Attacks on indigenous people in Brazil surge in 2021, report says

Brasilia — The Catholic Church's Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) says 2021 will see a dramatic increase in attacks on Brazil's indigenous peoples and encroachments on their lands, already "terrifying." He said the situation was escalating.

Cimi, in his annual report on violence against indigenous peoples, said abuses intensified dramatically in his third year of President Jair Bolsonaro's government, which dismantled inspection and indigenous protection agencies. describes in detail.

Far-right nationalist Bolsonaro says he is encouraging economic exploitation of indigenous reservations with new laws and proposals to allow mining on indigenous lands. Chimi said.

"The invaders increased their presence and the brutality of their actions," the report said, using increasingly heavy weapons to attack villages that resisted their advance. there is

On the Yanomami reservation on the border with Venezuela, he said there are more than 20,000 illegal gold miners, and invaders have launched violent attacks against indigenous communities, terrorizing and killing children, including children. Causing a death environment, he said, Cimi.

In the state of Parra, where wildcat-type gold mining has surged to destroy forests and pollute rivers, invaders attacked the community organization of Munduruk and their leaders took control of the country's capital, Brasilia. The report said they were trying to prevent people from going to demonstrations in Washington.

Bolsonaro's office did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2018, when Bolsonaro was elected president, he nearly tripled the number of incidents reported by Cimi.

Killings of indigenous peoples were his 176, six fewer than in 2020, the most killings on record.

Indigenous suicides rose to 148 last year, a record high.

Chimi also reported murders carried out with extreme brutality and brutality from the Kaingan tribe, including 11-year-old Raisa Cabreigua Guaranikaiowa and her 14-year-old Diane Griasale. Both indigenous girls were raped and killed. (Reporting by Anthony Bodle, Editing by Deepa Babington)