Drug Cartels Eradicate Isolated Amazonian Tribe
Aug 9, 2011 5 Comments ›› Toro520
One of the world’s last uncontacted tribes has gone missing after drug traffickers overran Brazilian guards posted to protect its lands.
No trace of the Indian tribe has been found after heavily armed men destroyed a guard post in western Brazil around 32 miles from the Peruvian border.
Workers from FUNAI, the government bureau of Indian affairs, found a broken arrow in one of the men’s backpacks, raising fears for the tribe’s safety.
Carlos Travassos, head of the government’s isolated Indians department, said: ‘We think the Peruvians made the Indians flee.
‘Now we have good proof. We are more worried than ever.’
The tribe made headlines earlier this year after they were pictured from a helicopter, daubed in red paint, standing among their huts in the dense rainforest.
Their compound included thatched dwellings and gardens full of manioc tubers and papaya, as well as covered stores for fruit and meat.
Like other uncontacted tribes, they live a traditional life in the forest and do not have any contact with the outside world.
As many as 2,000 Indians may live in the Juvari Valley, in the western Amazon, according to estimates.
Brazilian officials keep an eye on tribal lands, but do not force contact with the inhabitants.
According to tribal advocacy group Survival International, police found a package containing 44lbs of cocaine in the area.
That could mean that the Envira River, where the Brazilian guard post was located, is now an entry point into Brazil for Peruvian cocaine smugglers.
According to local reports, police have arrested one man – A Portuguese national – who was detained and deported for drug trafficking in March.
Jose Carlos Meirelles, who headed the remote guard post, is now back in the area and reported that several groups of men armed with sub-machine guns and rifles are in the forest near the base.
The Indian tribesmen are vulnerable to common diseases, because they have not built up immunity to the viruses and bacteria outside their forest home.
There are thought to be around 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide.
Mr Travassos said: ‘This situation could be one of the biggest blows we have ever seen in the protection of uncontacted Indians in recent decades.
‘It’s a catastrophe.’
The community was thought to contain around 150 people.
Brazilian authorities have stayed away from contacting the tribes after the disastrous impact it had on their populations.
In 1987, statistics showed that 50 per cent of Indians who had been contacted died within a year due to disease.
Survival International has also been concerned over pressures from people seeking to get at raw materials in the area, including logging.
Alan Garcia, President of Peru until last month, had claimed the tribes did not exist – placing the Indians in a dangerous position as loggers moved into their lands.
