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January 20, 2023

Two Indigenous Pataxó Land Defenders Shot Dead in Brazil
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In Brazil, two Indigenous Pataxó land defenders were murdered Tuesday in
the municipality of Itabela. Seventeen-year-old Nawir Brito de Jesus and
25-year-old Samuel Cristiano do Amor Divino were traveling to a farm
when gunmen on a motorcycle shot them in the back, according to
witnesses. The Pataxó people have faced intense conflicts with local
ranchers who've invaded their land. This comes as the government of
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched a series of raids in
search of illegal loggers and ranchers in the Amazon rainforest in an
effort to halt deforestation, which skyrocketed under the far-right
former President Jair Bolsonaro. This is the anti-deforestation
mission's leader, Givanildo Dos Santos. 

Givanildo Dos Santos: "The rhetoric of the former government created a
mindset among people that led many to invade areas and deforest them,
planting farms and thinking that the government would eliminate
Indigenous lands and legalize these invasions for cattle production."



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