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The National Guard was withdrawn from the Uru Eu Wau Wau Indigenous Land in Rondônia state, at a time of great risk for indigenous people and FUNAI officials

Base de Proteção da Funai foi reformada após ser totalmente vandalizada por invasores.
FUNAI's Protection Base had to be refurbished after it was completely vandalised by invaders. Photo: Jupaú - Uru Eu Wau Wau People's Association

Published by Opi

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Policemen were withdrawn on 23 September. After pressure from the Ethno-Environmental Protection Front they returned but, without an official order, it is not known how long they will stay

Police officers from the National Guard who provide security to the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples' (FUNAI) employees and the indigenous people in the Uru Eu Wau Wau Indigenous Land in Rondônia, withdrew from the area on 23 September. The withdrawal came at a time of tension in the territory, where a shooting took place a few months previously. After pressure from the Ethno-Environmental Protection Front (FPE) and the Federal Public Prosecution Office (MPF), the police returned, but the ordinance which guarantees their presence expired in July and has still not been renewed. 

The team that left and then returned is responsible for security in the northern region, the most conflictive and dangerous area in this Indigenous Territory, specially in the vicinity of the Burareiro Directed Settlement Project, where attacks against public servants and indigenous people, and invasions of the forest, are constantly taking place. The Jupaú - Uru Eu Wau Wau Indigenous People's Association has expressed concern with the lack of any solution for the situation. 

The police are guarding the Nova Floresta Ethno-Environmental Protection Base, known as Barreira 2, between the municipalities of Montenegro and Jorge Teixeira. The Burareiro region is a disputed area because the National Institute for Colonisation and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), created a settlement on indigenous territory during the dictatorship and there has been no solution to this problem up until now. 

Between 2015 and 2022, invaders used the settlement as a base for violent incursions into the Indigenous Land, setting fire to the forests and looting and damaging the physical structure of the protection base. The base was even set on fire. It was also hit by gun shots in various places and the sentence "A good Indian is a dead Indian" was graffitied on its wall. In 2022, the base was recovered and the presence of the National Guard kept the invaders at bay. 

For the FPE, there is a serious risk of further invasions and destruction of the base if the National Guard leaves. The Uru Eu Wau Wau Indigenous Land is home to four contacted indigenous peoples and at least two isolated groups. 

In July, Opi sent a letter to the authorities informing them of the absence of the National Guard in five indigenous lands with isolated peoples (Kawahiva do Rio Pardo and Piripkura, in Mato Grosso state, Araribóia and Alto Turiaçu, in Maranhão state and Mamoriá, in Amazonas state). 

In response, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and the National Secretariat for Public Security of the Ministry of Justice said that the use of police officers was guaranteed in the indigenous lands of Mato Grosso until October and in Araribóia until November. In the Awá and Alto Turiaçu indigenous lands (MA), the police were only authorised to stay until September. And in the case of Mamoriá, the order has not been renewed to date. 

For Opi, "the National Guard's support for FUNAI in their inspection, monitoring and territorial protection activities in indigenous territories has been used frequently and has proven to be an effective resource in preventing acts of violence and violations against public servants, human rights defenders, indigenous peoples and their territories." The non-renewal of the orders guaranteeing the presence of the Guard poses a direct threat to the security of the activities carried out by FUNAI to preserve the lives of indigenous populations and the environment in these regions.

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