Second note from the Apina on the Invasion of the Wajãpi Indigenous Land

The Council of the Wajãpi and Apina Indigenous Villages

We, the members of the Wajãpi – Apina Village Council wish to disclose the information we have today,

July 29, 2019, regarding the invasion occurred in the Wajãpi Indigenous Land.

Last Sunday, July 28, 2019, police teams arrived at Mariry Village in the early afternoon and headed to

the Yvytotõ village, accompanied by our warriors. When they arrived, there was no one there, just the

footprints of the invaders. The police marked the points on their GPS and took pictures.

Our warriors brought the police team to a place where the invaders had hidden themselves on July 26,

but they found no one there either. After that, the police claimed that they could not look for the

invaders inside the forest by following the vestiges we showed them, then they returned to the Mariry

village and from there to the Aramirã post, where they arrived around 9:30 p.m.

At the Aramirã Indigenous Post, the police met with representatives of Funai, of the Apina, of the

villages in the Aramirã region and of the Pedra Branca City Hall, in Amapá. They said that the region of

the Yvytotõ village is difficult to reach and that they had no means to remain and continue the search

there due to the difficulties one has of moving and feeding oneself in the forest.

During the meeting, the superintendent of the police promised he would study the region around the

Yvytotõ village using satellite images to check for evidence of irregular gold mining within the Wajãpi

Indigenous Land. If the images show any vestiges, they will fly over to check. After this meeting, the

police teams returned to Macapá, Amapá's capital.

We, the Wajãpi Indigenous People, remain very concerned about the irregular prospectors who have

invaded the northern region of our Indigenous Land. In our villages of this region, our families are very

afraid of going out to their fields or hunting in the woods. Some communities have left their villages to

join families from other villages so as to feel a bit safer.

That's why our warriors from all over the Wajãpi Indigenous Land are organizing themselves to help the

Mariry village warriors who continue to search for the hidden invaders, and we are asking Funai's

support to locate them.

As soon as we have any new information, we will post more of these Notes.

Aramirã Post - Wajãpi Indigenous Land, July 29, 2019.

UPDATE: The note published by the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights on July 29, 2019 can be read here