Brazil: Invasion and Illegal Exploitation of Indigenous Land Tripled Under Jair Bolsonaro - Advocacy Group

The Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) has released a report detailing the plight of indigenous peoples across Brazil. The report stated that under the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is backed by big businesses, invasion and illegal extraction of natural resources in protected indigenous lands have tripled since he took office in 2019.

The advocacy group stated in their report that the Bolsonaro government favored the "exploitation and private appropriation of Indigenous territories." In 2021 alone, 305 incidents occurred across 22 Brazilian states. This is almost three times more than in 2018 before Bolsonaro took office, where only 109 cases were reported, according to CNN.

Indigenous Rights Group Accuses Jair Bolsonaro of Loosening Protections for Indigenous Peoples

CIMI is a Christian organization that advocates for the rights of indigenous people in Brazil. Their report claimed that while incursions into lands protected for indigenous people have been increasing since 2016, they greatly escalated under Bolsonaro.

These illegal incursions have been done by miners, loggers, hunters, fishermen, and land grabbers, among others. According to CIMI, Bolsonaro loosened protections for indigenous lands. This includes passing new regulations such as "Normative Instruction 9."

This regulation makes it easier for private landowners to obtain property certificates in lands that would have been off-limits as they would have been protected land. It stated that "landowners can register property on any land that is not officially demarcated as indigenous territory." However, the report pointed out that a large amount of territory is in the middle of being processed as indigenous land. That process is known to be lengthy, and private landowners can also lay claim to that land as it undergoes the process.

And it's not just big business that is muscling in on indigenous territories, but also crimes. The prime example of this is the brutal assassinations of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira last June. Their killers are believed to be illegal fishermen with alleged ties to politicians and drug smugglers, according to The Intercept.

Amazon Rainforest Protection and Indigenous Rights Being Pushed by Bolsonaro's Main Rival as Brazilian Elections Heat Up

While Bolsonaro is pushing a more Big Business and Big Farming stance that has seen the Amazon Rainforest decline in record numbers, his opponent for the upcoming Brazilian elections is promising the opposite, with more protections for the Amazon, as well as indigenous peoples.

During a speech to foreign journalists, Lula promised to launch a major crackdown on illegal mining and logging. He also paid tribute to Dom Philips and Bruno Pereira, who have now become the symbols of the plight of indigenous people under Bolsonaro. Lula called their deaths "barbaric," according to The Guardian.

Lula promised to address Amazon deforestation and the attacks on indigenous communities by vowing to create a ministry of native peoples, as well as rebuild Brazil's environmental agency, Ibama, which Bolsonaro deliberately dismantled in 2019.

Lula is currently leading in the polls by a huge margin, though the current president has been spreading misinformation that the elections will be stolen, and critics are afraid he might launch a coup similar to Donald Trump's January 5 Insurrection should he also lose.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Brazilian Indigenous people march against Bolsonaro - Reuters