Belén District, Maynas

{{More citations needed|date=April 2016}}

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Belén District

| native_name =

| native_name_lang = es

| settlement_type = District

| image_skyline = Belen Iquitos Peru.JPG

| image_alt =

| image_caption = Belén

| image_flag =

| flag_alt =

| image_shield =

| shield_alt =

| nickname =

| image_map =

| mapsize = frameless

| map_alt =

| map_caption = Location of Belén in the Maynas province

| coordinates = {{coord|3.7643|S|73.2505|W|source:wikidata|display=inline,title}}

| coordinates_footnotes =

| subdivision_type = Country

| subdivision_name = {{flag|Peru}}

| subdivision_type1 = Region

| subdivision_name1 = Loreto

| subdivision_type2 = Province

| subdivision_name2 = Maynas

| parts_type = Subdivisions

| parts_style = para

| p1 =

| established_title = Founded

| established_date = November 5, 1999

| seat_type = Capital

| seat = Belén

| leader_party =

| leader_title = Mayor

| leader_name = Hermógenes Flores Gómez

| unit_pref = Metric

| area_footnotes =

| area_total_km2 = 632.8

| area_note =

| elevation_footnotes =

| elevation_m = 110

| population_footnotes =

| population_total = 66804

| population_as_of = 2005 census

| population_density_km2 = auto

| population_note =

| population_demonym = Beleño

| timezone1 = PET

| utc_offset1 = -5

| blank_name_sec1 = UBIGEO

| blank_info_sec1 = 160112

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

Belén District is one of thirteen districts of the Maynas Province in Peru. Belén (Spanish for Bethlehem) lies at the edge of the city of Iquitos, in the floodplain of the Itaya River. It is home to some 65,000 people, most of them poor, and many of whom live in extreme poverty.{{cite book |last=Dobkin de Rios |first=Marlene |title=Visionary Vine: Hallucinogenic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon |chapter=Iquitos: An Ethnography § The Structure of a Slum |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cwSAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |date=July 1984 |location=Prospect Heights |publisher=Waveland Press |isbn=978-1-4786-0848-6 |pages=58–62}} The housing does not have clean water, proper sanitation, or electric power distribution.

Many of the residents of Belén are people who lived in the forest, but who came to Iquitos in search of work and formal education for themselves and their families.{{sfn|Dobkin de Rios|1973|p=73}} Nevertheless, unemployment rates are high. Men might hunt, fish, or trade for their livelihood, while women resell small quantities of produce,{{sfn|Dobkin de Rios|1973|p=74}} such as aguaje. Some of those with more means shuttle goods via small motorboats between the forest hamlets and the city, dealing in such commodities as coffee, rice, sugar, gasoline, forest crops, and animal products.{{sfn|Dobkin de Rios|1973|p=74}}

Uphill of the river is Mercado Belén,{{sfn|Dobkin de Rios|1973|p=74}} a large, open-air marketplace where vendors sell produce, meat, fish, spices, flowers, folk medicine, prepared foods, and manufactured goods. Brick-and-mortar storefronts also line the streets of the marketplace.

An estimated 60,000 people live across the river in outlying areas, also without electricity, water, or sanitation. Most homes either float or are built on stilts, as the river level rises 5–6 meters from February through July. Travel books{{which|date=April 2016}} have described Belén as the “Venice of Latin America”. In Pueblo Libre, a section of Belén on the waterfront, approximately 14,000 people—30% of whom are under age 12—live in a busy river port, where charcoal, bananas, fish, and other goods are brought (mostly by canoe) to be distributed and sold throughout Belén.

The people of Belén live in overcrowded conditions.{{sfn|Dobkin de Rios|1973|p=74}} 90% of homes house two or more families; some homes as many as five. The people of Belén are at risk for contracting malaria, dengue fever, water-borne illnesses, respiratory illnesses, tuberculosis, and HIV. They are also affected by social problems of severe poverty, such as alcoholism, crime, prostitution, unemployment, domestic violence, and child abuse. Years of deteriorating conditions in Belén have fostered widespread frustration and hopelessness among the residents.{{cite web |url=http://www.patchadams.org/belen-project |title=The Belen Project: A Collaborative Community Development Project for Belen, Iquitos, Peru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821081212/http://www.patchadams.org/belen-project |archive-date=2009-08-21 |access-date=2008-04-11}}{{cite web|website=Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática |url=http://desa.inei.gob.pe/mapas/bid/ |title=Banco de Información Distrital |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423164200/http://desa.inei.gob.pe/mapas/bid/ |archive-date=April 23, 2008 }}