Two Truká Indians murdered
July 21, 2005
This page was created in 2005 and may contain language which is now outdated.
Two Truká Indians were shot dead on 30 June by an undercover police ’death squad'. The two men, Adenilson dos Santos and his son Jorge dos Santos, were at a party on their territory in Cabrobó, Pernambuco state.
When Aurivan dos Santos, leader of the Truká and brother of Adenilson, went to a police station to make a statement about the killing of his brother, he was arrested for an alleged cattle theft. The warrant for his arrest had been issued in 2003.
The Truká fear for the safety of Aurivan dos Santos. They believe their people have been targeted because they have strong leaders who unifed their people during their struggle for land, and because they pose a threat to the organised crime and drug-trafficking organisations that want to operate on their territory.
