Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Maranhao (Agenzia Fides) - Security officer Eusebio, of the indigenous community of Ka'apor, 42, of the Xiborendá village in indigenous Alto Turiaçu land in Maranhão (Brazil), was killed on Sunday, April 26 with a gunshot. He was returning from Jumu'e Ha Renda Keruhu village with another indigenous, when around 6:30 pm, two hooded men asked them to stop and then hit Eusébio killing him.
According to the note sent to Fides by CIMI (Indigenous Missionary Council), according to some indigenous witnesses, the perpetrators of the crime are the loggers of the municipality of Centro do Guilherme. Eusebio was a very busy and important person in the fight against illegal logging in the area and a member of the Council of Ka'apor.
Eusebio’s son, after leaving his father's body in the city of Zé Doca, returned to his village, where he was approached by a logger who warned him that other indigenous and supporters of Ka'apor might be killed.
Violence against indigenous people has intensified in recent months. "We closed part of the area and check the entry of eight villages, to prevent the return of loggers. But since then there have been thefts of motorcycles and aggression, always committed by two or three people", says a leader of Ka'apor. "Death threats have been constant for a long time. Now they kill to intimidate ... We do not know what to do, because we have no protection. The state does nothing".
Madalena Borges, of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) in the region of Maranhão, highlights the absence and omission of public power, which ignors repeated complaints regarding environmental crimes committed by the invaders of the indigenous territory. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 29/04/2015)
