Environmentalists in Brazil are mourning the death of a leading expert on uncontacted tribes in the Amazon, who was killed by an arrow that struck him in the chest. Rieli Franciscato, 56, was found dead on Wednesday in a remote region of Rondônia state in north-western Brazil.
As part of his work for the government’s indigenous agency, he was monitoring a tribe in the area. According to the report, Mr. Franciscato and his party came under fire as they approached an indigenous group. Mr. Franciscato, who was accompanied by police, tried to take shelter behind a vehicle but was struck in the chest by an arrow. Mr. Franciscato had been trying to observe a tribe known as the “Cautario River isolated group”.
The tribe was usually a peaceful group, but this time, there were just five armed men – a war party.
Franciscato’s death is reinforcing concern among forest protectors about the policies pursued by Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, who advocates the integration of the indigenous into broader Brazilian society and wants to exploit the Amazon’s natural resources.
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