Friday, August 17, 2018

Brasil's land war

Jorginho Guajajara was found dead in the Brasilian northern state of Maranhao with his neck broken.

He was a leader of the Guajajara people, who call themselves the Guardians of the Amazon and have faced repeated threats from a powerful logging mafia operating on their territory. "This is just one of many murders in Maranhao... due to the indigenous people's work to protect their land against loggers," said Sonia Guajajara, an indigenous leader who is standing to be Brazil's next vice president. "Our people can no longer afford to stand by while the government does nothing, and they are paying for that with their lives," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Brasil is grappling with scores of deadly land conflicts, illustrating the tensions between preserving indigenous culture and economic development. Up to 80 members of the Guajajara tribe have been killed since 2000, according to rights groups estimates. The Arariboia territory where the Guajajara live is also home to the Awa Indians, hunter-gatherers Survival International has described as the most threatened tribe in the world because they have nowhere to go if their forest is cut down.

http://news.trust.org/item/20180816134930-mp6t1/

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