Mariano Gagnon

Mariano Gagnon (born Joseph Theodore Gagnon; October 7, 1929 – April 28, 2017) was an American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest, who served as a missionary in Peru.

Gagnon founded the Cutivereni mission in Peru's Ene River valley to assist the indigenous Asháninka people who were being forced out of their homes in the jungle by settlers.

He would later become known for his work helping arm the Asháninka and eventually helping some Asháninka flee Cutivereni when it was facing attack from Shining Path guerrillas during the internal conflict in Peru.

He later wrote about his experiences during the conflict in the book Warriors in Eden.

Joseph Theodore Gagnon was born on October 7, 1929, to a Métis father and a French-Canadian mother.

He grew up in New Hampshire and was raised Catholic.

He completed his high school education and then studied at St. Joseph's Seraphic Seminary, a Franciscan minor seminary in Callicoon, New York.

Gagnon's fascination with Peru and the Asháninka began after World War II, when he heard a bishop give a talk about them.

He then worked for three years in a shoe factory and restaurant in New Hampshire to save money to allow him to visit Lima.

In 1948, he came to Peru, entered the Franciscan order, and took the name Mariano.

The indigenous people lived on their traditional lands until the 1950s, when settlers began encroaching.

Gagnon found them to be "free from pretension, ostentation or calculation. Obviously, these uncommon virtues in a modern society make them victim to many abuses."

Partly due to his efforts, the Cutivireni land was protected from settlement by others; it was the only land of the Asháninka people to be preserved.

Although taught modern technology and facilitated Spanish lessons with the Summer Linguistics Institute, a Protestant organization, for the indigenous people, he did not try to change aspects of their culture, like polygamy or women going topless.

Gagnon was ordained a priest in 1957, and spent three years working with those who spoke Cocama, an indigenous language of Peru.

He said of the people that he served, "They are the most virtuous people I have ever met. They never lie and have great respect for personal property. Their language is very sharp. There is no word for 'maybe' in Campa."

He also observed that they did not chew coca leaves and were not prone to sharing food and drink, which had been a major cause of rampant tuberculosis.

There was also a high infant mortality rate.

By 1969, he had established two missions and began work on a third.

In 1969, he founded a mission to work with the Asháninka due to deforestation caused by settlers.

He maintained the Cutivereni (alternate spelling Cutivireni) mission of the Ene River parish in the Peruvian Amazon, southeast of Satipo.

Cutivereni was a hub for 5,000 Asháninkas who lived in the area.

The mission, located at the confluence of three rivers, had 91 buildings and housed 700 people.

The mission was equipped with a plaza, a chapel, a generator building, an infirmary, a bilingual school, workshops, and a landing strip.

The Asháninka hunted, and farmed manioc other foods.

They also grew cocao, a cash-crop.

The Ashaninkas were pressured to begin growing coca as cocaine trafficking increased in Peru by the early 1980s.

Gagnon said that he would leave the mission if the people entered the cocaine trade, and no one chose to change their way of life.

In 1980 the Communist Party of Peru, known as the Shining Path, launched an insurgency against the government of Peru.

This conflict followed Maoist tactics of guerrilla warfare.

As the trade grew in the area, though, Gagnon talked to a United States Drug Enforcement Administration agent and sent a letter to the Peruvian security police base commander in Mazamari in 1983.

Gagnon was told, and heeded the advice of two drug traffickers, not make any further overtures about the cocaine trade.

In 1983, Gagnon met with members of the Peruvian government to let them know about the difficulties in Cutivireni.

While he was meeting with authorities in Lima, members of the Shining Path burned down the mission and threatened that they would kill him if he came back in May 1984.

The Franciscans who were working with the Asháninka did not have a coordinated strategy to provide for their defense, but Gagnon was able to secure weapons from the Peruvian army, and approached the United States military for support as well.

Gagnon began rebuilding the mission and it was complete in 1988.

In June 1989 members of the Shining Path arrived at the mission and demanded supplies.

Gagnon's mission paid a tax to them of writing supplies during this period.

In November 1989, the Shining Path once again assaulted the mission and burned the buildings.

while Gagnon was in the United States.