Brazil police probe indigenous deaths' link to battle with loggers
By Steven Grattan
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Two indigenous Guajajara men, one a member of a group defending the rainforest from illegal logging on their reservation, and a Pataxo youth, have been killed in two of Brazil's northeastern states, police and indigenous groups have confirmed.
Federal Police told Reuters on Tuesday they are investigating the deaths, but could not provide any further details as "investigations are ongoing".
In the first incident on Saturday in the state of Maranhao, Janildo Oliveira Guajajara, a member of the self-styled "guardians of the forest" group, was reportedly killed by shots in the back. Another man was seriously wounded in the attack.
In a separate incident on the same day in the same state, Jael Carlos Miranda Guajajara, 34, was run over by a car in what indigenous groups believe was a targeted killing.
The motives for the killings were unclear, but police are investigating whether they were in relation to the indigenous resistance to illegal loggers that have invaded their land.
A 14-year-old indigenous boy from the Pataxo people in the state of Bahia was reportedly killed in a shooting on Sunday by unidentified gunmen. His reservation has not been officially recognized and farmers live on the land claimed by the Pataxo.
The government's indigenous affairs agency Funai did not respond to request for comment by the time of publication.
Four killings of Guajajara "forest guardians" were registered in December 2019 in Maranhao state in the space of six weeks, all indigenous men from the Arariboia reservation that has faced an escalating battle with loggers.
Carlos Travassos, an anthropologist who works with the Guajajara guardians, said six of them have been murdered since 2016.
"It is not clear what happened to Janildo, but we think he was ambushed in the local town of Amarante in some form of retaliation," Travassos said by telephone.
Illegal gold mining and logging has surged in the Amazon rainforest since President Jair Bolsonaro won the 2018 election, promising to ease environmental crime enforcement and develop the region economically.
In June, illegal fishermen confessed to murdering Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on isolated tribes, and British journalist Dom Phillips who was traveling with them in the Javari Valley reporting for a book on the Amazon.
(Reporting by Steven Grattan and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
