Amazon ‘forest guardian’ killed by Brazilian loggers in ambush

A BRAZILIAN land defender was killed and a second injured in an ambush by loggers in the Amazon rainforest, regional authorities reported yesterday.

Paulo Paulino Guajajara, an indigenous leader, and his colleague Laercio were members of “Guardians of the Forest”, a group that attempts to protect villagers’ land from illegal logging.

They had left their village on Friday night to look for water when the attack happened, the human rights secretariat of Maranhão state wrote on Twitter.

Paulo Paulino was shot in the neck, according to Survival International, a human rights organisation, which said his colleague managed to escape. A logger has also been reported missing.

Sérgio Moro, the justice minister, said the police would investigate the death, which happened in the Araribóia indigenous territory, about 300 miles from São Luís, the state capital.

Sarah Shenker, a Survival International researcher, told AFP: “The Brazilian government has to accept that it is their responsibility to protect those lands. That they do not is what pushes the guardians to assume this defence, a very dangerous job.” Three guardians have died in previous attacks.

“Stop authorising the bloodshed of our people!” wrote Sonia Guajajara, of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, on Twitter.

President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of harming the Amazon and indigenous tribes to benefit his supporters in the logging, mining and farming industries.