They bound them by their hands and feet, then they killed them and threw them in a river,” Robert Guimaraes, president of the local indigenous federation Feconau, told the Guardian by phone. “We have received death threats from the same land trafficking gang,” Guimaraes said. A local investigation alleges former officials colluded in the falsification of land titles which were then sold to highest bidder. “Everything points to regional government people being involved in trafficking land,” said Jose Luis Guzmán, an environmental prosecutor in the Amazon region which is plagued by illegal logging. Observers fear the emergence of palm oil will fuel a new surge in land grabbing, violence and deforestation.

Source: The Guardian September 06, 2017 17:03 UTC