'War for survival': Brazil's Amazon tribes despair as land raids surge under Bolsonaro

[Judi Lynn]

'War for survival': Brazil’s Amazon tribes despair as land raids surge under Bolsonaro
Tom Phillips in Aldeia Nova, Rondônia state. Photographs by Avener Prado
Wed 2 Oct 2019 03.00 EDT

Activists say onslaught has intensified as illegal loggers and land-grabbers take the president’s verbal offensive against indigenous communities as a green light to act

Tom Phillips
Tom Phillips in Aldeia Nova, Rondônia state. Photographs by Avener Prado

Wed 2 Oct 2019 03.00 EDTLast modified on Wed 2 Oct 2019 03.01 EDT

More than 30 bullet holes told Awapu Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau a sinister tale.

“Their message is that they’re going to finish us off, isn’t it?” the village chieftan said as he examined the pockmarked sign warning outsiders to stay off the giant Amazon reserve he calls home.

Brazil was only 11 days into Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency when dozens of armed land-grabbers rolled up at the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau territory and cut a trail into the forest, claiming Bolsonaro’s anti-indigenous rhetoric meant they would not be stopped.

Eventually the intruders were repelled – but not before leaving their leaden response to the government notice cautioning trespassers against straying on to supposedly protected land.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/02/war-for-survival-brazils-amazon-tribes-despair-as-land-raids-surge-under-bolsonaro

[cilla4progress]

1. I hate this.

So similar to Native North American history.