{"id":4895,"date":"2019-10-04T12:35:22","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T11:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimission.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=4895"},"modified":"2019-09-26T17:36:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T16:36:35","slug":"martyr-of-amazonia-emrya-wajapi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2019\/10\/04\/martyr-of-amazonia-emrya-wajapi\/","title":{"rendered":"Martyr of Amazonia: Emrya Waj\u00e3pi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emrya Waj\u00e3pi, leader of the Waj\u00e3pi people, was killed on 23rd July in Amap\u00e1, a region bordering French Guyana. The killing has been described as the \u201cfruit of hate campaigns perpetrated against Indigenous peoples\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

According to witnesses he was stabbed to death by a number of gold miners who entered the protected reserve of the Waj\u00e3pi community. Around 90 per cent of the Amap\u00e1 region is covered by the Amazon rainforest, and much of the area is officially protected. However, recent government policy has opened the Amazon up to mining, which has led to encroachment on Indigenous lands, especially forests, by miners, loggers and farmers.<\/p>\n

The violent attack has been linked to the Brazilian government\u2019s moves to open up protected Indigenous territory to mining companies.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the murder of Emrya Waj\u00e3pi, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, called on the Brazilian authorities to \u201creact quickly and decisively\u201d to protect the rights of Indigenous peoples on their lands. \u201cThe murder of Emrya Waj\u00e3pi, leader of the indigenous Waj\u00e3pi people, is tragic and reprehensible in its own right. It is also a disturbing symptom of the growing problem of encroachment on indigenous land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Bachelet warned that the proposed policy of the Brazilian Government to open the Amazon up to mining could lead to other incidents of violence, intimidation and killings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protection of indigenous peoples, and the land on which they live, has been an important issue all across the world, not just in Brazil. While some progress has been made in recent years, we have also seen weak enforcement of existing laws and policies, and in some cases the dismantling of existing environmental and indigenous institutional frameworks, as appears now to be the case in Brazil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missionaries in Brazil say the murder of an indigenous leader in the country’s rainforest sounds the alarm on recent policies that have opened up protected Amazon territory to mining.<\/p>\n

Scalabrinian Missionaries in Brazil say the murder of an indigenous leader in the Amazon shines the light on a “truly alarming” situation that allows for the destruction of an extraordinary habitat for economic gain.<\/p>\n

In a statement released after Emrya Waj\u00e3pi’s murder, Sr Neusa de Fatima Mariano, superior general of the Scalabrinians, condemned his killing which she described as the “fruit of hate campaigns perpetrated against indigenous peoples.”<\/p>\n

Calling it an “operation to destroy the indigenous peoples of Brazil,” Sr Neusa said “It is incredible how today there are exploiters of natural riches who, for their economic interests, have the possibility of entering the northern Amazon Forest and of killing a leader of the Waj\u00e3pi community.”She said they are openly allowed “to invade a territory, destroy a society, and devastate an extraordinary habitat”.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian Bishops\u2019 Pastoral Land Commission also condemned the Waj\u00e3pi attack as deplorable. \u201cThe attack was planned and articulated by farmers and gunmen of the region, who, called people to attack the Indigenous community,\u201d the bishops said.<\/p>\n

But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro told media he was not convinced Emrya Waj\u00e3pi had been murdered. \u201cUp to now there is no strong evidence that this Indigenous (chief) was murdered. There are several possibilities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since Mr Bolsonaro took office in January, he has sought to shore up the country\u2019s economy by exploiting the Amazon\u2019s economic potential from mining. He has also shorn $23 million from the country\u2019s environmental enforcement agency\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

Amazon destruction has accelerated by 60 per cent under Mr Bolsonaro. The rainforest is currently disappearing at the rate of one and a half soccer fields every minute.<\/p>\n

Statistics show that in 2018, more than 160 land and environmental defenders were killed. Many of these were Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emrya Waj\u00e3pi, leader of the Waj\u00e3pi people, was killed on 23rd July in Amap\u00e1, a region bordering French Guyana. The killing has been described as the \u201cfruit of hate campaigns perpetrated against Indigenous peoples\u201d. According to witnesses he was stabbed to death by a number of gold miners who entered the protected reserve of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}