The last remaining member of an uncontacted Brazilian indigenous tribe has died, according to Funai, Brazil’s indigenous protection agency.
He had lived in isolation for 26 years in the Tanuru area in the state of Rondônia, deep in the Brazilian Amazon. The majority of his tribe are thought to have been murdered by cattle ranchers in the 1970s, in an effort to claim the land for themselves. The other remaining six members were killed in 1995, according to non-profit group Survival International.
‘Man of the Hole’ had been monitored by Funai agents since 1996, but was last seen alive in 2018 by agents who managed to film him chopping at a tree with an axe-like instrument during a chance encounter.
Since then, Funai agents have occasionally come across his huts, made of straw, and the deep holes he dug for which he was named. The holes, some which had sharpened spikes at the bottom, were used to trap animals, while others appear to have provided the man with a place to hide from outsiders.
The man’s body was found lying in a hammock inside a straw hut by Funai officials on 23 August. There were no signs of violence. He was about 60 years-old.
‘No outsider knew this man’s name … and with his death the genocide of his people is complete’, said Fiona Watson of Survival International.
‘For this was indeed a genocide – the deliberate wiping out of an entire people by cattle ranchers hungry for land and wealth.’
The unknown man had resisted all attempts to be contacted.
[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aduarteweb/11497374083]