According to National Geographic
Franciscato, 56, was killed on September 9 when an arrow struck him in the chest as he followed members of the tribe known as the “isolated group of Cautário” into the forest. He had hastily organized a small team of scouts and police officers in an effort to defuse a potential conflict between the Cautário nomads and rural settlers in the western state of Rondônia.
A veteran field agent of the Indigenous affairs agency FUNAI, Franciscato was viewed as one of the most experienced and committed defenders of so-called “uncontacted tribes” living in extreme isolation in the Amazon rainforest.
“Every sertanista knows that to protect the isolated Indigenous people, we are inserting ourselves between the advancing frontier and the isolated groups themselves,” says retired FUNAI agent Antenor Vaz, referring to the uniquely Brazilian profession of activist-explorers who monitor and defend the highly vulnerable isolated tribes. “In moments of tension, when the isolados feel threatened, it’s difficult to perceive who is ally and who is enemy.”
Tensions have been running high in central Rondônia in recent months. Invasions of Indigenous territories across the state by ranchers, miners, and loggers are on the rise, and local rights advocates say fires set by farmers to clear land have engulfed swaths of rainforest. Forest fires have been reported in the area where the Cautário nomads roam.