Murder and Protest in Brazil Reveal Threats Faced by Natives
The front lines of the ongoing American Genocide are focused in Brazil.
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Murder and Protest in Brazil Reveal Threats Faced by Natives
David Dudenhoefer
12/10/13
A protest last week in Brazil’s capital and recent acts of violence against indigenous leaders serve as grim reminders of the deprivation and danger that many Native Brazilians face.
Last Wednesday, December 4, an estimated 1,700 representatives of dozens of tribes marched on Brazil’s Presidential Palace and the Ministry of Justice to protest a proposed judicial decree that would change the rules for creating indigenous territories in a way that protesters said would make it nearly impossible for Indians to gain title to ancestral lands. It was the latest of various indigenous protests this year to bring attention to moves by branches of the Brazilian government that threatened Native land rights, and the increase in violence against their leaders.
Marcos Xukuru, one of the protest’s organizers, said the proposed decree was just the latest attack on indigenous rights in Brazil. He cited various laws and constitutional amendments under consideration by the country’s congress. “We, the indigenous people of this country, are responding to attacks on our rights, and it is important to stress that, together with these attacks, there has been an increase in violence against us, against the lives of our leaders and our communities” he said.
The protest took place four days after the murder of Guarani-Kaiowa leader Ambrosio Vilhalva in the community of Guyra Roka, in Brazil’s Mato Grosso do Sul state. Vilhalva had been involved in a long struggle to regain control of ancestral land that was stolen by non-Native ranchers and farmers decades ago ...................
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