Val Munduruku

A Brazilian Indigenous activist from the Munduruku people, Valdineia Sauré—known as Val Munduruku—is from Jacareacanga, in the state of Pará. The first in her community to access higher education, she earned in 2020 a degree in public administration and regional development from the Federal University of Western Pará (UFOPA). Committed to defending the rights of […]

Chief Ninawa Huni Kui

A Chief from the state of Acre, on the border with Peru, Ninawa Inu Huni Kui is one of Brazil’s leading Indigenous leaders. President of FEPHAC (Federation of the Huni Kui People of the State of Acre), he represents nearly 15,000 members of the Huni Kui people, across 104 villages established on 12 traditional territories. […]

Alessandra Korap

An Indigenous leader and environmental activist, Brazilian and Munduruku, Alessandra Korap Munduruku was born in 1985 in Itaituba, in the state of Pará. She is internationally recognized for her commitment to protecting Indigenous territories and to preserving the Amazon. In 2016, Alessandra played a decisive role in suspending the planned Tapajós River hydroelectric dam complex, […]

Valdelice Veron

A leading figure in Brazil’s Indigenous movement, Valdelice Veron has for years fought for the demarcation of ancestral lands, the defense of her people’s fundamental rights, and the preservation of their territory, the Tekoha. The daughter of the Cacique Marcos Veron, assassinated in 2003, she continues this struggle with unwavering determination. Because of her commitment, […]

Chief Davi Kopenawa

A Yanomami shaman, thinker, and tireless defender, Davi Kopenawa was born in 1956 near the Toototobi River, on the Brazil–Venezuela border. A survivor of epidemics brought by settlers, he learned Portuguese early and became one of the most powerful Indigenous voices in the Amazon. In the 1980s he joined FUNAI (Brazil’s National Foundation for Indigenous […]

CHIEF KRETÃ KAINGANG

A longtime executive coordinator of APIB (Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil) for the Southern region, he fights for the demarcation of his people’s territories as well as for the preservation of the Araucaria forest—an integral part of the Atlantic Forest—severely affected by deforestation. He is known for leading opposition to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) projects […]

CHIEF RAONI METUKTIRE

An Indigenous leader of global renown and a tireless defender of the Amazon, the Cacique (chief) Raoni Metuktire participated, together with the Villas-Bôas brothers, in the creation of the Xingu National Park in 1961, the first protected Indigenous land in Brazil. He played a major role in the recognition of the constitutional rights of Indigenous […]