allthebrazilianpolitics:

Brazil worker who protected indigenous tribes killed in Amazon 

Police in Brazil are investigating the murder of an official who had worked to protect indigenous people from farmers and loggers attempting to seize land.

Maxciel Pereira dos Santos was reportedly shot twice in the head in the city of Tabatinga, near Brazil’s borders with Colombia and Peru.

Union officials said Mr Santos was shot in front of members of his family.

INA officials said he was killed in retaliation for his work at the Vale do Javari reserve, where for years he helped prevent hunters, farmers and loggers illegally entering the area.

The reserve is said to be home to the world’s highest concentration of uncontacted indigenous tribes.

The killing comes amid international outrage over the rate of destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

At least 80,000 fires were recorded there between January and August this year - more than double the number in the same period last year.

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