After several years of legal efforts to assert the truth, the Pre-Trial Investigative Court of Ucayali (in the Peruvian Amazon), acting as last instance, finally dismissed the false allegations against the palm oil company Ocho Sur, which had been accused of usurping lands from the Native Community Santa Clara de Uchunya. (File 00102-2022-90-2406-JR-PE-01 – Resolution No. 8 – Case 1047-2020).
The same false allegation that was submitted to three different prosecutors (File number:2020-965-0, Case 245-2020, Case 1047-2020) has been definitively dismissed due to the lack of any evidence linking Ocho Sur to the alleged facts. Furthermore, the leaders of such native community filed a petition before the judge rejecting the ill-founded allegations, confirming that Ocho Sur was in no way involved in any illegal or abusive actions against them. The outcome of this case proves the plaintiffs’ vexation litigation and bad faith.
This false claim alleging Ocho Sur’s usurpation of native lands was promoted by a small group of NGOs, which widely publicized it in some online media outlets with the aim of damaging Ocho Sur’s and its customers’ reputation internationally, and was also filed before international organizations such as the United Nations.
The allegedly victimized native community rejected the complaint.
The Native Community Santa Clara de Uchunya, through its legitimately elected leaders, contested as groundless the allegations of aggravated usurpation of their land by Ocho Sur. The democratically-elected Community Chief, Wilson Barbaran, also stated that the community was not affected by this non-existing act of usurpation by the company Ocho P S.A.C., and furthermore disavowed those NGOs which disrespect the community members by unduly claiming to represent them.
Chief Barbaran clarified that there are no land disputes between the Native Community Santa Clara de Uchunya and Ocho Sur, specifying that the company has never intended to dispossess them of their ancestral territory. On the contrary, he indicated that the Ocho Sur is a respectful and helpful neighbor, as it provides constant support to the community.
