Live theater tells the story of how Mongabay detected narco airstrips in the Amazon

About this episode

This episode discusses the adaptation of a Mongabay investigation into an interactive live theater performance addressing drug trafficking and its impact on Indigenous communities in the Amazon.

Mongabay Latam 's multiyear, *award-winning ** investigation that uncovered 67 clandestine airstrips in the Peruvian Amazon used for drug trafficking sent waves across the local media landscape. It drew attention to the Indigenous communities impacted by these illegal airstrips and the 15 Indigenous leaders who were killed defending their territory. To communicate this story to a wider audience, Mongabay Latam director Maria Isabel Torres and managing editor Alexa Vélez adapted it into an interactive live theater performance for an audience of 100. They join this week's podcast to tell the "story behind the story" of what they, their reporters, and Indigenous leaders experienced during this investigation, and how their play adaptation brings that to the eyes and ears of a theatrical audience. "I think that all the journalists in these times, we are very worried [about] trying to find ways to understand our audience and to get their attention. We know that there are news avoiders. We know that there are fake news. So we are trying to look for different ways," Torres says. *This story was first published by Mongabay Latam in Spanish on Nov. 12, 2024, and won the 2025 Global Shining…

People in this episode

Guests: Maria Isabel Torres, Alexa Vélez

Topics covered

• drug trafficking
• Indigenous communities
• investigative journalism
• theater adaptation
• environmental issues

Keywords

• narco airstrips
• Amazon
• Mongabay
• Indigenous leaders
• interactive theater
• investigation
• journalism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mongabay Latam, Consortium to Support Independent Journalism in the Region (CAPIR), Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Places: Peruvian Amazon

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