They defend the Amazon – with bows and spears

Members of ‘Warriors of the Forest’ gathering in Sao Luis village, Javari Valley, in the northwest Amazonas state of Brazil. — AFP

IN a remote pocket of the Brazilian Amazon under siege from illegal fishermen, poachers, loggers and drug traffickers, indigenous people have taken it upon themselves to defend the land and its resources.

With bows, arrows and spears, young men of the Sao Luis village patrol the Javari River by motorboat in the valley of the same name.