Apu Quinto Inuma was a former lumber trafficker turned park ranger, then a rogue Forest Guardian. He became a tireless advocate for the environment and Indigenous rights, defending his community of Santa Rosillo in the Amazon of Peru.

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In this remote region, many struggle to survive by working for illegal loggers and drug cartels. Yet the Forest Guardians fight for their children’s future—and for “their brothers who could not speak,” the trees. Denied rights to their ancestral land, they self-organized to patrol the forest, determined to stop the devastation spreading from neighboring territories.

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Armed with old guns, machetes, rubber boots, and courage, these volunteers monitor the buffer zone of Cordillera Azul National Park. On patrols, they search for new burn and grow areas, documenting them with cell phones and reporting the destruction to local officials.

In November 2023, Quinto was shot and killed in retaliation for his environmental work. Yet his spirit endures—in the forest, in the wind, and in the people who still fight to protect the land he gave his life to defend.