Masked Gunmen attack Amazon tribe

The video shows gunmen believed to be working for local farmer and mayor, Paulo César Quartiero, firing assault rifles and throwing homemade bombs at an unarmed group of Makuxi. These graphic images are just the latest in a series of vicious attacks that have left twenty dead and hundreds wounded and despite the discovery of a large cache of weapons and ammunition at Quartiero’s ranch, he has since been released.Raposa-Serra do Sol, which is home to 19, 000 Indians from over five different Makuxi ethnic groups, was created in 2005 after years of campaigning by the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR). It is just one of the many sites of conflict between indigenous Indians and farmers across Brazil and despite official recognition of their right to live there, the violence looks set to continue well into the future.

The “lost” Amazonian tribe which made recent headlines had been known about for nearly 100 years.  The tribe was photographed for the sole purpose of proving “uncontacted” tribes in the Amazon still exist today to counter extensive logging in the area which try’s to prove otherwise.  

From the article:

Meirelles, one of only five or so genuine sertanistas, has no regrets, arguing that the pictures and video released to the world were powerful and indisputable evidence to those who say isolated tribes no longer exist. ‘Alan García [the President of Peru] declared recently that the isolated Indians were a creation in the imagination of environmentalists and anthropologists – now we have the pictures.’

For years, South American governments refuses to acknowledge the existence of these tribes. But, the first morning of the expedition, Possuelo finds human tracks pointing to vast, dark virgin jungle. He knows the language of the jungle and a makeshift gate made of hacked sapling warns them to “keep out.” Exploring the jungle with a team of Matis Indian Scouts, they know they are near the Arrow People, and they maintain a distance — they want to get out alive. Two Indians are seen running past them, scattering and disappearing into the rain forest. The point is not to make contact, but to protect the Arrow People.