Hate speech is a lethal weapon against indigenous peoples

The constant offensives by the federal government are partly responsible for the climate of hatred that has intensified violence against indigenous groups

Environmental activists protest at the Lower House of Congress against the decree that abolished the Renca reserve (Photo: José Cruz/Agência Brasil - 08/30/2019)

Conectas deeply regrets the murder of the Indian chiefs Raimundo Benício Guajajara and Firmino Praxede Guajajara in the state of Maranhão, and of Humberto Peixoto, of the Tuiuca tribe, in the state of Amazonas. 

On Saturday, December 7, the Guajajaras chiefs were killed on the side of the BR-226 highway, in the municipality of Jenipapo dos Vieiras, in Maranhão, from gunshots from a passing car. This latest incident occurred just over a month after the murder of Paulo Paulino Guajajara, of the forest guard group called Guardians of the Forest, who was shot together with four other victims who are hospitalized in critical condition. 

A week ago, on December 2, the Tuiuca tribesman Humberto Peixoto was brutally beaten and died this Saturday, the 7th. Peixoto worked at the Cáritas Archdioceses as an advisor to indigenous women on the upper Negro River, in Manaus, Amazonas.

We call for an investigation into the cases and demand a decisive response from the authorities against the constant attacks suffered by ancestral peoples in Brazil. The crimes are being committed in the wake of an anti-indigenous rights rhetoric incited by President Jair Bolsonaro since his election, reinforced in a speech at the opening of the UN General Assembly in September and endorsed by policies intended to weaken oversight and the combating of invasions of indigenous lands.

Since taking office, the president has taken action against indigenous populations, such as dismantling FUNAI (National Indian Foundation) by undermining the institution and limiting the scope of its work; promising the opening of indigenous lands to mining; and announcing that his government will not demarcate new indigenous lands, which goes against Article 231 of the Federal Constitution of 1988.

If these attacks were not enough, in September Bolsonaro signed into law a bill expanding guns ownership in rural areas, pouring even more fuel onto the tensions unfolding in the countryside and increasing the likelihood of more violent deaths caused by land disputes, particularly in areas where illegal mineral prospecting and logging occurs.

Although the president himself did not pull the trigger on the weapons used against his citizens, the responsibility falls on his shoulders, since he offered the tools and arguments to encourage these crimes.