06.11.19

​‘Guardian’ of the Amazon Killed in Brazil by Illegal Loggers.

​​In the months before an Indigenous leader, Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed with a gunshot in the face in the Amazon reserve he had spent much of his life protecting, at least two efforts were made to warn Brazil’s government of the risks posed by illegal loggers in the region. The murder is one of a string of losses for Brazil’s indigenous communities, as miners and loggers make more and bolder incursions into Indigenous territories and other protected areas. Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said that Brazil’s Indigenous reserves should be opened up to commercial exploration. Mr. Guajajara, 26, left one child. He and Laércio Guajajara were members of the forest guardians, a group the Guajajara created to defend themselves and their land against miners, loggers and others interested in illegally taking resources from the reserve. In a searing statement lamenting Mr. Guajajara’s death, the association of Brazilian Indigenous peoples said the Bolsonaro administration had “Indigenous blood” on its hands. The Indigenous Missionary Council had warned in a report published on Sept. 24 that the number of invasions of Indigenous lands by loggers, miners and land grabbers was rising. They documented 160 incursions through September of this year, compared to 109 during the whole of 2018. Credit: NOW THIS​