Indigenous boy, 15, murdered on Brazil's Amazon border

[Judi Lynn]

Erisvan Soares Guajajara’s body was found with knife wounds in Maranhão region

Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro

Fri 13 Dec 2019 19.25 ESTLast modified on Fri 13 Dec 2019 19.27 EST

Arariboia, Maranhao state, Brazil

A 15-year-old indigenous boy has been murdered in Brazil on the edge of a heavily-deforested indigenous reserve in the state of Maranhão, on the fringes of the Amazon.

The murder, the fourth from the Guajajara tribe in recent weeks, came as a wave of racist abuse against indigenous people swept social media in the state.

The Indigenous Missionary Council(CIMI), a non-profit group reported that Erisvan Soares Guajajara’s body was found with knife wounds on Friday in Amarante do Maranhão. The group said he had travelled to the town, on the edge of the Araribóia indigenous reserve, with his father. The G1 news site reported that a non-indigenous man called Roberto Silva, 31, was also killed with Erisvan and that both died in the early hours of Friday at a party in an area called Vila Industrial.

“Another brutal crime against the Guajajara people,” tweeted Sonia Guajajara, a leader from the same tribe and reserve who is executive coordinator of Brazilian indigenous association ABIP. “Everyone who doesn’t like us feels allowed to kill because they know impunity rules. It’s time to say ENOUGH.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/14/indigenous-boy-15-murdered-on-brazils-amazon-border