Zezico Guajajara, an indigenous teacher and a supporter of the Guardians of the Forest, was murdered on 31 March 2020. He is the fifth Amazon forest protector to be killed in six months. Brazil’s populist President Jair Bolsonaro has drawn intense domestic and international criticism for failing to protect the Guardians’ territory in the eastern Amazon region. Photo: Zezico Guajajara
Zezico Guajajara, an indigenous teacher and a supporter of the Guardians of the Forest, was murdered on 31 March 2020. He is the fifth Amazon forest protector to be killed in six months. Brazil’s populist President Jair Bolsonaro has drawn intense domestic and international criticism for failing to protect the Guardians’ territory in the eastern Amazon region. Photo: Zezico Guajajara

2 April 2020 (BBC News) – A member of a protected tribe in the Amazon has been killed by gunmen, authorities in the Brazilian state of Maranhao say.

The body of Zezico Guajajara, of the Guajajara tribe, was found near his village on Tuesday. He had been shot.

The former teacher was a supporter of Guardians of the Forest, a group formed to combat logging gangs in the area.

The killing – the fifth in six months – increases concerns about violence against Amazon forest protectors.

Brazil’s populist President Jair Bolsonaro has drawn intense domestic and international criticism for failing to protect the Guardians’ territory in the eastern Amazon region. […]

The Guardians have been mercilessly targeted by powerful logging mafias illegally exploiting the valuable hardwoods in the Arariboia indigenous territory, home to both the Guajajara indigenous people and uncontacted members of the Awa tribe.

Sarah Shenker, Survival International

The Brazilian Indigenous Peoples’ Association (APIB) urged a thorough investigation.

The latest murder “is evidence of the worsening violence and vulnerability of the indigenous people, especially the leaders that fight to defend their territories against invaders,” the group said in a statement.

Sarah Shenker, who works for Survival International, a non-governmental organisation advocating for indigenous communities, accused loggers of targeting activists “one by one”.

The group renewed its criticism of President Bolsonaro.

“The Guardians have been mercilessly targeted by powerful logging mafias illegally exploiting the valuable hardwoods in the Arariboia indigenous territory, home to both the Guajajara indigenous people and uncontacted members of the Awa tribe,” it said in a statement. [more]

Brazil: Amazon land defender Zezico Guajajara shot dead

Indigenous leaders Cacique Raoni of Kayapo tribe (C) and Sonia Guajajara (3rd L), and Angela Mendes (2nd R) present a joint declaration to the media during a four-day pow wow in Piaracu village, in Xingu Indigenous Park, near Sao Jose do Xingu, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, 15 January 2020. Photo: Ricardo Moraes / REUTERS
Indigenous leaders Cacique Raoni of Kayapo tribe (C) and Sonia Guajajara (3rd L), and Angela Mendes (2nd R) present a joint declaration to the media during a four-day pow wow in Piaracu village, in Xingu Indigenous Park, near Sao Jose do Xingu, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, 15 January 2020. Photo: Ricardo Moraes / REUTERS

Indigenous teacher feared latest casualty in violence over Amazon resources in Brazil

By Fabio Teixeira
1 April 2020

RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A leader of a protected tribe in the Amazon has been found dead, authorities said, marking the fifth violent death in six months in a region rife with conflict between illegal loggers and indigenous people.

The body of Zezico Guajajara, a member of the Guajajara tribe, was discovered with bullet wounds near an indigenous reservation on Tuesday in Maranhao state, part of the Amazon region, said Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency FUNAI.

Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has encouraged economic development in the Amazon to lift indigenous groups from poverty and improve the lives of 30 million Brazilians who live there.

But invasions of protected forest reserves by illegal loggers and miners have increased since he took office last year, leading to violent clashes.

This fact is evidence of the worsening violence and vulnerability of the indigenous people, especially the leaders that fight to defend their territories against invaders.

Statement by Brazilian Indigenous Peoples’ Association (APIB)

“We have lost another fellow warrior – a man who defended life,” said indigenous leader Olimpio Guajajara in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“We are mourning his death. We’re protecting the forest for all humanity, but powerful forces are out to kill us.”

The Guajajara, one of Brazil’s largest indigenous groups with more than 20,000 members, is known for protecting the forest against illegal loggers and miners with a Guardians of the Forest patrol created several years ago.

In November, a Guardians of the Forest member was killed by illegal loggers, and in December, two others were gunned down, and a teenager was found stabbed to death. […]

Brazil’s indigenous people’s association, APIB, which represents many of the country’s 900,000 native people, urged federal police to investigate as well.

“This fact is evidence of the worsening violence and vulnerability of the indigenous people, especially the leaders that fight to defend their territories against invaders,” said APIB in a statement.

Zezico was an indigenous teacher and a supporter of the Guardians of the Forest, and he had a history of receiving death threats, according to APIB.

“The loggers are desperate to get rid of the Guardians, targeting them one by one,” said Sarah Shenker, a campaigner with Survival International, a non-profit that helps indigenous communities, in a statement. [more]

Indigenous teacher feared latest casualty in violence over Amazon resources in Brazil