Wearing a red-feathered headdress, torso painted in black swirls, with microphone in hand, chief Juarez Saw made a bold declaration: "The [Brazilian] government is coming here to get rid of everything – the natives, the forest and the river."

He was addressing 230 Munduruku, Amazonian Indian leaders, who had gathered together on the banks of the Tapajós River's remote rapids, in the state of Pará, to discuss resistance to a federal government plan to build up to seven hydroelectric projects in the area.

If built, the São Luiz do Tapajós dam – the largest of the seven – would possess a maximum generating capacity of 8,040 megawatts and create an artificial lake covering 72,225 hectares (278 square miles). A portion of that lake would flood Munduruku territory, including the Dace Watpu village, site of the September 2015 meeting. The seven Tapajós Basin dams (three on the Tapajós River and four on its tributary the Jamanxim River) would generate a combined total of 16,152 megawatts of electricity and create reservoirs covering 302,174 hectares (1,162 square miles)

"They want to end the history of the Munduruku, but we won't let them," chief Juarez Saw declared. After every pronouncement, his listeners responded with a resounding shout: "Sawé!" – both a salutation and a war cry.

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