"More than 20 American companies have played roles in fostering a steady flow of illegal hardwoods from the Peruvian Amazon, part of a 'well-oiled machine that is ransacking Peru’s forests and undermining the livelihoods and rights of the people that depend on them,' according to a new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency, a watchdog group."

"The United States and Puerto Rico account for 80% of the total value of Peruvian timber sales, said Andrea Johnson, forest campaign director of the Environmental Investigation Agency.

Rampant corruption on all levels of government and the involvement of organized criminal groups in logging have built a system that assures that nearly all the timber harvested in and exported from Peru is illegal."

Neela Banerjee reports for the Los Angeles Times April 10, 2012. [2]