Javari: Indigenous people are threatened after wood seizure – 04/19/2023 – Daily life

Four hooded men armed with rifles threatened indigenous people from Vale do Javari last Sunday (16). The invasion took place in the middle of the afternoon, in the village of Irari 2, of the Kanamari people, in the Amazon.

The case would have happened after a PF (Federal Police) operation that seized illegally extracted wood in the region.

The invaders, who spoke Spanish, arrived at the site in an aluminum boat, looking for the chief of the place, who was not at the site and whose name has not been released.

Leaders of the Kanamari people registered a police report describing the invasion and, this Wednesday (19), PF agents went to the region, accompanied by indigenous people.

According to civil police officer Alex Perez, who commands the police station in Atalaia do Norte (AM), so far only the complainant has been heard. The PF is monitoring the region to ensure the safety of the indigenous people, but a decision has yet to be made.

The village Irari 2 is located in the region known as Middle Javari, in the northwest of the indigenous land, close to the border of the Amazon with Peru.

The indigenous land of Vale do Javari, where the largest number of isolated peoples in the world live, gained international recognition last year, after the disappearance of indigenist Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips. They were killed while investigating illegal fishing in the region.

At the time, indigenous organizations and specialists denounced the increase in violence and the presence of organized crime in the region, related to irregular fishing and logging activities.

A PF river base was installed in the port of Atalaia do Norte at the end of March.

According to the OPI (Observatory of Isolated Peoples), the Kanamari sent a letter to Funai (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples) asking for the urgent presence of inspection bodies in the region where the threats occurred.

“The removal of wood and illegal fishing carried out by criminals inside our villages have made us hostages of fear”, says an excerpt from the letter, published by OPI. “The sluggishness of the Brazilian State has caused us great losses and we are not willing to lose any more of our people”.

In a statement, Funai (National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples) said it was monitoring the case through the agency’s unit in the region. “After becoming aware of the threat suffered by the president of the Association of the Kanamari People of the Javari Valley, Funai informed the Federal Police about what happened”, says the text.

The agency also states that it made itself available to the public security forces for negotiations on actions to combat drug trafficking, fishing, illegal hunting and smuggling of wood in the region to prevent indigenous populations from being targets of new attacks.

When contacted, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples said it had not been notified of the case and therefore would not comment. The Secretariat of Public Security of Amazonas did not respond until the publication of this report.

According to OPI, in October last year, a Kanamari leader was threatened with death by illegal fishermen while sailing in the same region where Bruno and Dom were murdered.

In March, leaders of the Matis, Kanamaris, Mayorunas and Marubos peoples protested in Atalaia do Norte for the government to speed up the appointment of new coordinators for Funai and the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health in Javari.