{"id":128176,"date":"2019-02-18T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=128176"},"modified":"2019-02-17T13:10:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-17T13:10:20","slug":"jair-bolsonaro-praised-the-genocide-of-indigenous-people-now-hes-emboldening-attackers-of-brazils-amazonian-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/02\/jair-bolsonaro-praised-the-genocide-of-indigenous-people-now-hes-emboldening-attackers-of-brazils-amazonian-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Jair Bolsonaro Praised the Genocide of Indigenous People. Now He\u2019s Emboldening Attackers of Brazil\u2019s Amazonian Communities."},"content":{"rendered":"

16 Feb 2019 – <\/em>\u201cThe Brazilian cavalry was very incompetent. Competent, yes, was the American cavalry that decimated its Indians in the past and nowadays does not have this problem in their country.\u201d\u00a0That\u2019s the\u00a0opinion<\/a>\u00a0of Brazil\u2019s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, expressed on\u00a0the floor of Congress in\u00a01998. His views appear to have changed little since then; in a video message<\/a> to supporters 18 years later, he promised to revoke the protected status of an Indigenous reserve in 2019 and in the next breath added, \u201cWe\u2019re going to give a rifle and a carry permit to every farmer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protection of Indigenous lands is guaranteed by the Brazilian constitution to preserve the rights and cultures of groups that have been persecuted for centuries. Brazil is home to approximately 900,000 Indigenous citizens from 305 tribes, most of whom live on reserves, but more than half of the locations claimed by Indigenous groups have not yet received government recognition. Bolsonaro, consistent with his anti-Indigenous <\/a>stance throughout his career, said in a televised interview<\/a> shortly after his election that if it\u00a0were up to him, \u201cthere won\u2019t be any more demarcations of Indigenous land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any rollback of protections for Indigenous lands would pose a dire threat to the Amazon rainforest, which is being rapidly cut down<\/a> by ranchers, farmers, and extractive industries.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro\u2019s attitudes toward Brazil\u2019s Indigenous people and their lands are similar to those of the military dictatorship that ruled\u00a0the country from 1964 to 1985, during which time\u00a0thousands of tribespeople were killed<\/a> and thousands more were driven from their lands to make way for large infrastructure projects and farms.<\/p>\n

In last year\u2019s election, Bolsonaro campaigned hard on cuts to government funding for Indigenous services and freezing the expansion of federally protected reserves. He immediately moved to make good on these promises after his inauguration last month.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, armed bands of land grabbers, known as \u201cgrileiros<\/em>,\u201d have been staging attacks on Indigenous communities \u2014 a pattern of violence that has surged in the wake of Bolsonaro\u2019s election, according to Indigenous leaders and allies interviewed for this article. \u201cWith Bolsonaro, the invaders are feeling more at ease,\u201d Bitete Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, who lives on an Indigenous reserve, told The Intercept by telephone.<\/p>\n

He referred to the invaders as \u201cpeons\u201d sent by powerful bosses to cut down trees, burn undergrowth, and plant grass for cattle grazing \u2014 the first stage in the vastly profitable criminal enterprise of land-grabbing in the Amazon<\/a>. From there, the lands are often sold several times over on the black market, meaning that poor states lose out on much-needed tax revenue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have raised the alarm over four territories that have experienced, or are in grave danger of, invasion or attack, while advocacy groups say the number is at least six territories and fear that darker days are still to come.\u00a0An investigation<\/a> published this week by the NGO Rep\u00f3rter Brasil found that at least 14 fully protected Indigenous territories are currently under attack.<\/p>\n

\"Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau-People-1550092728\"<\/p>\n

Indigenous Brazilians on the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau territory following an invasion by suspected land grabbers in January. Photo: Pur\u00e9 Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau<\/em><\/p>\n

Under Attack<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month, the image of a bullet-riddled metal plaque reading \u201cNational Indigenous Foundation, Protected Territory\u201d made the rounds on WhatsApp, Brazil\u2019s most popular messaging app. The sign marks the entrance to one of several villages in the vast Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous reserve, in a lawless region of the Amazonian state of Rond\u00f4nia, near the Bolivian border.<\/p>\n

Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau leaders and local advocacy groups shared the solemn photograph with an accompanying audio message explaining that the gunshots\u00a0were fresh, the latest attack in an ongoing \u201cinvasion\u201d by groups of grileiros.<\/p>\n

The tribe fears that a violent conflict with gun-toting outsiders is imminent. Recently, armed with bows and arrows, they managed to expel a group of grileiros from the reserve and filmed the confrontation<\/a>. The trespassers promised to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to take the land, divide it up into lots, and raise cattle,\u201d Bitete Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau said. \u201cThey are getting very close.\u201d The Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau are not alone.<\/p>\n

On his first day as president, Bolsonaro transferred the authority<\/a> to protect Indigenous lands from Brazil\u2019s National Indian Foundation, or FUNAI, a government entity tasked with the protection of Indigenous communities, to the Ministry of Agriculture, handing a victory to the powerful agribusiness sector that backed his campaign and has its eyes on large tracts of pristine forest. Sydney Possuelo, a veteran Indigenous observer and former FUNAI president, described the move<\/a> as \u201cthe death\u201d of FUNAI, in an interview with the Folha de S\u00e3o Paulo newspaper.<\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture, now headed by Tereza Cristina Dias,<\/a> a former\u00a0member Congress\u00a0from the powerful \u201cruralista<\/em>\u201d agricultural caucus, did not respond to The Intercept\u2019s questions about whether the demarcation of Indigenous lands would continue.<\/p>\n

Days after signing the decree, Bolsonaro tweeted<\/a> a video clip of another one of his ministers who argued in a cable news interview that many of the existing Indigenous reserves were established using fraudulent documents, and called the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples \u201cspurious\u201d and \u201ctreasonous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chamber of Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Communities of Brazil\u2019s Public Prosecutors Office has sent an urgent memo<\/a> to the justice minister warning that the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau and three other communities were in danger. The Indigenous Missionary Council, or CIMI, a Catholic aid group, recorded attacks and threats<\/a> in five states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are seeing is a new phase of illegal occupations of Indigenous lands,\u201d said Cleber Buzatto, CIMI\u2019s executive secretary.<\/p>\n

The Bolsonaro Effect<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Daniel Azevedo L\u00f4bo, a public prosecutor in Rond\u00f4nia, the region surrounding the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau territory is rife with criminal groups constantly looking to illegally exploit Indigenous territories or forest conservation units. In January, he said that dozens of suspected grileiros were planning a major invasion, and another had already taken place this year. Federal Police arrested one suspect<\/a>, while the rest fled into the forest.<\/p>\n

Grileiros \u201csee themselves as workers and producers, but they are criminals,\u201d L\u00f4bo told The Intercept. He said that land grabbers in Rond\u00f4nia likely felt encouraged by the new administration. \u201cThey always look for a way to legitimize their illegal actions,\u201d he said. \u201cThe government might have changed, but the law didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 7,200-square mile Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau reserve is larger than the U.S. states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Around 200 tribespeople of different Indigenous subgroups live in villages on the margins, and an unknown number of \u201cisolated\u201d Indigenous people who do not have direct contact with the outside world reside deeper within the borders.<\/p>\n

Using satellite imagery, Brazil\u2019s Social Environmental Institute concluded that only\u00a02 percent of the reserve is deforested, as compared to 70 percent in the surrounding area.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Federally protected Indigenous reserves cover 12 percent of Brazil’s territory and are among the Amazon’s most important defenses against rampant deforestation. The borders between protected and unprotected territories in places like Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau in Rond\u00f4nia and Ararib\u00f3ia in Maranh\u00e3o are easily distinguishable in satellite imagery. <\/strong>Images: Google Maps<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rond\u00f4nia is one of the Brazilian Amazon\u2019s most deforested states, and much of the remaining jungle is in Indigenous lands and federal conservation units, making them popular targets for criminal gangs. By no coincidence, the state recorded 17 murders related to land conflicts in 2017, one of the worst rates in the nation.<\/p>\n

Last year, Bolsonaro won in Rond\u00f4nia by a wide margin and a retired military police officer from Bolsonaro\u2019s Social Liberal Party was elected governor.<\/p>\n

The Karipuna Indigenous territory, also in Rond\u00f4nia, is similarly under assault from land grabbers. Greenpeace\u2019s investigative journalism unit, Unearthed, reported from the territory<\/a> in 2017 after prosecutors said the tribe \u2014 with less than 60 members living on the site \u2014\u00a0was at risk of \u201cgenocide.\u201d<\/a> \u201cThey are close to the village now,\u201d Adriano Karipuna told The Intercept recently. He visited the U.N. headquarters in New York last year to denounce a possible<\/a> \u201cmassacre\u201d against his people.<\/p>\n

Federal Police have since seized tractors<\/a> and other heavy machinery from the nearby community of Uni\u00e3o Bandeirantes and are investigating three suspects in connection with illegal logging. The Public Ministry, with the support of the Federal Police and FUNAI, is expected to request<\/a> National Guard troops to defend the reserve.<\/p>\n

FUNAI\u2019s new president, Franklimberg de Freitas \u2014 an army reserve general who is currently the target of a government ethics enquiry for conflict of interest regarding his former consultancy gig for the Canadian mining firm Belo Sun \u2014 also visited Rond\u00f4nia late last month following the recent invasions.<\/p>\n

Next door in Mato Grosso state, prosecutors warned that they would meet any invasion of the Mar\u00e3iwats\u00e9d\u00e9 reserve of the Xavante people with an \u201cenergetic response.\u201d In 2012, farmers illegally occupying the land were expelled by court order. Brazil\u2019s O Globo newspaper reported<\/a> that Nelson Barbudo \u2014 also known as \u201cBearded Nelson\u201d \u2014 the state\u2019s most popular congressperson and Bolsonaro ally, had encouraged the invasion, calling their removal \u201ca crime against producers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twelve hundred miles south, in Rio Grande do Sul state, local prosecutors have opened an investigation into a reported incident in which two hooded men made threats and opened fire at a small Mby\u00e1-Guarani encampment in the capital, Porto Alegre.<\/p>\n

In Maranh\u00e3o state, Claudio da Silva, who leads a local forest guard on the Caru Indigenous territory told The Intercept that a group of farmers\u00a0that was removed in 2014 following a court decision was threatening to come back. \u201cWith the proposals of Bolsonaro, they are organizing to return to the Aw\u00e1 territory,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t just cross our arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Bad to Worse<\/strong><\/p>\n

About 0.4 percent of Brazil\u2019s population lives on federally protected Indigenous lands, which\u00a0cover around 13 percent of national territory and\u00a0contain some of the nation\u2019s best-maintained forests.\u00a0Climate scientists consider empowerment of Indigenous people and their lands as an important weapon in the fight against climate change. But regardless of who is running the nation, throughout recent history, those concerns have been sublimated to the short-term economic interests of major industries.<\/p>\n

Before Bolsonaro, the situation was already increasingly dire for Brazil\u2019s Indigenous communities as the agribusiness lobby has grown more powerful in state capitals and in the corridors of power in Bras\u00edlia. In 2017, under President Michel Temer, FUNAI\u2019s budget was cut by nearly half<\/a>, and a law was passed that effectively gave amnesty<\/a> to land grabbers who had continuously occupied lands since before 2011. A similar measure had already been passed in 2004.<\/p>\n

Invasions of Indigenous lands jumped from 59 in 2016 to 96 in 2017, according to CIMI\u2019s annual report<\/a> \u201cViolence Against Indigenous People in Brazil.\u201d The study highlighted that \u201cone can see a significant increase in invasions; theft of natural resources such as timber and minerals; illegal hunting and fishing; soil and water contamination by pesticides; and fires, among other criminal actions.\u201d It was also one of Brazil\u2019s bloodiest years on record for land dispute-related violence, with at least 70 killings, according to rural violence watchdog Comiss\u00e3o Pastoral da Terra.<\/p>\n

Before Temer, President Dilma Rousseff\u2019s administration recognized<\/a> very few Indigenous lands, experts say, to appease allies in Congress who represented major agricultural interests.<\/p>\n

During her mandate, she also inaugurated the controversial Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam. Before construction began in 2011, environmentalists warned<\/a> \u2014 correctly<\/a> \u2014 that it would cause enormous damage and subsequent deforestation in the region.<\/p>\n

But under Bolsonaro, Indigenous leaders in the region believe that the actions of unscrupulous loggers and land grabbers will only get worse.<\/p>\n

Leo Xipaya, an Indigenous leader who fought against Belo Monte for years, has no doubts about it: \u201cBolsonaro\u2019s plans put Indigenous people at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

____________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Sam Cowie<\/a><\/em> – <\/em>@samcowie84<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theintercept.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16 Feb 2019 – \u201cThe Brazilian cavalry was very incompetent. Competent, yes, was the American cavalry that decimated its Indians in the past and nowadays does not have this problem in their country.\u201d That\u2019s the opinion of Brazil\u2019s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, expressed on the floor of Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":53350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indigenous-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}