- Title: Brazil renews protection of little-seen Amazon tribe for six months
- Date: 17th September 2021
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND (FILE - AUGUST 13, 2021) (PORTRAIT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) RESEARCHER OF SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL, SARAH SHENKER, SAYING: "In September, on the 18th of September, the land protection order shielding the Piripkura indigenous territory in Mato Grosso state, in the western Brazilian Amazon, is due to expire, and it's crucial that FUNAI (National Indigenous Foundation) renew this land protection order. What we know is that the President (Jair Bolsonaro) doesn't want to renew this order. In fact, there is a concerted plan and push from the agribusiness lobby in ranchos and politicians very closely allied with President Bolsonaro, of course, not to renew design protection orders. So when campaigning for these orders to be renewed, so that the Piripkura and other uncontacted tribes can survive."
- Embargoed: 1st October 2021 16:30
- Keywords: Indigenous people President Jair Bolsonaro Survival International
- Location: AMAZONAS, BRAZIL + LONDON, ENGLAND
- City: AMAZONAS, BRAZIL + LONDON, ENGLAND
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002EV3WG1Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: WARNING: CONTAINS NUDITY
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL ORIGINALLY FILMED IN PORTRAIT / ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Indigenous Brazilians and their supporters are concerned about the fate of tribes living in the country's Amazon, as President Jair Bolsonaro looks to ease protection laws in the region.
Brazil's indigenous affairs agency Funai renewed a protection order on Friday for a 242,500-hectare (599,230-acre) area in western Mato Grosso state, the ancestral lands of the Piripkura tribe.
The only two known male members of the Piripkura tribe live in isolation in the Amazon rainforest, resisting decades of invasion by loggers and cattle ranchers.
The Piripkura's fate has become a test of indigenous rights under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has criticised reservations for giving too much land to too few people and blocking the expansion of mining and farming.
Indigenous rights advocates had pressed for a three-year extension as in previous renewals.
The Piripkura men, Baita and nephew Tamandua, have only been seen in recent years in sporadic encounters with Funai staffers. Unshaven, long-haired and naked, they quickly disappear back into the forest, where other Piripkura are believed to live.
Baita's sister Rita Piripkura has been the men's contact with the outside world since she emerged to marry into another tribe on the nearby Karipuna reservation.
Anthropologists say the uncontacted tribes of the Amazon cannot survive without their land and are increasingly pitted against armed invaders interested in poaching, farming and mining in their territory.
The invaders have become bolder since the 2018 election of Bolsonaro, who once praised Colonel George Custer in a speech for his role in clearing the U.S. prairies of indigenous people.
He is backing a bill in Congress that would limit indigenous land claims and help to open tribal reservations for commercial mining and plantations.
(Production: Sebastian Rocandio, Liamar Ramos, Paul Vieira) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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