The Flecheiros are one of the uncontacted peoples in the Javari region of the Amazon. Their ambiguous name simply means "arrow shooters".
| Flecheiro | |
| States: | Brazil |
| Region: | Javari |
| Ethnicity: | Flecheiros |
| Speakers: | ? |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Family: | unattested |
| Iso3: | none |
| Glotto: | flec1235 |
| Glottorefname: | Flecheiros |
Ethnographically, the people are similar to the Kanamarí. However, a meeting between a Kanamarí and the Flecheiros was observed, showing that the two have different languages. Their language is thus unknown and therefore unattested.[1]
In September 2017, the Brazilian government investigated a reported massacre in August of about 10 members of the tribe who were gathering eggs along a river when they were killed by gold miners. The miners had bragged about "cutting up the bodies and throwing them in the river."[2] [3]
The Flecheiros are the subject of a book called The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes, by Scott Wallace. The 2011 National Geographic edition details the 76-day expedition in 2002, led by famed indigenous activist Sydney Possuelo, who attempted to find the status of the Flecheiros in the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land.[4]