The murder took place in the Arariboia reserve. It was there that Guajajara hunted with his companion Tainaky Tenetehar. Unfortunately, they fell into an ambush by a gang dealing with illegal logging. Guajajara was killed by a headshot. His companion was seriously injured. Brazilian authorities say that the perpetrators of the crimes will face punishment.

“We will spare no effort to bring justice to those responsible for this crime,” assures Brazilian Minister of Justice Sergio Moro.

Who was the victim?

The dead man was a native Indian. A respected leader of his community and a member of the "Forest Guardians" organization. This organization was created specifically to fight criminal groups cutting down trees in the Amazon. According to Survival International, this is not the first murder in this regard. Several other activists and their loved ones have already lost their lives fighting for their home, the Amazon forest.

Activist Paulo Paulino Guajajara died because he took a strong, firm voice on the matter. One of his last important statements was as follows.

“Sometimes I am afraid, but we have to raise our heads and act. We are fighting a fight here. There is so much destruction of nature, good trees with wood as hard as steel are cut down and taken away.” – excerpt from an interview with Reuters.