The last of his people, a Brazilian native known only as “the hole man,” has been found dead, decades after the rest of his uncontacted tribe were killed by ranchers and illegal miners, officials said. The man – whose real name has never been released to the outside world – was found in a hammock in a hut in the Tanaru indigenous region of Rondonia state on the border with Bolivia on August 23, Brazil’s National Indian Foundation said in a statement ( FUNAI). . He lived in complete isolation for 26 years. Since losing everyone he knew, the man had refused all contact with the outside world and supported himself by hunting and cultivating crops. His nickname came from his habit of digging deep holes inside the huts he built, possibly to trap animals but also to hide inside. Authorities in Brazil did not comment on the man’s cause of death, nor his age, but said there were “no signs of violence or struggle.” They also found no evidence of anyone else being in or around his house. “Everything indicates that the death was from natural causes,” said FUNAI, a government agency under the justice ministry that handles indigenous affairs. Local media reported that the man’s body was covered in macaw feathers, leading one expert to speculate that he knew he was going to die. The man is believed to have been alone since the rest of his small tribe were killed in the mid-1990s by illegal loggers and miners trying to exploit tribal territory. Rights groups said the majority of the tribe had been killed in the 1970s when ranchers moved into the area, cutting down the forest and attacking residents. “With his death, the genocide of this indigenous people is complete,” said Fiona Watson, director of research for Survival International, who visited the Tanaru region in 2004. “It was truly genocide: the deliberate extermination of an entire people by pastoralists hungry for land and wealth,” he added. According to the most recent government figures, there are approximately 800,000 indigenous peoples belonging to more than 300 different groups living in Brazil, a country of 212 million people. According to FUNAI, there are 114 records of isolated indigenous groups in Brazil, although this number varies. The president, who is trailing in the polls ahead of this year’s election, has encouraged mining and agricultural activity in protected areas, sparking outrage among environmentalists.
