Meet Haru Kuntanawa – Indigenous Leader Fighting for Mother Earth

Haru brotheres kuntanawa queen of the forest indigenous people of the rainforest ceremony plant medicine

Haru Kuntanawa

Hope that comes from the Forest

“I came to this planet to take my people out of prison and to go back a hundred years to draw and sprout our roots back again, Light the flames that had faded away … and today my people rose from the deep sleep that slept in our hearts.

Today, reigns the hope of being free to live in our forest at peace with our mother nature “

Haru Kuntanawa.

Much Needed Indigenous Leadership

Haru represents an indigenous leadership playing a fundamental role in the process of demarcating the territory of the Kuntanawa ethnic group. His history of life is marked by the political struggle of indigenous rights, environmental and cultural preservation of the peoples of the Amazon.

He was the founder of the young environmental collective of the Juruá River Valley in 2005, with the goal of working with youth and society in general, addressing environmental issues for greater ecological awareness.

He is currently Vice Coordinator of the OPIRJ – Juruá River Indigenous Peoples Organization.

“My contact with indigenous politics is the struggle for human rights and the preservation of the forest and its biodiversity, as well as the cultural fortifications of the indigenous peoples of the linguistic family Pano.”

The Kuntanawa are located in the Indigenous Land, Alto Jurua, Tagus River, Aldea Kuntamanã and Seven stars, municipality of Marechal Thaumaturgo, Acre, Brazil. In July 2011 they completed the centennial of resistance since the 1911 massacre of the Kuntanawa Tribe by the Patrons of the Rubber Tapping Soldiers.

“Our people have been struggling bravely to rebuild and include their ancestral knowledge and gain recognition from society, and also to develop a harmonious way of coexisting with nature.”

It is for this purpose that Haru Kuntanawa develops cultural and environmental projects in a collective way that can benefit many ethnicities.

These projects are already under development, one of them being “THE FESTIVAL CULTURAL CORREDOR PANO”.