Canada Today
Layla Nelson

An indigenous person named Tebu of the Uru-eu-wau-wau tribe looks over an area deforested by invaders in the Alto Jaru village in the Uru-eu-wau-wau indigenous reservation near Campo Novo de Rondonia, Brazil. on February 1, 2019.

An indigenous person named Tebu of the Uru-eu-wau-wau tribe looks over an area deforested by invaders in the Alto Jaru village in the Uru-eu-wau-wau indigenous reservation near Campo Novo de Rondonia, Brazil. on February 1, 2019. Credit – Ueslei Marcelino – Reuters

In the south of the Amazon, right where two dirt roads intersect, is a small bar set back from the highway. There’s no name above the door as it’s actually part of a house, but everyone calls it Guiga’s Bar, after its owner. Like many of the bars in the region, Guiga’s is ramshackle and unfussy. There’s a pool table to one side and a few tables and chairs in front of it, but that’s about it. People go to find some shade, have a beer and exchange local gossip, not for the decor or ambiance.

The last known whereabouts of Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau was at Guigas Bar just before midnight on April 18, 2020. Ari was a member of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau indigenous people and had spent that evening drinking in a number of Bars scattered along the dirt roads near the group’s reserve. His body was found on the side of the road about half an hour away the next morning. His head was caked with blood that had dried quickly in the scorching heat. His phone was lying on the grass a few feet away. Walls of grass flanked the road and beyond were fields where the mighty Amazon rainforest had once stood.

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