“They’re free and I’m still here. They might be planning to execute me too. I’m very worried about that,” says Indigenous leader Laércio Guajajara, a survivor of an alleged ambush by illegal loggers that killed fellow forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara in November 2019 in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory, in the Brazilian Amazon.

Laércio says he’s outraged about the delay to put on trial the two suspects charged over the incident that occurred half a decade ago, on Nov. 1, 2019. “I never believed that justice would help us in terms of territorial self-protection and the life of human beings,” he tells Mongabay in an audio message. “And today [it’s confirming] that there’s no justice for Indigenous peoples. It’s been five years and no justice has been made.”

Like Laércio, Paulo was a member of the “Guardians of the Forest,” a group of Indigenous Guajajara in Arariboia who risk their lives to protect their ancestral land against illegal logging, hunting and other environmental crimes. The group, formed a decade ago, also protects the Awá people, hunter-gatherers who live in voluntary isolation in the depths of Arariboia’s forests and are considered the most threatened Indigenous group on the planet.

Between 1991 and 2023, 81 Indigenous Guajajara were killed in northeastern Maranhão state, more than two-thirds of total killings of Indigenous people in the entire state. Almost half of these killings, 38, happened in the Arariboia territory, according to data from the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI), an advocacy group affiliated with the Catholic Church, and from the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), an arm of the Catholic Church that works with Brazilian rural workers seeking agrarian land reform. None of the perpetrators have been brought to trial. Those killed include six forest guardians, the Guajajara people say.

Paulo’s case will be a legal landmark, once it goes to trial, as the first killing of an Indigenous leader to go before a federal jury. In most cases, killings are considered crimes against individuals and are tried by a state jury. But Paulo’s death was escalated to the federal level because prosecutors made the case that it represented an aggression against the entire Guajajara community and Indigenous culture.

As Mongabay reported a year ago, the start of the trial was contingent on an anthropological report of the collective damages to the Indigenous community as a result of the crimes. However, that report has yet to be made.

Alfredo Falcão, the federal prosecutor leading the case, says several issues over the last 12 months “clearly have hindered the speed of the process” and resulted in the trial being delayed, including a change of judge, the long time needed to choose the expert to prepare the report, and the delay to get the expert’s quote. On top of all this, he adds, there was “resistance” from the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGU) to pay for the report.

In fact, the AGU filed a petition arguing that the costs of the anthropological report should be paid by the Federal Public Ministry or by Funai, Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency; the court denied the request.

In an emailed statement on Nov. 6, the AGU said it had paid a deposit on Nov. 1. However, this information still doesn’t show up in the judiciary system. On Nov. 11, Falcão filed a petition requesting the judge to set a deadline and establish a fine for noncompliance. In a Nov. 12 emailed statement, the court said the deadline granted to AGU has already expired and “there is no proof in the proceedings that a deposit has been made.”

‘Impunity! Injustice!’

On Nov. 1, a group of 18 Guardians of the Forest went for the first time to the site of Paulo’s killing to honor his memory and demand justice for him and all Guajajara who lost their lives defending Arariboia, says Lucimar Carvalho, a former lawyer with CIMI and now with the guardians, who joined the mission.

“Impunity! Injustice! Five years since the murder of Paulo Paulino!” says one of the signs displayed at the scene of the crime, along with a banner with Paulo’s photo saying: “More than 500 years of genocide against Indigenous peoples. No more murders!” The guardians also displayed signs demanding the fulfillment of the Federal Constitution and land demarcation.

Paulo was killed after stopping to drink from a water hole. At the five-year commemoration, Carvalho says, a relative of Paulo, Juliana Guajajara, cleaned the water hole to honor his memory. Carvalho says it’s important to highlight that it was the first time the guardians had returned to this “risky” area. “It’s super risky out there. We found lead capsules and at night we also heard gunshots from people hunting there,” she tells Mongabay in a phone interview. “At least we didn’t find any non-Indigenous people there.”

Paulo’s father, José Maria Guajajara, says he’s indignant about the trial delay. “It’s taking too long. Aren’t they going to solve this case?” he tells Mongabay in a voice message.”It’s too painful for us to lose a child. I can’t stop crying, neither can his mother when we remember him.”

José Maria complains about the lack of justice for Indigenous peoples. “When we Indians die, there’s no justice. The justice system has never solved any case, just like the other relatives who died. There’s no one in prison.” He says he wants to go to talk to the authorities because Paulo’s case “can’t remain unpunished.”

Falcão, the prosecutor, says: “Unfortunately, the time taken by the bureaucracy is not the time taken by the victims, which is the fastest time possible.” He adds that for this specific case, the change of judge and the pace of the court “seems a little slow to me,” different from the federal court in Pernambuco state, where he lives. Falcão is leading Paulo’s case because he’s one of the very few federal prosecutors with federal jury expertise.

Once the payment for the anthropological report is settled, Falcão says, the lawyers for the two suspects charged will be notified to present their questions for the anthropological report as they have the right to participate in the production of evidence. “The expert will be working for the judge, so he’ll have to listen to both sides,” Falcão tells Mongabay in a phone interview.

Once this phase is concluded, Falcão says, the trial can finally be scheduled. As there’s already a federal list of jurors, he adds, the following steps will be drawing the jurors and summoning the parties to attend the jury and indicate the evidence they want to use during the plenary session, including witnesses, documents and videos, among others. Falcão says he’s hopeful the trial will take place in the first half of 2025.

“Things for us in Arariboia are very difficult, we don’t see justice,” Laércio says. “But I’m still a warrior.”

Banner image: On Nov. 1, a group of 18 Guardians of the Forest went for the first time to the site where fellow guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed five years ago, to honor his memory and demand justice for him and all Guajajara who lost their lives defending the Arariboia Indigenous Territory, in the Brazilian Amazon. Image courtesy of the Ka’aiwar Indigenous Association of Forest Guardians of the Arariboia Indigenous Territory.

The Ka’aiwar Indigenous Association of Forest Guardians of the Arariboia Indigenous Territory welcomes donations to build a school named after Paulo Paulino Guajajara. The association, set up three years after Paulo’s murder, also receives donations for protecting the Arariboia Indigenous Territory. 

Karla Mendes is a staff investigative and feature reporter for Mongabay in Brazil and a fellow of the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network. She is the first Brazilian and Latin American ever elected to the board of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ); she was also nominated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Chair. Read her stories published on Mongabay here. Find her on 𝕏, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky.

End of impunity for Indigenous killings in sight for Brazil’s Guajajara

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