The Hutukara Yanomami Association (HAY) denounced that a Yanomami leader, identified as Cleomar, was murdered and an adolescent injured in the Napolepi community, in Alto Alegre, state of Roraima. The organization accuses a group of gold miners, linked to a criminal faction, of being responsible for the crimes that took place on Sunday (October 2).

HAY’s letter was sent to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, FUNAI (National Indian Foundation) and the Federal Police. According to the document, the indigenous people were caught in an ambush. The HAY also requested the withdrawal of the miners from the Yanomami Indigenous Land, the reconstruction of an ethno-environmental protection base and the presence of the National Force in the region.

After the murders of the indigenous activist and licensed FUNAI employee Bruno Araújo Pereira and the English journalist Dom Phillips at the Javari Valley, earlier in June this year, the federal government cut R$ 8.2 million in discretionary spending of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the agency responsible for the care and protection of indigenous peoples. 

Data obtained by the Data Fixers project, in partnership with the public data agency Fiquem Sabendo, show that the foundation received a supplementary credit of R$ 12.3 million after the crime. However, a large part of this amount was cut at the request of the federal government itself, with the justification of compliance with the public spending cap.

Since the deaths of Bruno and Dom, employees and agents have been complaining about the negligence of the Foundation’s command, which is helmed by the Federal Police delegate Marcelo Xavier. They have pointed out the need for more resources to solve the deficit of personnel and structure. The employees are asking for the purchase of boats and motors, rafts for fuel and boat storage, computers, and electric generators, among other things.

“You can rest assured,” said Marcelo Xavier, president of FUNAI, the Brazilian indigenous people agency, to Jussielson da Silva, who replied, “You are my support. Knowing you’re with me makes happy”. At the time, Silva was the head of FUNAI in Ribeirão da Cascalheira (MT). Today, the former Marine, sworn in during Bolsonaro’s government, is in jail for collecting bribes to illegally rent pastures in the Marãiwatséd indigenous reserve.

Silva, and two former police officers, are being investigated for embezzlement and criminal association. The Federal Police investigations found 70,000 head of cattle in 42 locations in the reserve. A Federal Police report forwarded to a Federal Court states that “it is possible to conclude that the president of the agency, Marcelo, is aware of what is going on and that it is possible that he is supporting the illegal activity under investigation (leasing on indigenous land)”.

A study by researchers from Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), Evandro Chagas Institute and Universidade Federal de Roraima (UFRR), showed that fish from three out of four points in the Rio Branco Basin have higher levels of mercury than the limit designated as safe by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to the researchers, the closer to the Yanomami Indigenous Land (TI), the greater the risks. “The high rates of contamination observed are probably due to the numerous illegal gold mines installed in the channels of the Mucajaí and Uraricoera rivers”, says the study.

A survey published in The Intercept Brasil shows that the Bolsonaro government ignored 21 requests for help from the Yanomami Hutukara Association. The documents denounced the arrival of miners, criminals and the spread of diseases and hunger in the region.

Mining in Yanomami territory soared during the Bolsonaro government. A report by the Yanomami Hutukara Association shows that illegal mining has tripled in the last three years.

A new annual report by the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) points to the increase in violence against indigenous people in Brazil, associated with the dismantling of inspection and assistance bodies for the native population. In 2021, there was a 180% increase in cases of invasion, illegal exploitation and damage to the patrimony of Indigenous Lands in the country compared to 2018, reported the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. There were 305 episodes, against 109 recorded in 2018.

Regarding cases of violence against the person, the number jumps to 355 in 2021, the highest since 2013, when the organization changed the methodology used for counting cases.

The publication “Violence Against the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil – 2021” highlights how the advance of crimes against the indigenous population has a close relationship with the socio-environmental policies of the federal government. “FUNAI, the official indigenous agency, has become a regulatory agency for criminal businesses in demarcated or demarcated territories. land grabbing and the subdivision of Union lands – after all, indigenous lands are assets of the Union […]”, says an excerpt from the article by Lucia Helena Rangel, CIMI Anthropological Advisor, and Roberto Antonio Liebgott, missionary and Coordinator of CIMI’s Regional South, in the document.

Federal Police agents served seven preventive arrest warrants and ten search and seizure warrants in an operation in Vale do Javari [Javari Valley] (AM), region where the murder of indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips happened, in June. Three suspected of participating in the concealment of the victims’ bodies were arrested, all relatives of Amarildo Costa de Oliveira, who is under detention since July 9.

The targets of the Federal Police action, carried out in the Amazonian municipalities of Atalaia do Norte and Benjamin Constant, are suspected of being part of a gang dedicated to illegal fishing in Vale do Javari.

The Federal Public Prosecution Office (MPF) has filed a complaint with the Federal Court against the president of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), Marcelo Augusto Xavier da Silva, for the crime of  slandering the FUNAI’s employees.

Xavier accused in a police investigation several employees of the agency, members of the Waimiri Atroari Association and legal entities of the crimes of influence peddling and perverting the course of justice. After the inquiry was closed, “the president of FUNAI, in revenge, represented himself criminally against the public prosecutor Igor Spíndola, responsible for the closure order. The representation, made to the Attorney General of the Republic, presented three conducts that do not characterize any crime, without evidence or indications of any irregularity,” stated the MPF.

The criminal action filed by the MPF calls for the double conviction of Xavier for the crime of slandering, with a prison sentence of two to eight years and a fine, reparation for the moral damage caused to the victims and to society, with the payment of compensation of R$ 100,000, in addition to the loss of public office.

Brazil’s Federal Police announced the arrest of the Peruvian national Rubens Villar Coelho, also known as “Colômbia”, suspect of being the mastermind behind the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips. Known in the Vale do Javari (AM) region for his ties with illegal fishing and drug trafficking, Coelho was arrested in Tabatinga (AM) for using fake IDs, and had his preventive custody ordered by the state of Amazonas section of the federal justice.

The other three suspects in the double homicide, Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, aka “Pelado”, Oseney da Costa Oliveira, oaka “Dos Santos”, and Jefferson da Silva Lima, aka “Pelado da Dinha”, also had their preventive detention issued.

Responding to a request from the state of Amazonas District Attorney (D.A.), the judge in charge of the case, Jacinta Silva dos Santos, sent the case to the Federal  Justice courts after concluding that the crime’s motivation is related to Indigenous Rights, which falls under Federal jurisdiction.

Bruno Araújo Pereira, an indigenista [an indigenous expert], who’s a member with the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), and a British journalist, Dom Phillips, disappeared last weekend on the way from the riverside community of São Rafael to Atalaia do Norte, in the Javari Valley in the Amazon, on the border with Peru. According to information from the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja), which was in contact with the missing, Bruno is under constant threats from loggers, illegal gold diggers, and fishermen in the region.

According to Amazônia Real, Bruno and Dom were the victims of an ambush. An indigenous source interviewed by the portal reports that “around 4 a.m. on Sunday (5), the expert and the journalist warned that they were going to talk with “Churrasco”, president of the São Rafael community association. Days before, they had already crossed paths with another group in a 60 HP boat, a motor considered unusual for navigating narrower waterways (boreholes and streams). This group that crossed paths with them made a point of showing that it they were armed and intimidated them”, says the report.

The news mobilized various indigenous and environmental organizations, which drew attention to the vulnerable context of the region and called for a speedy search. Reports from the region indicate that the government was slow to take action and sent insufficient teams, denying even the support of a helicopter. The Army, in a note, said it had the means to help but was “awaiting an order from the higher echelon”. The search has been carried out largely by indigenous people and Univaja.

Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) once again requested the renewal of the ordinance by the National Indian Foundation (Funai) which provides for the restriction of use and protects the Piripkura Indigenous Land, located in the municipalities of Colniza and Rondolândia, in Mato Grosso. Expired in September 2021, the measure was extended for only six months, until March 17, 2022.

Under threat from mining, illegal occupation and agribusiness, the territory is home to two of the last three Piripkura indigenous people, survivors of the near extermination of the ethnic group in the 1980s, perpetrated by illegal loggers.

The Ministry of Justice and Public Security awarded President Jair Bolsonaro the Medal of Indigenist Merit, “a recognition for his services related to the welfare, protection and defense of indigenous communities.”

Another 25 people received the homage, including the Ministers Braga Netto (Defense); Tereza Cristina (Agriculture); Damares Alves (Women, Family and Human Rights); Augusto Heleno (Institutional Security); Luiz Eduardo Ramos (Secretary General); Tarcísio Gomes (Infrastructure); João Roma (Citizenship); Marcelo Queiroga (Health), as well as the General Attorney, Bruno Leal, the president of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), Marcelo Xavier, and officials from other agencies.

The Indigenous Peoples of Brazil Networl (Apib) rejected the award due to the “constant violations committed against the indigenous peoples in Brazil” since the beginning of the current government. In response, Apib symbolically presented Bolsonaro with the Indigenous Genocide Medal.

The inactive member of the Navy, Jussielson Gonçalves Silva, regional coordinator of the National Indian Foundation (Funai) in Ribeirão Cascalheira (MT), was arrested by the Federal Police. He was accused of aiding the sale of indigenous lands of the Xavante people to local farmers. Appointed by the Bolsonaro administration Silva had held the position since March 18, 2020. 

The official received payments from landowners in the region for 15 “properties” within the Marãiwatsédé Indigenous Land (TI), located in the municipalities of Alto Boa Vista, São Félix do Araguaia, and Bom Jesus do Araguaia, in Mato Grosso. The amounts he received reached R$ 900,000 reais per month, about US$ 180,000 dollars.

The arrest is the result of Operation Res Capta, carried out by the Federal Police in alliance with the Federal Public Attonery (MPF) to dismantle a scheme involving employees of Funai, ranchers, and a leader of the indigenous territory Marãiwatsédé.

A new measure of the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety (MJSP) which is in charge of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) may represent the end of the possibility for agents to carry out field work in indigenous lands. The analysis is from the investigative project “Amazonas: lies have a price”, from the news platform InfoAmazônia.

The letter No. 118/2022 /, February 2nd, announces the non-payment of per diems for field work “when the Administration provides directly to the agent means of travel, food and accommodation, i.e. all expenses arising from the travel on duty”. For government employees, this is a loophole the government has found to try to paralyze the actions in indigenous territories, since, when traveling to these locations, the employees use the funds made available to buy food for themselves during their stay and to pay for work equipment to sleep in the forest, such as hammocks and raincoats.

“Funai has created a mechanism to discourage the work of employees in the field and thus reduce actions to combat illegal activities within indigenous lands and, at the same time, explicitly favor criminals,” says Márcio Meira, former president of the official Brazilian indigenous body.

With major vetoes, president Jair Bolsonaro approved the the Federal Government budget for 2022 sent by the Congress. Among the cuts, is a reduction of 35.1 million Reais in the budget for the Ministry of the Environment.  

A story published by O eco, revealed that the Environmental Agency IBAMA was the most affected by the budget cuts in the Ministry of the Environment, with a cut of 25,8 million Reais, which includes a 17,2 million Reais cut for prevention and control of forest fires in Federal Protected Areas. The program for sustainable use of soil, biodiversity management and environmental recuperation had a 8.5 millions cut. The National Indigenous Agency FUNAI saw a cut of 1.6 millions. 

The Ministry of the Environment’s total budget for 2022 is approximately 3,1 billions Reais, 6% higher than last year’s budget, which was the lowest in the last 21 years. 

The Indigenous Peoples Network of Brazil (APIB – Articulação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil) added a petition to the ADPF 709 suit at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), against the recent measure by the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai) that excluded non-demarcated Indigenous Lands (TIs) from its protection (Memorandum nº 18/2021).

In the text, Apib points out “that the official indigenous peoples body of the Brazilian State, responsible for implementing public policy for indigenous peoples, and which has as its primary mission, the defense of the rights and interests of indigenous peoples and their lands, is adopting a posture of minimal defense, exactly at the political moment when indigenous lands are under the target of political and economic interests that fall upon such territories”.

ADPF 709 was filed by the organization in July 2020, together with six political parties, to denounce the government’s omission in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and demand the elaboration of an emergency plan for the control of the pandemic in indigenous territories.

Funai, the National Indigenous Foundation, published Circular Letter No. 18/2021, in December 29th, which excluded Indigenous Lands that have not yet been demarcated and officialized from the agency’s protection activities. Those are precisely the ones that concentrate the greatest number of conflicts, land grabbers, and deforestation.

The Circular Leter informs that these areas – which represent one third of the indigenous lands in the country – should remain under the responsibility of the police and environmental agencies. The Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) repudiated what happened in a statement and said that the measure is unconstitutional.

The Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coiab) reported the death of Josué Borori Txebuare Karajá, 75, an indigenous leader of the Karajá Xambioá people. According to the association, Borori was a victim of an influenza outbreak that has affected several indigenous communities.

Josué was the chief of the Hawa-Tymara Village, located in the Xambioá Indigenous Land, in the municipality of Santa Fé do Araguaia, state of Tocantins. As a retired employee of the National Indian Foundation (Funai), “he played an important role in various historical and political processes of his people, including the struggle for the demarcation of the Xambioá Indigenous Land,” wrote Coiab.

The substantial increase of invaders in the Apyterewa Indigenous Land, in São Félix do Xingu, in the state of Pará, during Bolsonaro’s administration, caused the chiefs of the Parakanã ethnic group to “accept” the “agreement” to reduce the 50.7% of their Indigenous Land, ratified 14 years ago, as proposed by land grabbers in the region.

It is estimated that 3,000 people are invading the territory in the most deforested municipality in the Amazon. The ceded part of the territory could be worth up to R$3.9 billion and reinforces the fear of losing demarcated indigenous reservations to land grabbers. The story was explained in detail in the report by Rubens Valente on UOL.

While the world turned his eyes to the COP26,  the indigenous people of Brazil continued to suffer from a wave of violence. Those cases involved the denial of health care, activists who suffered home invasions, and even political arrests. We’ve compiled some of them here:

Dario Kopenawa, vice president of the Hutukara Yanomami Association, denounced the government’s omission in the face of advancing illegal gold mining in the Yanomami territory in Roraima, while indigenous suffer from a grave health crisis.

On the 17th, a three year old yanomami child died due to lack of appropriate health care.

Furthermore, it was reported that Funai, Brazilian indigenous organ, prohibited researchers from FioCruz from carrying out a study on the impact of illegal mining in Yanomami territory.

After participating in the COP26, activists Alessandra Munduruku and Txaí Suruí were the target of political attacks. Mundukuru had her home invaded in Santarém, in the southwest of Pará state, and Txaí, the only indigenous woman to speak at the opening of the event, denounced on social networks that she was targeted by racist and hate messages.

In Maranhão state, 16 indigenous people of the Akroá Gamella people were arrested after protests against the construction of transmission lines by the company Equatorial Energia in the Taquaritiua Indigenous Land. 

In Rio Grande do Sul state, after threats, the Pindó Mirim community in the Itapuã Indigenous Land had its prayer house destroyed in a criminal fire, denounced Mbya Guarani leaders. 

The president of National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), Marcelo Augusto Xavier da Silva, mobilized efforts for the opening of an investigation by the Federal Police (PF) against one of the body’s own federal prosecutors. The prosecutor had collaborated with a legal opinion in favor of 200 families of the Tupinambá ethnic group in Itabuna, Bahia.

Xavier, who is also a delegate, presented a criminal complaint against Ciro de Lopes e Barbuda to the Federal Police in Brasilia “for defending the repossession of indigenous lands in violation of legal provisions,” according to a Folha de São Paulo report.

For the Federal Public Prosecution, the action of the president of FUNAI against Barbuda constitutes “abuse of authority and slanderous accusation,” according to prosecutor Marcus Marcelus Gonzaga, who proposed the closure of the investigation.

With his administration marked by anti-indigenous measures, Marcelo Augusto Xavier da Silva is the target of a request for his removal from office filed in the federal court in Brasilia by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib). 

Eloy Terena, legal coordinator of Apib, stresses that the request, filed on October 5, seeks to denounce the unconstitutional treatment given to indigenous peoples. “We are going to bring to the attention of the Federal Court various acts that the president of FUNAI has been practicing in recent years that range from abandoning the defense of indigenous peoples, acting contrary to the rights of indigenous peoples and persecuting indigenous peoples and organizations,” he said.