The Ashaninka in the Red Zone
- 25 Nov 07, 02:58 PM
Posted from: Catunga.
We鈥檝e had a very strange day, even by our very high standards. We鈥檙e in a small settlement called Catungo, in the Apurimac Valley in Peru. We鈥檙e in what is known as the RED ZONE, a place deemed so dangerous and difficult that the local law enforcement agencies have given up on it.
There is no police station or army base for miles around. If something were to go wrong around here, we would be very much on our own.
Apparently, the anti-drug police stopped coming here a few years ago when one of their helicopters was shot at with a rocket-propelled grenade. They say the terrain is too difficult to land their choppers, but I reckon they just know when they鈥檙e not wanted. This area is also one of the last strongholds of the Shining Path revolutionary group, one of the most brutal and violent terrorist organisations in history. When their political aspirations lost momentum, they transferred their skills to protecting the drug and illegal logging trade.
The area is loosely policed by a group called the Ronderos. These are a kind of ad hoc army made up of men from the Ashaninka tribe, the indigenous people of this area. Over the years they have fought off many invaders, from farmers moving down from the Andes to the Shining Path and now they are fighting to keep the narcos off their land. We wanted to live in an Ashaninka village and go on a patrol with the Ronderos to see how coca production is affecting their lives. It would make a great end to our film, we thought.
We arrived by boat at a tiny Ashaninka village called Shirotieri two days ago. They were pretty surprised to see us. They don鈥檛 get too many visitors round here. Our boats dropped us and our kit on the beach. Little Ashanika girls, dressed in their traditional cushmas, giggled and pointed through the bushes. The boats left us on the beach.
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