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Violence against Brazil's Indigenous people unabated under Lula, report states

Security of Brazil's. Native communities from violence by land grabbers and. ranchers was insufficient in 2023, according to a report. released on Monday, rushing hopes that the situation would. enhance under leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula.

The Missionary Council for Indigenous Peoples (CIMI), an. organization of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Brazil, said. the Lula administration's first year in workplace showed. contradictions in its Native policy and frustrating. advances in the acknowledgment of ancestral land claims.

While Lula's federal government resumed the enforcement versus. prohibited invasions of recognized ancestral lands, there were 208. murders of Indigenous individuals in 2015, generally with gunshots,. compared to the previous highest number on record of 182 murders. in 2020, CIMI stated, pointing out information from the Brazilian health. ministry.

The president's office did not immediately react to a. Reuter's request for remark.

CIMI reported the participation of authorities in personal militias. that are being examined for Native deaths. The police. act as escorts for farmers, sharing details and supporting. attacks versus some neighborhoods such as the Guarani and Kaiowá. in southern Brazil, according to the report. Following the openly anti-Indigenous federal government of. hard-right President Jair Bolsonaro, Lula started his 3rd term. in office on Jan. 1, 2023 by walking up the ramp of the. presidential palace arm-in-arm with Brazil's most popular. Native leader, Kayapo chief Raoni Metuktire.

His very first procedure after swearing in was to develop an. Native Affairs Ministry for the first time in Brazilian. history, headed by a Native female, Sonia Guajajara.

Lula also ordered a huge operation with cops and troops. to expel thousands of illegal miners from the Yanomami. reservation, Brazil's biggest, where the intruders triggered a. humanitarian crisis with violence, disease and poor nutrition.

But Brazil's conservative-leaning Congress likewise authorized a. bill restricting Native land claims, despite the fact that rights to. their ancestral lands are preserved in the constitution. Lula's. partial veto of the expense was overturned by legislators with the. support of the powerful farm lobby.

Invasions of Indigenous lands totaled 1,381, mostly in lands. in the process of being formally acknowledged, the report stated.

The Lula federal government officially acknowledged 8 bookings. that will be protected by the state, a higher number than in. previous years, however listed below expectations, CIMI said.

(source: Reuters)