Sports complex inaugurated in the most Indigenous city in Brazil
01 de June de 2025
By Lucas Thiago – From Cenarium
MANAUS (AM) – São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM), the most Indigenous municipality in Brazil located 852 kilometers from Manaus, received this Friday, the 30th, the delivery of the Joás Rodrigues da Silva Sports Complex, featuring courts and a soccer field. The city hall honored local Indigenous athletes by naming each facility after them.
Among those honored are: Emmanuel Carlos Matos, whose name was given to the municipal sand court; Kelvin Miquéias de Souza (futsal court); and Fábio de Lima Batista (soccer field and sports arena). State deputy and president of the Amazonas Football Federation (FAF), Ednailson Rozenha, attended the inauguration ceremony.
On social media, friends and family of those honored praised the municipal administration’s gesture and shared messages about the athletes who have passed away. “A beautiful tribute to the noble sports friends who, unfortunately, left us physically but remain alive in our memory,” said Jussie dos Santos.
In another tribute to those honored, teacher Osiany Cunha, cousin of Joás Rodrigues, the namesake of the complex, stated that “Mocotó,” as he was known, was killed prematurely and unjustly. “My dear cousin Mocotó, who had his life cowardly taken, left an immense void in our hearts,” she declared. See comments:
Most Indigenous city
São Gabriel da Cachoeira is the municipality with the highest percentage of Indigenous people in Brazil, with over 98% of the population belonging to one of the 23 cataloged ethnic groups, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). It is also a city located in the Upper Rio Negro basin, bordering Venezuela and Colombia—in other words, a border region.
The city of nearly 50,000 inhabitants is bathed by rivers and surrounded by dense forest, with Indigenous peoples as its main residents. Nine out of ten people in São Gabriel da Cachoeira belong to this ethnic group.