Brazil’s Supreme Court has approved the creation of Tanaru National Park in the western Amazon state of Rondônia, protecting the land where the last member of the Tanaru Indigenous people, known as the “Man of the Hole,” or Tanaru, lived in isolation until his death in 2022. The park will serve as a memorial to him and his people, thwarting farmers’ plans to claim the area for agricultural use.
Tanaru is believed to have survived several massacres that killed all of his living relatives and every other person known to speak his language. He lived in self-isolation for decades, starting in the 1990s and refused contact even with other Indigenous groups.
Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin approved the creation of the fully protected conservation unit. In his ruling, he wrote that it was an “instrument of reparation for the historical violence” and would assist “the recognition and preservation of the material and immaterial memory of the Tanaru people, who were recently exterminated.”
Tanaru’s death three years ago sparked public debate about whether his land would lose protection since he was its only inhabitant. There is no precedent for recognizing Indigenous land without people living on it. The recent ruling affirms that the annihilation of an Indigenous group does not free its land for private claims.
The decision stems from a constitutional complaint, known as ADPF 991, filed in 2022 by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) before Tanaru’s death. The complaint sought to address what it described as structural and ongoing failures by the federal government to protect the rights of isolated and recently contacted Indigenous peoples.
Respecting the desire for self-isolation has been a cornerstone of Brazil’s approach to Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation since the 1988 Constitution, under the so-called “noncontact policy.”
“In general, these are peoples who have had episodes of traumatic contact over centuries,” anthropologist Amanda Villa, who studies Indigenous populations in voluntary isolation at the University of São Paulo, told Mongabay contributor Fabio Zuker in 2023. “They are taking refuge in these places. Reinventing their ways of living. We have to make it very clear that this is a choice.”
On Aug. 23, 2022, Tanaru’s body was found in a hammock adorned with feathers. Experts suspect he prepared for his own death at roughly 60 years old. There were no marks of violence.
The Tanaru land is surrounded by soybean plantations on all sides, and after the funeral, farmers invaded the place where he was buried more than once, violating his grave. Footage of the desecration was captured with hidden cameras placed there by Funai, Brazil’s national Indigenous foundation.
“[The victory in the Supreme Federal Court] is a historical reparation for Tanaru’s individual struggle … and highlights the collective fight and resistance of Indigenous peoples for our rights and territories,” Kleber Karipuna, executive coordinator with APIB, wrote to Mongabay in a message. “Today the memory of Tanaru lives on in all of us.”
Banner image: One of Tanaru’s temporary homes. Image courtesy of Funai.
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