During the commercial-military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1964 to 1985, the extermination of indigenous peoples became the norm in the name of economic development or so-called “progress”.
land acquisition
data from National Truth Commission It shows that at least 8,350 indigenous people have lost their lives in massacres, forced removal from their territories, spread of epidemics, arrests, torture and extermination – all victims of the military regime. However, there are indications that the actual number is much higher.
While we don’t know when or how Tanaru’s relatives died, evidence of the house, gardens and utensils found in 1995, and the decline in numbers since then, suggest that, according to the researchers, he may have lived in a small group of up to five Aboriginal people of the same ethnic group.
Employees of the Guaporé Ethno-environmental Protection Front (part of Funai), accompanied by documentary filmmaker Vincent Carelli in 1995 colombialaNew evidence of deforestation threatened by land grabbing in the Rondonia region has been found.
In the middle of the one hundred hectare site there was a destroyed banana plantation and a large house about 16 feet by 13 feet with a deep hole in it.
The perimeter of the plantation appears to be three or four years old and there are many other holes, many hidden by dry leaves or tree trunks. In the devastated areas, burnt wood and other living fragments of those who lived there remain evidence of the crime.
Everyday utensils and flutes left by people forced to flee the places where they grew, slept, loved and sang were found.
After the discovery, Funai officials searched for the Aboriginal people for several years, but only found Tanaru, and the only record that was not him alone was the big house mentioned above. The others have become smaller, indicating that there is only one such person left.
be rejected
While it is suspected that some of these natives were poisoned with a mixture of lead pellets and sugar, it is impossible to prove that Tanaru’s immediate family were victims of such atrocities.
Tanaru himself may remember how the white man destroyed his homeland, which made him decide to live only with those he trusted: non-humans who belonged to nature like himself.
Tanaru’s initial contact with the Funai team, as colombiala Documentary, tense, aborigines trying to defend themselves with bows and refusing contact.
In a side view, he can clearly see that he doesn’t want Team Funai getting close – which is understandable since he sees all of his people wiped out.
The hole Tanaru dug in his house was the center of the space from which the rest of his home was built, even before the walls or doors, which gave him his nickname.
For years, Funai officials have denied the theory that the hole or center served any practical purpose, such as protection from enemies or storage, while another hypothesis suggests it may have spiritual or religious significance.
land grabber
We have no way of knowing because Tanaru refuses to describe his feelings, beliefs and life to those responsible for the genocide of his people.
In the 26 years he was observed, Funai officials believe Tanaru built 53 houses, though he may have built many more. Apart from the hole, the buildings have only one door and are made of straw and wood.
Generally, he can live in them for up to three years before they start to deteriorate. During conflicts with land grabbers who threatened his life, Tanaru kept up to three houses at once.
He would build a new house and, when he was done, move in with his few possessions, which included his tools, a hammock, two pots and his bow and arrows. In recent years, he has started carrying the pestle.
He grows papayas, corn, and sometimes cassava, yams, and even peanuts. He can hunt, mainly small animals such as wild boars and armadillos, and birds such as sparrows and mandarins.
To quench his thirst, the river gave him water, and he sometimes squeezed the juice from the seeds and pulp of the jatobá (or West Indian locust tree). The tree grows to an average height of around 40 meters, but in the Brazilian Amazon it can grow to 300 feet or more.
to weave
Living without the company of his people, Tanaru was forced to reinvent himself, and over the years he learned some tricks to survive on his own. Among many indigenous peoples, hammocks are often woven by women from various fibers.
However, Tanaru’s hammocks are made from embira, a tough material extracted from the bark of certain trees.
Once extracted, the bark is shredded to form fine threads, which are then woven into thick or thin ropes, which are intertwined and used for a variety of purposes, including making hammocks.
In the first homes the Funai team analyzed, Tanaru had limited ability to handle materials.
At first, he simply drew the embira, and instead of making it into a rope, he spread the fibers out and slept on it. Later, he began weaving them together, and eventually died lying in a hammock he had woven himself.
While he was alive, Tanaru managed to escape white violence. In the forest of his ancestors, he rebelled. Now, the legal dispute over the Tanaru Indigenous Territory has reached Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court and concerns the country’s past genocide against its indigenous people.
assimilation
Since the European invasion of what the colonists called Brazil, hundreds of indigenous peoples have disappeared, victims of genocide by the Brazilian state and invaders, especially land grabbers, loggers and miners.
Between 1500 and 1957, 97 percent of the Aboriginal people living in the encroached territory were exterminated. Today, more than 300 ethnic groups still exist, speaking more than 270 different languages.
What remains has been the target of attacks, from predatory agribusiness to enemies such as Funai, during the reign of anti-indigenous figures, as was the case with Bolsonaro’s government.
Tanaru and his people are victims of a process that has vacillated between a policy of assimilation and a policy of physical extermination for the past 500 years. Tanaru died in his own way, rather than being killed like everyone else, and thus became a symbol of resistance.
Photos from the Funai viewing camera reveal how Tanaru’s powers failed at the end, possibly as a result of the disease. For two months, this energetic man changed his habits.
For example, the bow he used for hunting was found covered in soot. Some of his arrows had been put away, and in his last days he had to hunt with traps.
feather
He was last seen alive in April 2020, when he was observed building a house and appeared to be in good health during a Funai monitoring expedition.
More than two years later, in August 2022, Funai officials returned to inspect the area and found his growing area overgrown with weeds, suggesting it had not been tilled for at least a month.
As they followed, and then crossed a creek, they found an area where papayas were grown and an ax had been thrown to the ground. Tanaru never left any tools behind. Vigorous activity of flies and bees near the house door prompted Funai’s team to investigate further.
Knowing that death is imminent, Tanaru tied his hat with embira rope and adorned himself with a simple macaw feather, waiting for it to come.
He knew he was being watched, and that it was inevitable that he would be found out. Judging from the state of decomposition of the body, it is estimated that he had been dead for nearly forty days when he was found.
Tanaru was discovered more than a month before the most important presidential election in the future history of Brazil’s indigenous people. News of his death spread throughout the world.
hair
The fate of his body became the center of his land dispute. His funeral was originally scheduled for October 2022, but was postponed at the behest of Funai coordinator Marcelo Xavier.
Xavier, who was notorious for favoring the interests of Brazil’s agricultural sector over those of indigenous peoples, failed to provide rationale for his actions.
One supposed reason for delaying Tanaru’s funeral was the need to collect genetic material, such as a lock of hair, in order to analyze his ethnicity. However, due to the limited genetic records of indigenous people held by the Brazilian Federal Police, it was ultimately impossible to determine Tanaru’s ethnicity.
Some suspect that Xavier intends to postpone Tanaru’s burial so that his ancestral land will be invaded by land grabbers and farmers trying to claim it.
At the time of writing, the Funai Coordinator had not responded to SUMAUMA’s request for further information through its press office.
Quick action is needed to uncover Xavier’s plans and ensure Tanaru’s body can be embraced by the very land he helped keep alive.
More than three months later, according to a federal justice ministry ruling, his desire to be buried where he lived was evidenced by the way he prepared to die.
During those three months, his remains were stacked in two boxes held by the federal police in Brasilia, in violation of indigenous funeral rites.
ceremony
Tanaru’s funeral was eventually allowed to take place, planned by Aboriginal people of various ethnicities who accompanied him from afar during his lifetime.
These groups include Kanoé, Sabanê, Aikanã, Tupari and Akuntsu from the Rio Omerê indigenous territory, as well as Funai officials.
The form of burial was decided after much debate, as funeral ceremonies are very specific to each Aboriginal people and are often conducted by someone close to the deceased.
Tanaru is honored according to traditional ceremonies of the people of the region. However, there was an impasse over which items belonged to him. For Kanoé, items must be buried next to the body.
However, for the Akuntsu people, one item of the deceased is kept by their relatives and the rest are burned before burial. In the end, it was agreed that Tanaru’s items should be sent to the museum as evidence of his existence — and evidence of his people being wiped out by white violence.
The indigenous Purá Kanoé was chosen to officiate the ceremony. He’s been a part of many Funai expectations for the past 26 years, initially even suggesting that Tanaru should be “saved” until he realizes he wants to live without a human presence, which is respected by all.
victory
Finally, in early November, a grave was dug at Tanaru’s house, and his body was found face up, covered in dirt. A fire was lit on his grave. The funeral service was completed a full 74 days after he was found dead at his home.
Tanaru scored another victory in the white justice system later in November, when Supreme Court Justice Edson Facchin ruled that restrictions on access to Tanaru’s indigenous territory should remain in place while protecting isolation across Brazil other territories inhabited by indigenous peoples.
Fachin is adjudicating a lawsuit brought by the Brazilian Association of Indigenous Peoples, which has been challenged by Bolsonaro’s government. Minister stands with Indigenous peoples, forests and justice.
The decision has not yet been finalized. But it was a victory, albeit belated, after a massacre that led to genocide. Tanaru, the last man, has become a symbol of the destructive power that has brought Earth into a state of climactic collapse.
What happens in Tanaru Forest will define the future for all of us.
the author
Catarina Barbosa is an award-winning Brazilian journalist based in the Amazonian city of Belem and a graduate of the Amazonas University. She has followed the region since 2014, focusing on deforestation, pollution, land conflicts and violations of traditional population rights by large corporations and the Brazilian government.
This story was originally published on Sumama – A rainforest-based trilingual news platform that puts nature at the heart of storylines by amplifying the sounds of the forest. Translated by James Young.
