The survival of the "uncontacted" tribe whose images caused a worldwide sensation in February is in jeopardy, after the Peruvian leaked announced plans June 1 to abolish a reserve that protects their territory were exposed.
 The Murunahua reserve, on the Brazilian border, has been repeatedly invaded by illegal loggers in recent years. Following Survival International's release of the photos and footage in February, Peru's government said it would work with the Brazilian authorities to protect the area. But now its indigenous affairs department INDEPA is planning to abolish the Murunahua reserve completely—allegedly because it "does not believe there are uncontacted tribes living there," in the words of an anonymous official. (La Republica, June 3; Survival International, June 1)

José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria Do Espirito Santo da Silva, were ambushed and killed on May 24, while riding their motorbikes on a road close to their home in the village of Nova Ipixuna, in Brazil's Para state. The couple had spent years campaigning against illegal logging in the area, including setting up roadblocks to stop timber vehicles. An ear was removed from each of the corpses, in what authorities call a clear sign that someone was trying to send a message. Police admit they suspect the hit was ordered by "loggers in the region." Eremilton Pereira dos Santos, a young local man who went missing last week, was also later found dead. His relatives say he may have been killed because he'd witnessed the da Silvas'’ murderers fleeing the scene of the crime. Ribeiro told a Manaus conference entitled TEDx Amazônia last November that he was in danger of his life. "I denounce the loggers and the charcoal makers, and because of this they think that I should not exist," he told the audience. "I could be here today talking to you and in one month you will get the news that I disappeared. I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment... As long as I have the strength to walk I will denounce all of those who damage the forest."

The Brazil House of Deputies passed reforms to the the country's forest code May 24 that ease restrictions on deforestation and provide amnesty for prior deforestation violations. The amended code would allow small farmers to cut down trees on hilltops and along rivers, two areas that were previously protected. It would also provide farmers with amnesty for violations of the forest code prior to July 22, 2008. The amendments were mainly pushed by Alldo Rebelo, head of the Communist Party of Brazil, who argues that the restrictions are disproportionately hurting small-scale farmers. The amendments still have to be passed by the Senate, where they are expected to meet tough opposition, and be signed by President Dilma Rousseff before taking effect. A group of 10 former environmental ministers sent a letter dated May 23 to the president urging a balanced approach to environmental regulation that will promote both the agricultural industry and environmental sustainability.

The Native Federation of the Río Madre de Dios and Tributaries (FENAMAD) issued a statement protesting that the state company PeruPetro has demarcated three new oil exploration blocs in Peru's southern Amazon region of Madre de Dios. The new blocs—numbered 187, 190 and 191—are located in the provinces of Tahuamanu and Tambopata, and bring to 22 the number of new exploration blocs instated nationally under President Alan García. FENAMAD charges that the new blocs threaten the Manú Biosphere Reserve and the Vilcabamba-Amboró biological corridor—already under threat by the operations of Hunt Oil and Repsol YPF in Lot 76, established in the ancestral territory of the Harakmbut, Yine and Matziguenka indigenous peoples. Hunt and Repsol have concluded seismic exploration in the bloc, over the protests of traditional indigenous leaders of the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, which overlaps with the exploration bloc. The Hunt-Repsol consortium is now about to drill eight test wells in the bloc. (FENAMAD, May 6)

Ecuador's national indigenous organization announced last week that is filing a legal complaint against the government, including President Rafael Correa, for complicity with "genocide" against indigenous people in the Amazon. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) argues that expanding oil exploration and mining is imperiling the lives of "uncontacted" indigenous groups that have chosen voluntary isolation. Especially named are the Tagaeri, Taromenane, Oñamenane and Iwene ethnicities, all sub-groups of the Waorani nationality who are believed to live in the area of Yasuni National Park. The legal complaint argues that industrial exploitation of the Amazonian rainforest in Ecuador is causing a "cultural and physical disappearance" of these indigenous peoples, "which amounts to the crime of ethnocide or genocide." The move by CONAIE is unprecedented in Ecuador. (Mongabay, April 6; AFP, March 30; CONAIE, March 29)

Peruvian indigenous forest dwellers have been forced to set up a guard post to protect a reserve established for "uncontacted" peoples, after the authorities ignored their repeated pleas for action. The Isconahua reserve on the Peru-Brazil border was set up with the support of Peru’s Amazon indigenous alliance, AIDESEP, to protect uncontacted Isconahua bands living in its forests. But the reserve has been invaded by illegal loggers, and numerous appeals to the authorities have gone unanswered. Now two local indigenous groups, the Ucayali Regional AIDESEP Organization (ORAU) and the Federation of Native Communities of the Ucayali and Tributaries (FECONAU), have united to create a guard post to protect the reserve themselves.

The UK-based indigenous rights group Survival International on March 17 noted the 100th anniversary of an historic report submitted by Irish investigator Roger Casement finding that 30,000 Amazon Indians were enslaved, tortured, raped and starved in just 12 years during the rubber boom. Casement was sent by the British government to investigate crimes committed by British-registered rubber giant, the Peruvian Amazon Company. He found, "The crimes charged against many men now in the employ of the Peruvian Amazon Company are of the most atrocious kind, including murder, violation, and constant flogging." Agents of the company rounded up dozens of Indian tribes in the western Amazon to collect wild rubber for the European and American markets. In a few short decades many of the tribes were completely wiped out.

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 7 issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of a recent Ecuadoran court judgment against US oil company Chevron. The injunction blocks plaintiffs from attempting to secure $8.6 billion in damages from the company, which were awarded last month by the Provincial Court of Sucumbios after finding that Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001, polluted large areas of Ecuador's rainforest.