Statement on the assassination of Chief Lucas Kariri-Sapuyá

El CLACSO Working Group Political ecologies from the South/Abya-Yala expresses its sorrow and outrage at the murder of the young leader of the Pataxó Hãhãhãe people, Lucas Kariri-Sapuya, in the State of Bahia, Brazil.

Lucas was 31 years old, he was Coordinator of the Southern Region of the indigenous movement Mupoiba (United Movement of Peoples and Organizations of Bahia), health agent of the Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health (SESAI), community sports mobilizer, defender of indigenous school education, State Councilor for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the State of Bahia (COPIBA) and President of the Municipal Board of the political party REDE (the same one that the minister of the environment is part of)
environment Marina Silva and the president of FUNAi, National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples, Joênia Wapishana).

Lucas was cowardly attacked on the afternoon of Thursday, December 21, by three hitmen who surrounded his motorcycle as he returned from the city of Pau Brasil to the village of Caramuru Catarina Paraguassu, with his son in the back of the vehicle.

We stand in solidarity with his family and with the indigenous movement in Brazil, we express our outrage and demand justice, with the necessary investigation by the Brazilian Federal Police and their intervention to protect the leaders who are threatened with death in the Caramuru Catarina Paraguaçu Indigenous Land, in the State of Bahia.

December 26th 2023
CLACSO Working Group
Political ecologies from the South/Abya-Yala

This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Group and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.