Violence breaks out against indigenous peoples in Brazil

[Judi Lynn]

Brasilia, Jan 15 (Prensa Latina) Indigenous peoples and 'quilombolas' (Afro-descendants) have become victims of assassinations and attacks that started in the first days of 2020 and are the continuity of the escalation of violence against those peoples last year.

According to the Brasil de Fato website, the number of indigenous leaders killed in conflicts in the countryside, for example, is the highest in at least 11 years.

Data from the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) poinst to seven deaths in 2019, compared to two in 2018. That information is preliminary, as the final report will be published in April, the source added.

The website denounced that on January 2, nearly 180 Guarani and Kaiowa families were victims of an offensive by private security guards in Dourados, in Mato Grosso do Sul state.

The confrontation lasted 16 hours and ended the following day, as a result of which seven indigenous people were injured by rubber bullets and firearm projectiles.

Paulo Moreira, from the CPT national coordinator, noted that in the first year of the Jair Bolsonaro Government, violence escalated against indigenous peoples from rainforest areas.

https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=50997&SEO=violence-breaks-out-against-indigenous-peoples-in-brazil

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