The escalation of violence in Brazil’s northeastern region with the murders of two young Pataxó Indigenous leaders this week triggered the newly created Ministry of Indigenous Peoples to set up a crisis office to monitor land conflicts in the region. On Jan. 17, 17-year-old Nawir Brito de Jesus and 25-year-old Samuel Cristiano do Amor Divino […]
Indigenous groups in Brazil are demanding justice after a spate of killings allegedly linked to land disputes left three people dead and two injured in the space of just two days, and raised concerns about escalating violence against native peoples throughout the country. Janildo Oliveira Guajajara was shot and killed by unknown assailants in an […]
In Brazil, news of a slain forest guardian overshadowed the commemoration of Amazon Day on September 5, as the killing put in stark relief the reality of the rainforest and its embattled defenders.
Early on September 3, Janildo Oliveira Guajajara, a Guajajara man, was shot dead in Amarante do Maranhão, close to the Araribóia Indigenous land in the state of Maranhão. He was a member of a group of forest guardians who patrol their territory for illegal logging, the Araribóia guardians said. His teenage nephew was also shot, but survived. Another Guajajara man, Jael Carlos Miranda, died after he was run over in the town of Arame on the same day.