Funai
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News from the NOS•today, 17:31
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The last member of a Brazilian indigenous tribe has died. Funai, the local protection agency for indigenous peoples, says the man’s body was found about a week ago in a hammock next to his cabin. He lived in complete isolation and lived to be around 60 years old.
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According to local authorities, no signs of violence were found and the man died of natural causes. To know for sure, the exact cause of death is being investigated by the police.
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For the past 26 years, the man has lived in the Tanaru Reserve, a part of the Amazon on the border with Bolivia. In 2018 it was filmed by Funai members.
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Those pictures show how the man is working a tree with an ax:
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He was also called the “caveman” because he dug deep pits. Presumably that was catching animals and hiding when strangers were around. Nobody knows what his real name was.
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Several attempts have been made to establish contact, but each attempt has failed. Funai kept looking at him. He was never seen from the video again, but members of the organization found his huts and burrows, indicating that he was still alive. From time to time they also left him things.
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Tribal members killed
Since the 1970s, the tribe to which man belonged has been wiped out by peasants who have taken over the land. This was often done by force: in 1995 the other six members of the Tanaru tribe were murdered. “With his death, his people’s genocide is complete. Because this was genocide. Farmers exterminated this people,” says Fiona Watson, director of human rights organization Survival International.
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The Brazilian Constitution states that the tribes have a right to their traditional territory. President Bolsonaro has challenged this policy since taking office in 2018. According to him, the indigenous population hinders economic development. Deforestation in the country has increased under his rule and with it the habitat of the tribes has further decreased.
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The Mura are one such tribe in the Amazon that is threatened:
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Mura tribe in the Amazon threatened: “What is happening here is an atrocity”
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