Karapiru was born in the late 1940s or early 1950s in a nomadic Awá hunter-gatherer community, before they had contact with outsiders. His birth was not officially recorded. At that time, the Awá's ancestral lands were untouched by the outside world, with their people spread across much of Maranhão. However, in the 1960s, the discovery of vast iron ore deposits in nearby Pará led to the construction of a 885-kilometer railway that split the Awá's land. Soon after, settlers and farmers began invading the area, and by the early 1970s, they were seizing land, fencing it off, and using force. In an instant, the Awá found themselves treated as invaders on their own land. In the late 1970s, while Karapiru was raising a young daughter and son, farmers ambushed his family. This attack set off a decade-long ordeal that human rights defenders later described as a testament to the resilience of Brazil's indigenous peoples in the face of suffering and cruelty from colonizers. His story was told in the film "Serras da Desordem" by Andrea Tonacci.
