2023-11-10 21:30:00
Karangré Xikrin in the village Mrõtidjãm|Rochelle Foltram
In recent days, we have had yet another news of the death of a Xikrin that shook the hearts of the Mebengokré-Xikrin people and their friends.
Karangré Xikrin, also known as Neguinho, a strong warrior with bright eyes and a smile. Karangré, left us on 10/31/2023 for the fight against cancer that spread and there was no way. Our Neguinho spent his last days in palliative care in Santarém, Pará.
The Mebengokre-Xikrin people of the Trincheira-Bacajá Indigenous Land are suffering successive losses of their people, such as Bep Tok, the Chief Onçadue to Covid-19, Bepjàti, Karangré Neto, Mané Gavião and another old lady from the Kenkro village with tuberculosis.
Preventable deaths such as losses associated with the development of tuberculosis. It is difficult to process tuberculosis deaths in Trincheira-Bacajá or any other territory in 2023, with effective treatments available.
This reflects a cumulative set of problems that plague the territory and lives of the Xikrin do Bacajá people. The “Bolsonaro effect” in the lives of these people was cruel, causing an increase in rates of deforestation, invasion and grabbing of their lands, starting in 2019.
Also the impacts of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant, such as changes in the way of life and the weakening of families’ food security associated with the absence of mitigation or compensation actions. The dismantling of public health policies aimed at preventive and differentiated care leaves these marks of pain, the pain of avoidable deaths.
It is important to say here that the health teams working at DSEI-Altamira are, in most cases, an example of struggle and heroism, working in precarious conditions in many situations. To these professionals we leave here our sincere tributes and our admiration.
Without a doubt, Karangré had a lot of white friends and I was just another friend. I remember the first time I saw Karangré, in 2019, he was singing war songs in the warrior’s house, together with other Xikrin.
Since then, I have returned to Mrõtidjãm village many times, where I always saw him sitting with his wife Irebô in their house with many dogs around. At that time, I took medicine for the dogs and, just like in other homes, I went to give the dogs injections. Karangré, Irebô and I locked the dogs inside the house and ran after them until he held the dogs and I administered the injection.
Karangré knew how to make many bush medicines for animals, but in some cases the medicines I brought cured faster. That’s when we started our relationship, Karangré told me that he would take me to the bush to teach me how to make medicine for the dogs, so I could take care of all the animals in the village.
Soon the pandemic came and it was not possible for me to learn from Karangré about bush medicine for animals. I went to review Karangré together with the DSEI vaccination team in 2021.
Thaís Mantovanelli and I split up one morning on 01/29/2021 to bring the Xikrin from Mrõtidjãm village to the infirmary for vaccination, after many conversations. Thaís appeared on one side of the village with Karangré and Irebô and I appeared on the other side of the village with Bepkrô and Iretô. The four of them were the first to be vaccinated in the Mrõtidjãm village in 2021 and together with them 75 people out of 100 adults.
It was with Karangré that I mourned the first death of a Xikrin in the village, of his grandson who died at the age of 23 from tuberculosis, Karangré Xikrin Neto.
Karangré was happy, he liked to speak for white people to listen, he worried about the world he would leave for his children and grandchildren. Having his land without invasions was his number one agenda. He died amid the TITB deintrusion and was able to see part of his dream come true, even if not completely.
I’m old, but I’m still defending this land for my children and grandchildren. During the time of the older chiefs, we fought the loggers, we expelled the loggers, we also sent the miners away and FUNAI was with us. We went all over the Indigenous Land and expelled all the white people. Nowadays the issue is serious, people go on raids with the chiefs, they expel the white people and they come back. Today we have many invasions on our demarcated land and land grabbers take our land and destroy our chestnut trees, destroy our forest. (Karangré Xikrin, elder, Mrõtidjãm village).
* Rochelle Foltram, PhD student in Social Anthropology at the Federal University of São Carlos-UFSCar. He has worked with the Mebengokré-Xikrin people, in the state of Pará since 2018. He has experience in work related to human rights violations against indigenous peoples and in the management of socio-biodiversity products, which keep the forest standing and contribute to reducing the effects climatic. Furthermore, she fights alongside the Mebengokré-Xikrin people in all social spheres to improve their lives and preserve their territory.
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