Ururu, the oldest member of the Akuntsu tribe, has died.Photo: Marcelo dos SantosThe Akuntsu tribe in the Brazilian Amazon has lost its oldest member, Ururu, leaving the tribe with only five surviving members.
Ururu was the oldest member of this close-knit, tiny group and an integral part of it. Altair Algayer, head of FUNAI’s (Brazilian government Indian affairs department) team which protects the Akuntsu’s land said, "She was a fighter, strong, and resisted until the last moment."
Ururu witnessed the genocide of her people and the destruction of their rainforest home, as cattle ranchers and their gunmen moved on to indigenous lands in Rondônia state. Rondônia was opened up by government colonisation projects and the infamous BR 364 highway in the 1960s and 70s.
With Ururu dies a large part of the historical memory of this people. While we shall perhaps never know the full horrors inflicted on the Akuntsu in the last half century; today’s survivors say their family members were killed when ranchers bulldozed their houses and opened fire on them. The two surviving men, Konibu and Pupak, have marks on their bodies where bullets entered as they fled.
FUNAI found the remains of houses which had been destroyed by ranchers who were clearing the forest for cattle pasture. The ranchers attempted to hide evidence of the crime, but wooden poles, arrows, axes and broken pottery were discovered.
When the Akuntsu were contacted by FUNAI in 1995 they numbered seven. The youngest, Konibu’s daughter, died in January 2000 when a tree fell on her house.
Today they live in a territory officially recognised by the Brazilian government, where FUNAI protects their land from invasion by surrounding ranchers.
Though the territory has been legally recognised and demarcated by the government, it is surrounded by huge cattle ranches and soya plantations. These have replaced the once extensive rainforests of Rondônia which were home to many tribes.
They live in one community, in two small malocas (communal houses) made of straw. They are keen hunters- wild pig, agoutis and tapir are all prized - and cultivate small gardens where they grow manioc and corn. They also gather forest fruits and sometimes catch small fish in the creeks.
The Akuntsu make wooden flutes which are used in dances and rituals. They wear arm bands and anklets made of palm fibre. Shell necklaces have been replaced by necklaces of bright plastic which the Akuntsu cut from the pesticide containers left as litter by the ranchers. They paint their bodies with urucum (annatto dye) for ceremonies.
Genocide
In 1995, field workers employed by FUNAI made contact with a group of five Kanoê Indians, a group who live in the same area as the Akuntsu. The Kanoê told FUNAI that they had seen the gardens and houses of another isolated group nearby whom they called the Akuntsu.
A few months later in 1995, contact was finally made with the Akuntsu. Alarmingly, they numbered just seven people. Since then, one of Konibu’s daughters died, when a tree fell on the house during a storm in 2000, and Ururu, the oldest Akuntsu, died in October 2009.
From the 1970s FUNAI was aware of the existence of uncontacted Indians in Rondônia. The construction of a major highway, known as the BR-364, resulted in waves of cattle ranchers, loggers, land speculators and colonists occupying the state.
As more and more forest was destroyed, the uncontacted groups were forced to flee the bulldozers and seek refuge in the dwindling pockets of forest. We will never know just how many died from disease and violence.
In the 1980s, despite the ranchers claiming there were no uncontacted groups left, a group of determined FUNAI field workers continued to search for isolated groups which they knew were under serious threat.
Signs of the Indians’ presence were uncovered. In 1984 a tractor belonging to loggers was hit with arrows. Abandoned communal houses and gardens were found demonstrating that the Indians had fled in a hurry.
Rumours in the Corumbiara region told of the massacre of uncontacted Indians at the hands of gunmen employed by cattle ranchers.
In 1985, FUNAI found evidence of the massacre – an entire Indian maloca had been bulldozed and covered with earth by ranchers in an attempt to hide the attack.
Pieces of broken pottery and arrows were unearthed which Konibu later confirmed were Akuntsu. He named many relatives who were killed by the gunmen.
Pupak, the other Akuntsu man, was shot in the back as he fled the gunmen and still bears the scars. The trauma the group has been through is evident in their fear of the ranch hands who still occupy part of their land, and of the noise of chainsaws operating nearby.
