Letter: urgent action needed after the murder of Zezico Rodrigues Guajajara in Brazil

On April 07, 2020, forty members of the European Parliament sent a letter to High Representative Josep Borrell and Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius, at the initiative of Anna Cavazzini MEP.

The letter calls for urgent action from the EEAS and the European Commission, after the murder of indigenous leader Zezico Rodrigues Guajajara in Brazil on March 31.

Read or download the letter (PDF)

Zezico Rodrigues Guajajara is the fifth indigenous Guajajara murdered in only five months, after Forest Guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara, indigenous leaders Firmino Prexede Guajajara and Raimundo Benício Guajajara, and 15- year-old Erisvan Guajajara. In 2019, seven Brazilian indigenous leaders were murdered, the highest toll in two decades.

These murders are not isolated events, but are part of a broader pattern of attacks against indigenous people and protected territories in Brazil. Those attacks are enabled by aggressive rhetoric from political leaders, the practical dismantling of Brazil’s indigenous agency FUNAI, and anti-deforestation enforcement agency IBAMA, police repression against organizations and individuals protecting the forest, impunity for illegal loggers and miners, and a constant array of laws slashing Brazilian environmental legislation.

Photo : Eduardo Duarte (CC BY-ND 2.0)