Brazil: Amazonian Land Defender is killed by Illegal Loggers

Giorgia Turchetti Daily Digest Editor, The Pawprint

On Friday, November 1st, a member of the Guardians of The Forest named Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed. Guajajara was attacked and shot in the head during an ambush by illegal loggers that invaded the reservation. One of the loggers was also killed in a subsequent shooting according to Brazilian Police. 

The Guajajaras tribe has at least 20,000 indigenous people making it one of Brazil’s largest indigenous groups. They are committed to protecting the Arariboia Indigenous Territory which is being destroyed by wildfires and deforestation. “There is so much destruction of nature happening, good trees with wood as hard as steel being cut down and taken away,” said Guajajaras to Reuters news agency earlier this year. 

Shootings and ambushes of this kind have been increasing significantly and are directed towards Amazon forest protectors. In fact, an official who protected indigenous tribes was murdered in the city of Tabatinga and at least three Guardians have been killed, along with many family members. 

Brazil’s justice Prime Minister has often shown his disapproval of environmental campaigns and has significantly cut Brazil’s environmental agency budget. Instead, he continues to support farmers and loggers working in the Amazon.