The State, Indigenous communities, and illicit economic activities in the Peruvian Amazon

Since its foundation, the Peruvian State has configured its Amazonian territory as a frontier zone characterized by the predominance of violence and the absence of the rule of law. Nowadays, 200 years later, this region is still defined by violence and illicit economic activities and by the incapacity of the State to comply with its own legal norms. In this chapter, after a brief historical review of this complex relationship, I discuss the main illicit activities in the region: coca production and drug trafficking, illegal logging and gold mining, and human trafficking, as well as their impacts on the indigenous communities. Finally, I will discuss the capability of the Peruvian State to exercise a regime of law and order in this region.