Indigenous Leader Murdered in Confrontation with Loggers – Federal Police Investigate

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “Guardians Paulino and Laércio (Guajajara) left the village in search of water when at least five armed men ambushed them and fired shots at indigenous peoples,” the Maranhão Secretariat of Human Rights reported on Twitter.

The attack occurred on Friday night on the indigenous territory of Arariboia, located approximately 500 kilometers from São Luís, the state capital, the secretariat said.

Paulo Paulino Guajajara, also known as Kwahu Tenetehar, “was shot in the neck and died in the jungle. His colleague, Tainaky Tenetehar, was shot in the back and in the arm, but managed to escape,” the NGO Survival International reported in a statement this Saturday.

Greenpeace joined the expressions of regret by saying that “Paulino and Laércio are the most recent victims of a state that refuses to comply with what the constitution dictates”. “We repudiate all the violence caused by the State’s inability to fulfill its duty to protect this and all the indigenous territories of Brazil”, the organization added.

The state of Maranhão is the stage for land conflicts. In recent years, the indigenous people of Guajajara created the group “Guardians of the Jungle” to protect their territories against invasions. Survival International monitors their work.

Sarah Shenker, a researcher with the organization, was in the region in April this year and explained that the work of the Guajajara is also significant in the protection of other indigenous peoples in the region, like the Awá, who live in isolation.

“The Brazilian government must accept that it is its duty to protect these lands. That their absence there is what drives the guardians to take on this defense, a very difficult and dangerous job,” Shenker told AFP.

Three other guardians have died in previous attacks. “Kwahu worked with great determination, despite so many obstacles and receiving constant death threats,” Shenker added.

Shenker argues that within Brazil’s political context, the indigenous people will continue to fight. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is known for defending the commercial exploitation of indigenous lands and protected areas.

“It is time to end this institutionalized genocide. Stop allowing the bloodshed of our people,” said Sonia Guajajara on Twitter, coordinator of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, following the murder.

The Minister of Justice and Public Safety, Sérgio Moro, also commented on Twitter. “The federal police will investigate the murder of indigenous leader Paulo Paulino Guajajara in the indigenous land of Arariboia, Maranhão. We will spare no efforts to prosecute those responsible for this serious crime,” he wrote.

Source: Estadão