Last week’s horrific murder of indigenous leader Chief Emyra Waiãpi in the Brazilian Amazon demonstrates the acute threat posed by illegal miners, whose actions are explicitly endorsed by Brazil’s ultra right-wing president Bolsonaro. Following the killing, on Saturday July 26th, dozens of heavily armed wildcat gold miners invaded the remote Amazonian territory of the Waiãpi indigenous people in Amapá state, driving out residents by threatening violence.

The Bolsonaro regime’s reckless policies and its wanton neglect of threatened forest communities is directly linked to rising violent criminality that spurred the murder of Emyra Waiãpi. Bolsonaro’s repeated calls to legalize highly destructive wildcat mining on indigenous territories have empowered local mafias to invade protected areas with impunity, and with deadly consequences. His seven month tenure has already overseen record-breaking Amazon deforestation and unprecedented invasions of indigenous territories.

The world must vehemently oppose and condemn these acts! Amazon Watch and our allies in Brazil and around the world are calling on the Bolsonaro administration to respect the indigenous rights to territory and self determination as enshrined in Brazil’s constitution. We demand a swift and conclusive investigation that brings Emyra Waiãpi’s murderers to justice, and that drives illegal miners from Waiãpi lands.

Bolsonaro has declared war on the Amazon and its peoples and we must stand with them in resistance to this bloodshed and destruction.

Stay tuned for more on this case and how you can support indigenous Earth Defenders under threat in Brazil. Thank you for your solidarity.