The survival of the “uncontacted” tribe whose images caused a worldwide sensation in February is in jeopardy, after the Peruvian government announced plans to abolish the reserve that protects their territory.
Local timber interests are suspected in the slaying of Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria Do Espirito Santo da Silva, two activists seeking to protect the rainforest of Brazils’ Para state.
Brazil’s lower house passed a bill to loosen rules on deforestation and instate an amnesty for prior violations. The bill is pushed by the Communist Party, which charges that smallholders bear the brunt of current law.
Indigenous bands living in voluntary isolation in remote regions of the Peruvian Amazon again fired arrows at intruders—as the national government announced new oil exploration blocs in the disputed territory.
Ecuador’s national indigenous organization announced that is filing a legal complaint against the government, including President Rafael Correa, for complicity with “genocide” against indigenous people in the Amazon.
Peruvian indigenous forest dwellers have been forced to set up a guard post to protect a reserve established for “uncontacted” peoples, after the authorities ignored their repeated pleas for action.
The UK-based indigenous rights group Survival International noted the 100th anniversary of an historic report by Irish investigator Roger Casement finding that 30,000 Amazon Indians were enslaved by British rubber interests.
A federal judge in New York issued a preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of a recent Ecuadoran court judgment against US oil company Chevron for pollution of rainforest lands.
Peru’s government secretly admitted that 70-90% of its mahogany exports are illegally felled, according to a WikiLeaks cable—amid concerns of illegal loggers encroaching on indigenous lands.
National Police opened fire on a roadblock by small-scale unlicensed miners in Peru’s Amazon region of Madre de Dios, launched to protest a crackdown that included aerial bombardment.
Peru’s security forces cracked down on illegal gold mining operations in the Amazon region of Madre de Dios, with army troops putting several dredges on the region’s rivers to the torch.
A Brazilian judge ruled in favor of local indigenous groups, blocking President Dilma Rousseff’s plans to move ahead with construction of the controversial Belo Monte dam.
