An expert who worked to protect isolated Amazonian tribes was shot and killed by arrow bullets in Brazil, according to the government Indigenous Affairs Agency, Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai).
Riley Franciscato was killed on Wednesday while responding to a report about seeing an isolated group in Serengueiras, in the northern Brazilian state of Rondônia.
The 56-year-old, a coordinator of a team that helps protect the lands of the isolated tribes of Rondonia, was shot in the chest with an arrow on the borders of the Uru or Wau Wo tribe lands.
He was called there after the cattle ranch and logging owners who had targeted the reserve intensified their campaign in recent months, setting fires and destroying most of the surrounding forest, according to Survival, a global organization that advocates for tribal rights.
Police officer Paulo Ricardo Brisa told the Brazilian daily O Globo that he accompanied Franciscato to Line 6, an intense conflict zone in Serengueiras.
“We started to follow in their footsteps and came to the river’s edge, near the area that Funai protects. When we approached the border (of Indigenous Protected Land) we could see a sign there,“ This is Funai Reserve, no trespassing.
Francescato has worked at Funai for more than three decades, and the organization said his loss would be very sad.
Sara Schenker, Senior Researcher at Survival said: “Reilly's death is an immeasurable tragic loss for the isolated tribes, for the jungle, and for the struggle to stop the genocide in Brazil.
“For decades, he refused to accept the violent greed that destroyed the Amazon rainforest and its best keepers. He worked tirelessly to protect the lands of isolated tribes from strangers. He dedicated his life to them, working on the front line to combat illegal invasions through loggers, ranchers and miners threatening annihilation. To the most vulnerable people on the planet. "
She said the isolated tribes "may have mistaken Riley,
one of their closest allies, as one of their many enemies threatening their own survival" and "have been pushed over the edge."
“The last thing Reilly wants is for the government and the invaders to use his death as an excuse to target the Uru or Wau Wo region more aggressively, or to make forcible contact with the Indians who have not been contacted. This would be fatal, and any attempts would face immediate opposition from the indigenous population. And their allies around the world. "
***********************
***********************
No comments:
Post a Comment