He also digs deep, narrow holes inside the palm-roofed huts he builds for himself as he wanders the reserve alone. He flees from the FUNAI officials who monitor his movements, leave him gifts of seeds and tools, and patrol the reserve’s perimeter against intrusions that could imperil his survival.įUNAI’s overtures appear to have engendered a certain level of trust, Pereira said, citing instances when the man has signaled to patrols to avoid pitfalls he’d dug as defenses against intruders and to trap wild animals. Nearly 500 miles away in the Tanaru reserve, the lone survivor continues to shun direct contact with outsiders. They acquired their moniker for their reputation as skilled archers, to distinguish them from other isolated groups in the Javari reserve that use clubs rather than arrows as weapons. As with the lone survivor, no one knows what the Flecheiros actually call themselves. Neither group has ever had direct, peaceful contact with the outside world. Mysteries abound in both the case of the lone survivor in Rondônia and the Flecheiros in the Vale do Javari. “The weakening of the sole government institution responsible for their protection,” Beto Marubo texted from Brasilia, “heightens the dangers for the isolated groups.” His people, the Marubo, are among six contacted tribes living within the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, which they share with at least 11 isolated communities, including the Flecheiros. “The very fact that these groups are uncontacted makes them particularly vulnerable because they’re invisible to the majority of the public,” said Beto Marubo, one of a growing cadre of indigenous activists seeking a leadership role in speaking on behalf of their isolated brethren. Severe cuts to FUNAI’s budget under the government of president Michel Temer have compromised its ability to safeguard indigenous lands from covetous outsiders seeking to exploit the resource-rich wilderness regions.īrazilian indigenous leaders applauded FUNAI’s decision as a step forward in protecting the isolated communities, which remain highly susceptible to contagious diseases and are exposed to violence at the hands of outsiders. The remote device provided the first images of an isolated group ever recorded by drone-images offering a unique opportunity to gather information about the Flecheiros that could ultimately bolster protection efforts.įUNAI officials say the agency has come under mounting attack within Brazil in recent years from powerful economic interests and politicians who accuse it of holding back development in the Amazon with dubious claims about the existence of the uncontacted tribes. But he said the drone was put aloft last year as a way to cast light on rumors of the alleged atrocity, not to violate the group’s privacy. He acknowledged that critics could argue that using a drone to peer into the lives of the Arrow People is an aggressive tactic. Officials say it was taken last year during a fact-finding mission into the depths of the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, in far western Brazil, to investigate allegations of a massacre perpetrated against the tribe, known by outsiders as the Flecheiros, or People of the Arrow.īoth videos were taken without the knowledge or consent of the subjects, raising ethical questions about their rights, as well as concerns that such images might incite adventurers to seek out isolated tribes on their own.īut FUNAI officials say they decided to release the images after a consensus was reached among veteran field agents to heighten awareness within Brazil and around the world of the existence of the isolated tribes and their increasingly precarious status.Ī communal dwelling, or maloca, of the Flecheiros, or Arrow People, photographed from a drone on a 2017 FUNAI expedition in the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land. Among those seen is a man brandishing a longbow and a clutch of bamboo arrows. Then weeks later, on August 21, FUNAI’s Department of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indians released a video, taken from an aerial drone, of several people moving around in a large jungle clearing planted with crops.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |