Raoni Metuktire (born in 1932), also known as Chief Raoni or Ropni, is an Indigenous Brazilian leader and environmentalist. He is a chief of the Kayapo people, a Brazilian Indigenous group from the plain lands of the Mato Grosso and Pará in Brazil, south of the Amazon River and along Xingu River and its tributaries. He is internationally famous as a living symbol of the fight for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest and indigenous culture.

Cacique (a Native American word for chieftain) Raoni Metuktire was born in the state of Mato Grosso in 1932, in the heart of the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest, in a village called Krajmopyjakare (today called Kapôt in the Brazilian municipality of Peixoto de Azevedo). Born in the Metuktire family of Kayapo people, he is one of Cacique Umoro's sons. As the Kayapo tribe is nomadic, his childhood was marked by continuous travel, during which he witnessed many tribal wars. Guided by his brother Motibau, in 1947 at the age of 15 he chose to have a painted wooden lip plate (called botoque by the warriors of his tribe) placed under his lower lip.

Raoni and other members of the Metuktire tribe encountered the outside world for the first time in 1954. He was 22 years old at the time. Young Raoni wore trousers for the first time and initiated into the Portuguese language by Orlando Villas-Bôas, the eldest of the Villas-Bôas brothers and a famous indigenous anthropologist in Brazil, the young Raoni was ready for the Kuben's invasion (Kuben meaning "the others" or "white people").

In 1964, he met the former king Leopold III of Belgium while the latter was on an expedition into indigenous reservations in Mato Grosso.

Deforestation was already a cause for concern when Raoni, a documentary film by Jean-Pierre Dutilleux and narrated by Jacques Perrin, was shot. Marlon Brando, known for his support of Native American people, had just been paid an unprecedented $3.7 million for his 10-minute part in Superman, but agreed to appear for no salary in Raoni's opening sequence.

Brazilian media's sudden interest made Raoni the banner-bearer of the fight for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest, which had been jeopardized by illegal deforestation, the increasing cultivation of soya beans, and the use of hydroelectric dams for the generation of electricity.

Raoni gained international attention thanks to musician Sting, who came to meet him in the Xingu in November 1987. On October 12, 1988, Sting participated with Raoni in a press conference prior to the São Paulo show of the "Human Rights Now!" Amnesty International tour. After this event, Sting, his wife Trudie Styler, and Jean-Pierre Dutilleux founded the Rainforest Foundation. Its initial purpose was to support Raoni's projects, the first being the demarcation of Kayapos territory threatened by invasion.

In February 1989, Raoni became one of the fiercest opponents to the Belo Monte Dam project. Television broadcasts transmitted his opinions in Altamira during a large assembly of chiefs. ...

Source: Article "Raoni Metuktire" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.