In Brazil, human rights groups are warning in an open letter that the Amazon’s last uncolonized indigenous people face “genocide” amid raging fires and mounting incursions into their territories. The warning comes after the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro abruptly fired the head of the government agency tasked with protecting uncontacted tribes. Brazil’s Indigenous Missionary Council warns the number of invasions of indigenous territories has doubled under Bolsonaro, with more than 150 such incidents since January. And there have been a record 87,000 forest fires in Brazil this year, according to official figures — many of them deliberately set to clear land. In a statement, the indigenous rights group Survival International said, “President Bolsonaro … wants to open up Indigenous territories across Brazil to loggers, miners and ranchers. He doesn’t care how many Indigenous people die in the process, and has openly expressed his racist contempt for them on many occasions.”
Brazil’s Uncontacted Tribes Face “Genocide” Under President Jair Bolsonaro
HeadlineOct 09, 2019