February 24, 2022

10:02

Ívina Garcia – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The body of Jorge Figueiredo Alves, 22 years old, was mourning on Wednesday, 23, at the City Hall of São Gabriel da Cachoeira. The young indigenous Dessana ethnicity was a student of Physical Education at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and died in Campinas, after being run over last Saturday, 19, on Highway D. Pedro I (SP-065), one of the accesses to Cidade Universitária.

The body, at first, was considered homeless, until Jorge’s friends were able to identify it, inform the family, and transfer it to São Gabriel da Cachoeira, the city where he was born. The action was only possible thanks to a ‘little cow’ organized by the DCE Campinas (Central Students Directory) that raised a little more than R$ 6 thousand reais to help with transportation, lodging, and food for Jorge’s family for the transfer.

Jorge was the seventh of nine children and had entered the course in 2021, after being approved in the Indigenous Vestibular at Unicamp. The university student would have turned 23 on March 22.

Tributes

On social networks, entities, family and friends paid their respects and mourned the young man’s sudden departure. The CCI-ufscar coordination commented, in a publication, that Jorge “always showed to be happy and fun, and in this short time he was part of the coordination of the Indigenous Culture Center of Sorocaba”. They also said that “today, heaven is celebrating, because it is receiving the funniest person they have ever met”.

The Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro (FOIRN) also expressed their support to Janete Figueiredo Alves, Director of the Federation and Jorge’s sister. In a note of regret, they lamented the loss of the young man and paid homage to his family and friends.

In the publication, Janete thanks the messages of support: “May God repay all the people in solidarity with my family. It hasn’t been easy, but everything is in God’s time and nobody can change that”, said the family member.

The Association of Graduate Students at Unicamp also spoke out about what happened.

“The APG Unicamp believes that the university should be a space for encounter, welcoming, and combating the countless structural violences that have long made it difficult for indigenous people to occupy the university. As an entity that supports the organization and mobilization of the Indigenous Collective at Unicamp, we are committed to the struggle for the expansion of affirmative action policies, permanence and student support at the university”, says the note.

Other friends posted messages on Jorge’s profile to say goodbye to their friend:

Indigenous Vestibular

Unicamp’s Permanent Commission for Vestibulars (Comvest) registered 2,805 applicants for the 2022 Indigenous Vestibular, the first year of the unified selection between UFSCar and Unicamp for the admission of indigenous students in different undergraduate courses at the two universities. The free registration closed on January 20th.

So far, Manaus has 356 registered, Tabatinga has 780 and São Gabriel da Cachoeira reaches 933 registered, a total of 2,069 Amazonians enrolled in the contest, corresponding to more than 70% of enrolled Amazonas. The tests will be applied, in person, next March 27, in the enrolled cities.