Paulo Paulino Guajajara killing (Brazil)
- 1 people died.Paulo Paulino Guajajara, in the account of the 1 November 2019 ambush. The charges also refer to the death of Márcio Gleik Moreira Pereira.
- 1 people were injured.Laércio Guajajara, shot in the back and arm.
An unarmed Indigenous forest guardian was shot dead in the Araribóia Indigenous Territory in Maranhão in November 2019. Two men have been charged; as of October 2026 no record of a federal jury trial or verdict was found.
Count reported by Mongabay (7 November 2025): 81 Guajajara killed, no perpetrator tried.
Status As of October 2026: federal jury trial expected in 2026; no record of the hearing and no verdict found.
What happened
Paulo Paulino Guajajara (known in the Guajajara language as Kwahu Tenetehar) was a member of the “Guardians of the Forest”, a group of Guajajara people who patrol the Araribóia Indigenous Territory in Maranhão, Brazil, without weapons, against illegal logging and hunting. The same territory is home to Awá people who have had no contact with the outside world.
On 1 November 2019 Paulo and a friend, Laércio Guajajara, were caught in an ambush that Mongabay described as allegedly set by illegal loggers. Paulo was shot in the neck and died in the forest. Laércio was shot in the back and arm and was wounded.
Two men, Antônio Wesly Nascimento Coelho and Raimundo Nonato Ferreira de Sousa, were charged. The charges cover the deaths of Paulino and Márcio Gleik Moreira Pereira and the attempted killing of Laércio Guajajara. The defendants have said they were hunting and that the guardians attacked first. The Federal Police suggested a shootout after a motorbike theft; federal prosecutors returned the inquiry as incomplete.
The case was moved to federal court because the killing was treated as an attack on the whole community; it would be the first Indigenous case to go before a federal jury in Maranhão. The TRF-1 appeals court confirmed a federal jury trial in October 2023. An anthropological report measuring the collective harm to the community waited for years while the parties disputed who would pay the expert; it was filed in August 2025. The court said the hearing would most likely take place in early 2026.
Mongabay reported in November 2025 that 81 Guajajara people were killed in Maranhão between 1991 and 2023 and that no perpetrator was tried in any of those cases; 38 of the deaths were in Araribóia, six of them guardians. As of October 2026 no record was found that the trial had been held, and no verdict was found.
- 20191 November: Paulo Paulino Guajajara killed and Laércio Guajajara wounded in the Araribóia Indigenous Territory
- 2023October: the TRF-1 appeals court confirms a federal jury trial
- 2024Laércio Guajajara says the defendants are free and may be planning to kill him too
- 2025August: anthropological report on collective harm filed. November: Mongabay reports the trial pushed to 2026
- 2026October: no record that the hearing has been held; no verdict found
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Paulo and Laércio were caught in an ambush allegedly set by illegal loggers; Paulo was shot in the neck and Laércio in the back and arm.
MongabayThey were hunting and the guardians attacked first.
MongabaySuggested a shootout after a motorbike theft.
Returned the police inquiry as incomplete.
How it looked
Shown
- The Federal Police suggested a shootout after a motorbike theft.Federal Police
- The two defendants said they were hunting and that the guardians attacked first.The defendants, as reported by Mongabay · Mongabay
Recorded
- Paulo Paulino Guajajara was shot in the neck and died in the forest; Laércio Guajajara was shot in the back and arm and wounded.
- Federal prosecutors returned the Federal Police inquiry as incomplete.
- The TRF-1 appeals court confirmed a federal jury trial in October 2023.
- The anthropological report on collective harm was filed in August 2025; the court said the hearing would most likely be held in early 2026.
- 81 Guajajara killed in Maranhão in 1991–2023; 38 in Araribóia, 6 of them guardians; no perpetrator tried.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- Defendants Antônio Wesly Nascimento Coelho and Raimundo Nonato Ferreira de Sousa (charged) (Reported November 2025): They said they were hunting and that the guardians attacked first. · Mongabay
- Federal Police (Date not in record): Suggested a shootout after a motorbike theft.
- Federal prosecutors (Date not in record): Returned the Federal Police inquiry as incomplete.
- Court (Reported November 2025): Said the hearing would most likely be held in early 2026. · Mongabay
- Laércio Guajajara (survivor) (2024): Said in 2024 that the defendants were free and might be planning to kill him too.
- José Maria Paulino Guajajara (Paulo's father) (2025): Said in 2025 that Indigenous people were dying and that white people did not stop killing them.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
- OngoingFederal jury case over the killing of Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of Laércio GuajajaraFederal court, Maranhão (jury trial confirmed by the TRF-1 appeals court, October 2023) · Criminal · Prosecution → Raimundo Nonato Ferreira de Sousa and Antônio Wesly Nascimento Coelho (charged)
The two men are charged over the deaths of Paulino and Márcio Gleik Moreira Pereira and the attempted killing of Laércio Guajajara. The case moved to federal court because the killing was treated as an attack on the whole community. The trial was pushed to 2026; as of October 2026 no verdict was found. Mongabay
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Accounts
- Disputed What happened on 1 November 2019?
Record
- None on record No verdict: as of October 2026 no record was found that the federal jury trial had been held.
- Insufficient The date on which the Araribóia territory was registered was not verified.
Did the harm stop?
Not recorded as stopped. At least six guardians had been killed in Araribóia by 2024, and no verdict in this case was found as of October 2026.
Who paid?
The Guajajara community and the guardians who patrol the territory: Mongabay reported 81 Guajajara killed in Maranhão between 1991 and 2023 with no perpetrator tried.
Sources
Press and investigations
- After 6 years, trial in Indigenous forest guardian killing pushed to 2026Mongabay · 2025-11-07