Kruger Pacaya, President of the regional indigenous federation ORAU and one of Peru's most prominent young indigenous leaders, died in a bus crash on Sunday, December 19th.  His wife, Andrea Magda Lopez Mishari, a grasroots Ashanika leader, was also killed in the crash. The couple leaves three children, Leonardo Esteban (12), Kemerly Yuliza (11) and Sani Erick (8). A Shipibo from the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon, Kruger was an idealistic, articulate and committed fighter for his people.

As a 2003 graduate of our Amazon School for Human Rights and the Environment, Kruger was part of the ERI family. He was one of the most enthusiastic graduates of the Amazon School, always coming up with ambitious plans to strengthen the indigenous rights movement in the Ucayali region, and carrying them out with competence and conviction. Those of us who were fortunate enough to have known Kruger Pacaya are devastated by this irreparable loss to his family and his organization. We will honor his life by continuing to support his family, his ideas, his struggles and his pueblo.