[ Insects chirping ] [ Whispering indistinctly ] [ Speaking foreign language ] [ Flames crackling ] ♪♪ -It is the front line of the world's most dangerous battle. -Obviously this involves the entire earth. There are dire consequences to this.
-Thousands of fires raging across Brazil. -The Amazon Rainforest is taking a beating. Deforestation rates have nearly doubled.
-One report claims that the equivalent of three soccer fields are being deforested every minute in the Amazon. [ Singing in foreign language ] -The people who feel the impact directly are local indigenous communities. -As the world reacts to the Amazon's destruction, indigenous Brazilians are on the front lines of the fight to save their land.
[ Singing in foreign language ] [ Engines whirring ] -We just landed in Imperatriz, which is a city right on the outskirts of the Amazon. Now we have a six-hour car journey, and that just gets us right up to the edge of the forest. This tribe we're visiting, called the Guajajara, say they are under assault by illegal loggers.
Their ancestral homeland lies on the eastern tip of the Amazon, an island of green surrounded by a sea of deforestation. -[ Speaking Portuguese ] -The Guajajara say the devastation has escalated since the election of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, known as the Trump of the Tropics, who has openly called for developing the Amazon. -In response, the tribe is doing something extremely rare and extraordinarily dangerous -- tracking down and apprehending illegal loggers.
After driving for several hours, we're now crossing into indigenous territory. About 20 miles ahead here, we're gonna have our first meeting with a group called the Guardians of the Forest. ♪♪ [ Insects chirping ] As night falls, we meet the leader of what is essentially an indigenous paramilitary group.
His name is Laércio Guajajara. He's agreed to let us embed with his troops as they launch an extended patrol through the jungle. -[ Speaking foreign language ] [ Engine rumbling ] [ Dogs barking ] [ Motorcycle engine stops ] [ Indistinct talking ] [ Rooster caws ] -It's now 4:00 in the morning.
We've been traveling slowly, picking up members of the Guardians as we go, and now we apparently have a full complement -- north of 20. And they're about to launch a dangerous mission. You guys have a lot of weapons, but these men may be heavily armed, too.
Do you get nervous before you do this? Over the past two decades, more than 80 Guajajara have been killed defending their land. ♪♪ -And we are here.
-So, we're gonna drive all the way up here and then in here. -Yeah. -And the loggers are in here?
-Yeah. -I'm getting a briefing from Carlos Quintana, who's a former federal law-enforcement official who now volunteers to help the Guardians, in part by using satellite imagery to track down the illegal loggers, or as tribe members call them, invaders. This is the heavy, heavy logging right now.
-Yes. [ Ignition cranks, engines rumble ] [ Radio chirps ] -Okay. [ Radio chirps ] -We've stopped here because they say they see truck tracks, fresh tire tracks from a large truck that's gone in this way toward the indigenous territory.
[ Speaking foreign language ] Just before dawn, fresh intelligence leads us to this tiny indigenous village. [ Dogs barking ] [ Dog barks ] -Under Brazilian law, tribes do have a legal right to patrol their own land. .
. [ Knocking ] . .
. but for this mission, the Guajajara have decided to bring along an agent from FUNAI, the Bureau of Indigenous Affairs. [ Distant wail ] [ Chatter ] [ Dog barking ] With no answer, the Guardians move on to the next house.
[ Conversation in foreign language ] They're interrogating the chief in this little village here. The suspicion is that these tribe members may be conspiring or cooperating with the illegal loggers to let them onto the land. -What's going on?
-This guy's the chief, and he's basically dimeing out the other families over here saying that they let the loggers in. As the sun comes up, the Guardians walk over to the families who the chief accuses of helping the loggers. ♪♪ With the villagers claiming not to know where the illegal loggers are, Laércio tells us that the next step is for the Guardians to head up into the forest to see for themselves.
♪♪ ♪♪ [ Conversation in foreign language ] The Guardians are up against powerful interests. First the loggers come in and cut down all of the valuable trees. Then the land is burned and turned into cattle pasture.
80% of the deforestation in the Amazon is the result of the cattle industry. Scientists say the Amazon may be at a crucial tipping point where instead of mitigating climate change, it may begin to exacerbate it. [ Radio chirps ] He is helping me hang my hammock.
After patrolling all night, it's time to take a rest, and there's no Motel 6 out here, so the way to do it is to put up some hammocks. -[ Speaks foreign language ] -These are not the accommodations that I'm used to, but when in Rome. [ Birds chirping, whistling ] [ Motorcycle rumbling ] -[ Speaks indistinctly ] -Our rest is interrupted by two men on a motorcycle who aren't supposed to be here.
The men claim to be simply hunting for food. [ Conversation in foreign language ] [ Engine starts ] With no proof of illegality, Laércio lets them go. [ Gunshot ] -[ Grunts ] ♪♪ -[ Sings in foreign language ] -More than 1/3 of the Guajajara's once sprawling homeland has now been deforested, and Laércio says that under President Bolsonaro, the pace of these land grabs has increased.
[ Conversation in foreign language ] [ Conversation in foreign language ] The tribe has a selective relationship with modernity. Laércio's traditional house has a satellite dish and WI-FI. On their land, however, lives another small tribe called the Awá, who have had no contact with the outside world other than this reported sighting captured last year by a member of the Guajajara.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Paulo Guajajara is Laércio's deputy and second in command of the Guardians. -Whoo! ♪♪ -Night two and the Guardians are on the move again.
They've received a tip just hours ago that illegal loggers are operating right over here, and they're gonna check it out. -[ Speaking foreign language ] -After failing to find loggers in the last location, they believe this lead is more solid, and there is a nervous energy in the air. [ Laughs ] [ Engine rumbling ] -One of the reasons they say they have to operate in the middle of the night is that if they ran this convoy during the day, they say it's possible that one of their fellow tribe members might tip off the so-called invaders.
That's the kind of corruption that runs rampant here. [ Dogs barking ] We've just pulled up on a village where the Guardians have been told that two outsiders were recently hired to guard an illegal logging operation. Laércio is wearing a body camera.
-Whoa, whoa, whoa! -This is the first time we've seen the Guardians get this rough. These two young men who they found outside this building are delivering shifting stories, at first saying they they had nothing to do with the logging operation here, but then saying they were forced to work by the boss.
Apparently, the boss is asleep inside this house. But all we find is a terrified indigenous mother. She admits her family accepts small amounts of money from the loggers to look the other way.
Does it make you sad to see members of your tribe working with people who are destroying the land? You got a little rough with these young men over here. What was your thinking there?
One of the men admits he is lying. . .
. . .
and hands over his phone to the Guardians. On it, they find this -- videos and pictures that provide clear evidence of illegal logging. ♪♪ The Guardians are now ready to drive up into the woods and confront the rest of the loggers, but first, sleep.
♪♪ [ Rooster caws ] [ Dog barks ] [ Engine starts ] Last night, they busted the lower-level folks involved with this illegal logging operation. Now they're going up this path where the actual illegal loggers will be at work, and they're fully expecting these men to be armed. Among the people leading the charge, Paulo -- Laércio's number two.
♪♪ ♪♪ On motorcycles at the front of the pack, Laércio and, it turns out, one of the guards who was apprehended last night. Now he's an informant leading the caravan to his fellow loggers. ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Engine stops, brakes hiss ] [ Conversation in foreign language ] The informant tells Paulo we're getting close.
He explains there are multiple logger camps here, so the Guardians fan out. Paulo leads the larger group while Laércio runs point in a smaller unit. -[ Blows air ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Heavy breathing ] -Laércio sees something through the trees.
[ Indistinct whispering ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Speaking foreign language ] -Vroom, vroom, vroom! -Okay, so Laércio's telling us they have a prisoner. He's got his hand on his pistol, another hand on a machete.
We have no idea what we're getting into. They're marching this prisoner deeper into the forest. -[ Shouting ] -They're making the prisoner call out to his colleagues.
-[ Speaking foreign language ] As they interrogate their prisoner, it's pretty obvious that there are a lot of other people here. This is not the only guy at this camp. I mean, this food is boiling as we speak.
♪♪ ♪♪ Through the woods, Paulo's search party sees something. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Shh! -Huh?
-Fearing an ambush by the other loggers still out there, Paulo's unit tries to find them first. [ Conversations in foreign language ] [ Speaking foreign language ] -[ Murmurs ] -Mm-hmm. -All told, the Guardians capture seven loggers.
Proof of the men's activities are scattered across the campsite. . .
. . .
even notes on how much they cut down and profits made. This wood goes to local cattle ranchers who build fences around their area, and they're selling the stakes for those fences, and it even shows right here how much money they're making. Are the police gonna come and help you with this?
[ Conversations in foreign language ] Why did you agree to do this work? Why did you need to do it? Were you shocked when you saw these masked indigenous people raiding your camp?
These are low-level people you're dealing with here. How do you go after the bosses? If President Bolsonaro could see this scene right here, what would you want to say to him?
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Chatter in foreign language ] ♪♪ Normally, the Guardians' next move would simply be to expel the loggers from their land, but Laércio tells us they're going to do something they've never done before -- bring the suspects to federal authorities seven hours away. First, though, they have to pass through the town of Arame, a notorious base for illegal loggers just outside of Guajajara territory. [ Conversations in foreign language ] In 2018, a tribal leader critical of illegal logging was found dead here.
The Guardians wait for the cover of darkness before heading out into enemy territory. ♪♪ -By morning, the Guardians and their prisoners arrive at federal police headquarters in the city of Imperatriz. When the local media show up, we realize how unprecedented it is for the Guardians to have taken the step of bringing the loggers to authorities.
Laércio's prediction seems to have been accurate. The next day, the prisoners are released after having been charged with illegally entering indigenous territory -- a crime that legal experts tell us is rarely, if ever, prosecuted. The Guardians vow to go right back to work.
[ Protestors chanting ] We, meanwhile, arrive back in New York City just as the United Nations Climate Summit is taking place. As protestors decry Brazil's environmental policies, President Bolsonaro fights back. While Bolsonaro faces international condemnation over the fires in the Amazon, he does have one staunch ally.
-With the gentleman, one of the greatest election wins anywhere in the world as far as I'm concerned, and he was very proud of his relationship with President Trump. Brazil and the United States are as close or closer as they've ever been. -We request an interview with Bolsonaro, but are denied.
Instead, the administration offers up Environmental Minister Ricardo Salles, a man ridiculed by environmentalists who call him the fox in the hen house. He's been convicted of an environmental crime for altering official maps to benefit mining companies, a charge he's appealing, and since taking office, he has slashed his agency's budget and reduced fines for businesses that commit environmental crime. We spent some time recently with an indigenous tribe, and they told us, quite strenuously, that they believe that because of your boss's rhetoric -- the rhetoric coming out of this administration -- they're seeing more and more of what they call invaders.
What would you say to these people to reassure them? -Some of the indigenous, they do want to continue to be an isolated group, living their same way of living that they used before, and we must guarantee that. There are some other indigenous tribes in different places.
They want to have some sort of economic development. -You just said some things that sounded reassuring about protecting indigenous tribes who want to protect their own way of life. However, your boss has said a few things that are -- seem quite hostile to indigenous communities.
For example, he once praised the American cavalry for doing a better job of wiping out our indigenous tribes than the Brazilian cavalry did many years ago. So, if I'm a member of an indigenous tribe, why wouldn't that make me nervous? -Well, first of all, we need to make the political statement sometimes apart from what really happened in government.
-Let me see if I understand you correctly. You're saying, "Okay, so Bolsonaro said this awful thing. It's a political statement.
" So in other words, don't listen to Bolsonaro. Trust you and your actions. -No, not me.
He is the big leader. He's the president who's doing the correct things. He didn't do anything wrong, although sometimes, if people take some comments out of the context -- -Well, how could you take that out of context?
It's -- -Depends. The problem is when sometimes people put words in his mouth, things that he didn't say. -In terms of the future of indigenous populations, the types of things I've heard from President Bolsonaro seem to indicate that he really wants to just integrate them into society.
-For those who want it, yes. -Only for those who want to? Because he's used terms like, you know, they're living in a zoo.
-People sometimes change his phrase or his comments into another situation. I heard from him many, many times him saying, "We must guarantee their right of choice. " -So, for these folks, the indigenous tribe that I spent time with, can you assure them that they can go on protecting their way of life and that the government has their back?
-Definitely. If it's -- it's the group's decision to continue their way of life exactly as it is, and some sort of assurance that they need from the federal government, that's for sure. ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Speaking foreign language ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -[ Sniffles ] [ Cries ] [ Sniffles ] [ Speaking foreign language ] [ Crying, sobbing ] [ Conversation in foreign language ] -[ Sobbing ] [ Singing ] [ Clapping ] [ Chattering, singing ] -[ Crying ] [ Crying ] ♪♪ -Despite his serious wounds, Laércio stayed only briefly in the hospital for fear of being hunted down in the city.
He was moved to a safe house somewhere on indigenous land. Law enforcement visited the Guajajaras in a sign of solidarity and promised to bring those responsible to justice.
