Reuters and Sputnik

The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, July 23, 2024, p. 28

Brasilia. The protection of indigenous communities in Brazil from the violence of land grabbers and ranchers was insufficient in 2023, when more than 200 indigenous people were killed, representing an increase of 15.5 percent compared to 2022, said the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi).

In his report Violence against indigenous peoplesthe Cimi specified that in 2023 they were perpetrated 208 murders, an increase of 15.5 percent over 2022.

This is the worst figure in four years, and it goes against the trend of decreasing homicides in Brazil; according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, murders in the country fell by 3.4 percent in 2023.

CIMI, an organisation of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference, details other forms of violence, such as the 670 indigenous children between the ages of zero and four who died from preventable causes or the 180 who committed suicide, many of them due to territorial conflicts.

It recorded 1,276 cases of hostility, distributed between delays in land regularization (850), conflicts (150) and invasions, illegal exploitation of natural resources and various damages to property (276).

The data correspond to the first year of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who, despite having partially reversed the policies of his predecessor, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), for the authors of the report has not lived up to expectations.

He points out that, in Lula’s first year, only eight indigenous lands were demarcated, and although he acknowledges that the government made efforts to expel the garimpeiros (illegal gold seekers) from Yanomami land, that action The government fell into inertia without the garimpo being dismantled. The delay and the absence of a clear signal from the federal government in defense of indigenous territories had a direct influence on the high number of conflicts recorded, many of them with intimidation, threats and attacks against indigenous communities.the report says.

The conservative-leaning Congress also passed a bill limiting indigenous land claims, even though rights to their ancestral lands are enshrined in the Constitution.