Brazil's 'man of the hole' died but what about his land?

Brasília, Brazil

A man named Tanaru lived in a forest of the southwestern Brazilian Amazon for at least 26 years. It was reported he spent his life moving around his territory, building houses, and planting crops and hunting. And one thing that was strangest about him was he had dug numerous large holes inside his homes. 

In 1996, when a team of the National Indigenous Peoples Foundation (Funai) tried contacting him, he refused to do so and aimed an arrow towards the team. The scene was shown in a 2009 documentary called Corumbiara. The team again put efforts into contacting him in 2007, but he again refused the contact leaving one team member injured by his arrow. For the next 15 years, Tanaru was left undisturbed. 

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Some people called him the “man of the hole” as they were unaware of why he dug a hole in his house. Altair Algayer, a Funai agent who spent decades protecting Tanaru and his forest territory, told The Guardian, “I don’t doubt the holes were linked to his spiritual world." 

In 2022, Algayer found Tanaru dead in his hammock. After his death, the land occupied by him all these years (around 19,800 acres) became subject to contention. 

The government prosecutors argued that since the land was historically acquired by him, it should be protected. However, the Brazilian justice enforced temporary-use restrictions to protect the land. Brazil's decision came while Tanaru was alive, so it became invalid after his death. And no further actions were taken regarding the land after that. 

Sandro Salonski, a lawyer representing non-Indigenous individuals holding title to the area, told the British newspaper, "Discussing the demarcation of an area devoid of Indigenous population is entirely unjustifiable and is not provided for in our federal constitution.”

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But the federal public prosecutor Daniel Luis Dalberto showed his disagreement with Salonski, saying, “This territory should have been demarcated a long time ago. Tanaru’s death doesn’t change the fact that Indigenous people occupied this land since time immemorial, and it therefore belongs to the union." 

Brazil’s constitution allows Indigenous people to have exclusive rights on their lands. Salonski said the dead man was “the only survivor of the Tanaru people". 

(With inputs from agencies)