Olivia Arévalo Lomas (February 1937 – 19 April 2018) was a Peruvian Onanya of Shipibo-Conibo Indigenous people of Ucayali region, a Ayahuasca plant medicine healer, and environmental and cultural rights activist.[1][2][3] She advocated “for the recognition of indigenous communities' rights and the preservation of their ancestral territories.”[4] She was also being "considered a wealth of knowledge about Amazonian plants and native traditions."[5]
Life and career
editOlivia Arévalo Lomas was born in February 1937 in the village of Victoria Gracia in Peru's central Amazon region of Ucayali. Between 2009 and 2011, Arévalo worked at the Temple of the Path of Light, a traditional medicine center, Peru.[6]
She briefly appeared in the films directed by Jan Kounen that made her known to outside of Peru.[6] These films are Other Worlds (2005) and 8 (2008).[6] She also sang sacred songs. She is featured on the Resurrector produced album Onáyabaon Bewá – Messages from Mother Earth, as part of Liberation Movement, a music and art collective founded in 2010 in San Francisco.
Death
editArévalo was murdered on 19 April 2018 near her home, Coronel Portillo Province, Ucayalí, Peru. She was “shot twice in her chest” allegedly by Sebastian Woodroffe, a native of Vancouver Island, Canada, who was later killed by a group of local communities.[1][2][3][5] Woodroffe is believed to have travelled to Peru to study hallucinogenic medicine to treat drug addictions so he could become a counselor for drug addicts. He lived in the region and was believed to be one of Arévalo's patients at the Temple of the Path of Light. Officials later backtracked on reports that claimed Woodroffe was the principal suspect. [1][3][5][7]
References
edit- ^ a b c Labate, Beatriz Caiuby (29 March 2023). Religious Freedom and the Global Regulation of Ayahuasca. New York: Taylor & Francis. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-429-67302-3. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ^ a b Dadachanji, Amaia (26 July 2021). Wild Apothecary. London: Aeon Books. p. 315. ISBN 978-1-913-50451-9. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ^ a b c "Canadian lynched in Peru after being accused of shaman's death". theguardian.com. 23 April 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ^ "KILLING OF INDIGENOUS HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER, OLIVIA ARÉVALO LOMAS". frontlinedefenders.org. frontlinedefenders.org. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ^ a b c "Peru Prosecutors Suspect Lynched Canadian in Slaying of Shaman". voanews.com. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ^ a b c "Tragedy in Pucallpa: the Death of Maestra Olivia Arévalo". templeofthewayoflight.org. Temple of the Path of Light. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ^ "Canadian man lynched over shaman's death in Peru". cbsnews.com. 23 April 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2023.