The Surui / Paiter People
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Our people is more known under the name of "Surui". This name was given to us by the anthropologists at the time of our first contact ("Hurui" means enemy in the native language spoken by the persons who guided them); while our true name is "Paiter" which means in our language:

"WE, THE TRUE PEOPLE."
Our People is composed of 4 clans survivors:



The Gamebey
(fierce black amazon wasp) The clan of warriors, defenders of the tribe.		 The Kabaney
(kaban tree)
The largest clan of the 4 with approximately 800 people.		 The Gabgirey
(black and yellow amazon wasp)		 The Makorey
The smallest clan with approximately 80 people.

The forest is the Light of life for humanity

Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui


The recent history of our people has been marked by terrible threats to our land as well as by the violence of the program Polonoroeste, the corruption, the omissions and the failures of the governmental agencies, the invasion by unauthorized individuals, including loggers and minors.

Since 1968, when we, the Paiter, have officially had their first contact with white men, the interactions between our two worlds have led to profound and irreversible changes in our society. These changes have not extinguished our warrior spirit, which has motivated our fight for recognition of the integrity of our territory.

Fighting as we can such as David against Goliath, we, the Paiter, with the other peoples of the forest, are determined to maintain our culture and our environments alive.

We are the guardians of the forest

3 years after the first meeting, there were fewer than 300 of us living on an original population of more than 5000, due to imported diseases and war. Today about 1300, we narrowly escaped from extinction and we are now confronting the cultural assimilation ...
-> Rainforest Rebel
Article on Chief Almir Surui and the Surui cause by "THE SMITHSONIAN", New York, mars 2007
-> Google to harness satellite power for an Amazon tribe

Respect
Mother Earth

Declaration of
Almir Narayamoga Surui

Chief of the Gamebey clan
and of Surui People.

General coordinator of
"Organizaçao Metareila"
do Povo Indigena Surui

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