averages, in some cases comparable with conflict zones. Colombia ranks as the most dangerous country in the world for environmental defenders.
Between 1985 and 2023, actors destroyed more than 88 million hectares of Amazon forest, including over 2 million hectares linked to illegal mining.
All cases analysed report health impacts, including mercury contamination above World Health Organization standards, affecting water, fish and Indigenous communities.
Armed groups recruit children, traffic women and girls, perpetrate sexual violence and drive conditions that erode cultural continuity and intergenerational knowledge transmission.
Social media ‘weaponised to criminalise Indigenous leaders and climate activists’ in Guatemala.
Amazonian Indigenous Peoples formally revoke consultations used to justify licensing gold mine in Brazil.
Survival International launches a major report on the world’s uncontacted Indigenous peoples.
