“Brazil: Six Indians murdered as land conflict deepens”, 2 December 2016

Six Amazonian Indians...men, of the Guajajara tribe in the north-eastern Amazon, were killed between September and November 2016. Their bodies were then brutally dismembered...[They]...are the latest victims of the land conflict which has engulfed the area...The Brazilian NGO CIMI said of one of the men: “He was fighting to defend the indigenous territory against illegal logging, and he made those who live off this activity angry.” The Guajajara have reported a constant stream of death threats from outsiders who are stealing their land and resources. A powerful and violent logging mafia operates in the region, supported by...local politicians. Five Guajajara were murdered earlier this year. They were from Arariboia indigenous territory, where...the “Guajajara Guardians” are putting their lives on the line to expel loggers and save their uncontacted Awá neighbors from extinction... Plans to drastically weaken indigenous land rights and cut and freeze funding to FUNAI, the body charged with protecting tribal lands, are currently being debated by Brazilian politicians...