...It is with deep sadness and disgust that we, the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples’ Association (APIB), publicly denounce and offer solidarity to the Guajajara People for the guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara’s murder, after the “Forest Guardians” team of indigenous forest agents were ambushed by loggers in the Guajajara territory. The Indigenous leader and guardian Laércio Guajajara was also injured, he’s hospitalized and in a stable condition.

The crime occurred yesterday in the Araribóia Indigenous Land, at Bom Jesus das Selvas, Maranhão, between the Lagoa Comprida and Jenipapo villages. There was intense confrontation. The indigenous forest guardian Paul Paulino Guajajara, known as “Bad Wolf”, was brutally murdered with a gunshot to his face. It has been reported that a logger involved in the crime may also have died in the confrontation, his body is missing.

The Bolsonaro Government has indigenous blood on their hands, the increased violence in indigenous territories is a direct reflection of their hate speech, as well as their measures against indigenous peoples in Brazil. Our lands are being invaded, our leaders murdered, attacked and criminalized, and the Brazilian state is abandoning indigenous peoples to their fate with the ongoing dismantling of environmental and indigenous policies...