On the afternoon of December 7, an unidentified individual shot and killed two indigenous men, Firmino Prexede Guajajara and Raimundo Guajajara, and injured two others, in the Brazilian Amazon.
“The men were shot from a moving vehicle on Brazilian highway BR 226, which crosses the indigenous land of Canabrava, of the Guajajara people in Maranhão state, between Boa Vista and El Betel villages, located between the cities Grajaú and Barra do Corda,” according to a statement from Amazon Watch. “The indigenous men had been riding a motorcycle on the road. The group of indigenous men was returning from a meeting with Eletronorte, Brazilian electric utilities company, and Funai (Brazilian National Indigenous Foundation) where they had been advocating in defense of their rights.”
An indigenous person recorded a video at the scene asking people to share the message: “Please spread this video so that people can know the state of vulnerability we are in, for lack of security, for illicit acts that some people practice, and now our relatives have had to pay with their own lives. This can't keep happening. Brazilian authorities and responsible bodies must take action on this.”
On November 1, Paulo Paulino Guajajara, who worked as a forest guardian defending indigenous territory against illegal logging, was murdered by loggers also near the BR 226, the same area where the crime against the Guajajara men took place on December 7. for more information, go to: Illegal Loggers Murder Indigenous Forest Guardian in Brazilian Amazon https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/11/2/1896749/-Indigenous-Forest-Guardian-Murdered-by-Illegal-Loggers-in-Brazilian-Amazon
“It makes me so mad to see this [forest destruction],” Paulino told Survival International earlier this year, according to the Guardian. “These people think they can come here, into our home, and help themselves to our forest? No. We won’t allow it. We don’t break into their houses and rob them, do we? My blood is boiling. I’m so angry.”
The three murders take place amidst the escalating violence against Indigenous Peoples that has has emerged after the election of far right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has encouraged the exploitation of protected lands and has vowed to reduce tribal rights.
“Since Paulino’s murder, feelings of abandonment and insecurity have spread throughout the more than 170 villages of Arariboia's territory (an area of 413,000 hectares which has been demarcated since 1990),” Amazon Watch reported. “According to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, threats and tension are forcing the forest guardians to leave their territory. Authorities in the Government of Maranhão had already decided to evacuate three ‘guardians’ for their own safety: the group's coordinator, Olímpio Guajajara, and Laércio and Auro Guajajara (one of whom, Laércio, survived the ambush that killed Paulino). Despite international outcry and many thousands of messages sent to Brazil's Justice Minister, Sergio Moro, no one has yet been arrested for Paulo Paulino’s murder”
In recent interview, Laercio said that a war could happen if the Ministry of Justice doesn’t protect the forest guardians: "This will not end if Justice does not take care of us. It will get worse. I think there will be a war in the future because we won't surrender our land for them to destroy and they won't want to give up stealing what's ours. The tendency is to get worse if no one intervenes in this exploration of our territory.”
“An institutionalized genocide of indigenous peoples is taking place in Brazil,” concluded Amazon Watch Program Director Christian Poirier in a statement. “They are being left alone, vulnerable to all kinds of threats and violence. The international community must not accept that any more indigenous blood be shed. It is the constitutional duty of the Brazilian government to protect indigenous territories and ensure the safety of their peoples.”