An Amazon rainforest rite of passage in threatened territory
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. But in the Alto Rio Guama territory, it is all part of a vital rite of passage known as “Wyra’whaw.” Girls taking part in the coming-of-age ritual had already had their first period. The Alto Rio Guama territory is a 280,000-hectare triangle of preserved forest surrounded by severely logged landscape in the northeastern Amazon, home to 2,500 people of the Tembé, Timbira and Kaapor ethnicities. The operation represents the first effort under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to remove landgrabbers, following an initiative to remove illegal gold miners from the Yanomami people’s territory. Authorities threatened forcible expulsion of settlers who failed to leave, and pledged to eliminate access roads and irregular installations, according to a prosecutors’ statement detailing plans.
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An Amazon rainforest rite of passage in threatened territory
Associated Press
An Amazon rainforest rite of passage in threatened territory
LA Times
Amazon tribe in Brazil patrols territory, braces for fight
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