We, members of the Wajãpi Village Council, would like to share new information about what is happening in our Indigenous Land and ask once again for support from either the Federal Police or the Army to ensure the safety of the Wajãpi people.
Yesterday (07/30/19), we received a visit from Senator Randolfe Rodrigues during the morning. He came to hear our perspective about what is happening in our Indigenous Land and asked for better clarification on some information he has received.
The senator declared he will keep on supporting us so that the police can continue investigating the invasion until they arrest the invaders. He also said we should stay in the Wajãpi territory, protecting our communities until we are sure the attackers are no longer inside. Moreover, he invited some Wajãpi people to the physical location of the Federal Prosecution Service to report what they saw and what they know about the invaders.
Last evening, we received some information from the residents of the CTA village, located on the limits with the BR 210 highway. Around 6 pm, a young man from that village went to bathe in the stream nearby the village and heard someone shouting “Hey!” from behind him. When he turned around, there was a tall, strong man with long curly hair and beard pointing at him with a weapon that looked like an automatic 12-gauge shotgun. He got very scared and ran back to the village to call someone for help. Right after that, he returned to the stream with five other men but they no longer found the invader. They found two pairs of barefoot footprints, each of them going in a different direction. They took some pictures and made some videos to present to the police. They decided, however, not to follow the tracks because it was getting dark. According to the young one, the man with the shotgun was wearing a long sleeve black t-shirt.
After receiving this information from the CTA residents, people from other villages by the highway got together to guard the entire portion of the highway located inside the Wajãpi Indigenous Land limits over the night.
This morning, CTA residents found new tracks of two people near the village and warned the other settlements. The residents of the villages by the highway formed groups to search for the invaders. They are still searching.
We, the Wajãpi people, would like to use this note to thank for the great support we are receiving from the organizations of our indigenous movement, such as APOIANP, COIAB, APIB, AIM, Hutukara, CIR, FOIRN, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, former Senator João Capiberibe, MP Joênia Wapixana, from support organizations as our partner Iepé, CIMI, other civil society organizations like OAB, Association of Judges for Democracy, Brazilian Association of Anthropology, Brazilian Archaeological Society, Greenpeace, WWF, Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network and many others. Not to mention the UN, the Organization of American States (OAS) and people from all over the world.