Elita Yopla Herrera is a land and environmental defender and member of the Cajamarca Peasant Patrols (Rondas Campesinas de Cajamarca).

Since 2014, Elita Yopla and her husband, defender César Estrada Chuquilín, have denounced that they have been victims of monitoring, death threats and attacks against their physical and psychological integrity for denouncing and opposing the possible environmental damage caused by the Conga Mining Project of the Yanacocha, S.R.L. company.

On 17 May 2024, at 6.30 p.m., at Valle Laguna Azul, Elita Yopla was being taken on an emergency motorbike to the Vista Alegre health post in order to receive medical attention for a health condition when a white van with tinted windows reportedly blocked her path. From there, two unidentified men got out of the van and one of them, wearing a leather jacket, allegedly insulted and intimidated the driver of the motorbike, telling him ‘not to get involved if he didn't want to die’.