Brazilians Protest Against the Murder of Indigenous Leaders

On Thursday, nine Indigenous Peoples from four Brazilian states gathered at the Three Powers Square in Brasilia to protest against the escalation of assassinations of their leaders.

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Previously, on Tuesday, gunmen killed Victorino Sanches, a 60-year-old leader of the Guarani-Kaiowa people, as he was getting into a car in Amambai City, in Mato Grosso do Sul.

The Missionary Indigenous Council (CIMI) confirmed that he was leading a process of recovering ancestral lands, which were arbitrarily occupied by informal businessmen in an area where two other social leaders had already been assassinated.

The Guarani-Kaiowa leader was also the target of another attack on August 2, when gunmen fired over 15 shots at the car in which he was traveling, injuring Sanches in his arm and leg.

The tweet reads, "Indigenous people are being killed every day by the necropolitics and fascism that have been installed in Brazil! We cannot bear any more bleeding. There is no time to live in mourning, we already have another death! And yet there is people who ask: why vote to form an Indigenous caucus? Do you understand the importance of this?"

The CIMI also recalled that almost 1,300 violent invasions of Indigenous territories were recorded in 2021. In reality, however, conflicts over land in Mato Grosso do Sul have worsened since Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019.

This far-right President prohibited the demarcation of Indigenous lands and removed protections for territories previously recognized by the Brazilian laws. These policies led to land invasions by mining, wood and agricultural companies.

"The attacks the Indigenous populations are suffering all over Brazil are a racist and reactionary expression of agricultural companies, which are allied with Bolsonaro and the military," outlet Esquerda Diario recalled.

"The president himself, who always makes xenophobic and reactionary comments, allows them to advance through the violence carried out by hoarders, ranchers, and seekers of Indigenous lands."