He had lived in self-isolation for almost three decades in the Brazilian Amazon. The presumed last survivor of a now-extinct indigenous community has been found dead, authorities said. Known as the “Tanaru Indian,” he was found dead Aug. 23 in a Tanaru indigenous mud hut, according to Funai, Brazil’s government agency for indigenous affairs.
He was also known as “Indio do buraco” (“Indian of the hole”) for his habit of digging deep holes in the huts where he lived.
According to the NGO Survival, the Tanaru indigenous land, in the state of Rondonia, on the border with Bolivia, is a jungle island surrounded by vast cattle ranches, in one of the most dangerous regions of Brazil, mainly due to illegal mining and deforestation. .
Authorities did not say the man’s age or cause of death, but said they saw “no signs of violence or struggle.” “Everything indicates that the death was due to natural causes,” Funai said in a statement, adding that it found no evidence of the presence of other people at the scene.
“It is the end of the genocide of this indigenous people”
Authorities believe the man spent 26 years alone wandering the jungle after members of his already small community slowly disappeared in the mid-1990s as loggers and ranchers took over surrounding land.
“With his death, this is the end of the genocide of these tribal peoples,” said Fiona Watson, director of research for Survival, who visited Tanaru territory in 2004. “It was a true genocide, the deliberate elimination of an entire people by part of the cattle herders. hunger for land and wealth,” she said.
According to Funai, the presence of isolated indigenous groups in Brazil, without contact with the rest of the world, has been detected in 114 different places. An assessment that varies, however, according to reports.
According to the 2010 census, more than 800,000 people declare themselves indigenous to Brazil, a huge country of 212 million inhabitants. More than half of them live in the Amazon and many are threatened by large-scale, illegal exploitation of the natural resources they depend on for their survival.
Source: BFM TV
