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 By Allison JACKSON, Eugenia LOGIURATTO Rio De Janeiro (AFP) July 29, 2019
The United Nations on Monday condemned the "reprehensible" murder of a tribal chief in northern Brazil, even as President Jair Bolsonaro and investigators cast doubt on whether the killing was deliberate. Police deployed to a remote region of Amapa state controlled by the Waiapi tribe are probing last Monday's death of an indigenous leader, whose body was found in a river. They are also looking into reports that a group of heavily armed miners, known as garimpeiros, on Friday overran a village in the same area. Rich in gold, manganese, iron and copper, the Waiapi's territory is deep inside the Amazon, which has faced growing pressure from miners, ranchers and loggers under far-right Bolsonaro. On Saturday, he called for the "first world" to help exploit the "absurd quantity of minerals" in the rainforest. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet condemned the "tragic and reprehensible" murder and linked the tribal chief's death to the pro-mining policies of Bolsonaro's government. "It is also a disturbing symptom of the growing problem of encroachment on indigenous land -- especially forests -- by miners, loggers and farmers in Brazil," she added. But Bolsonaro told reporters Monday "the information so far shows no strong evidence that this Indian was murdered." - No trace of invaders - Investigators also appeared to walk back on earlier statements that had described the death as a murder. "We can't say it was a homicide," Amapa chief prosecutor Rodolfo Soares Ribeiro Lopes told reporters. "There was a death, this death will be investigated so that we can understand the circumstances under which it happened." A preliminary search of the village reportedly overrun by miners also had found no trace of the invaders, Lopes added. Hours earlier, Lopes had been quoted by Brazilian media as describing the indigenous leader's death as a "crime" which may have been committed by garimpeiros, hunters or other indigenous people. And a statement issued by the Amapa attorney general's office on Sunday said the death was a murder. Members of the federal police and a military police special forces unit tasked with investigating the violence arrived in the village some 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the state capital Macapa on Sunday. The Waiapi's territory is one of hundreds Brazil's government has demarcated since the 1980s for the exclusive use of its 800,000 indigenous inhabitants. Access by outsiders is strictly regulated. Survival International director Stephen Corry blamed Bolsonaro's recent comments on opening up indigenous territories to mining for "emboldening illegal goldminers and other invaders." "He has virtually declared war on Brazil's indigenous peoples," Corry said in a statement. Since taking office in January, Bolsonaro has been accused of harming the Amazon and indigenous tribes in order to benefit his supporters in the logging, mining and farming industries. On Monday, he said small-scale mining, or garimpo, should be legalized and indigenous people allowed to mine their own land, instead of being "jailed like a zoo animal." "NGOs from other countries don't want that. They want Indians to remain jailed like a zoo animal, as if they were a pre-historic human," Bolsonaro said. Bolsonaro has previously attacked environmental agencies and pledged to crack down on what he has called radical activism. He also recently questioned the latest official figures showing deforestation increasing by 88 percent in June compared with the same period last year.
Bolsonaro says 'no strong evidence' tribal chief was murdered Police are also investigating reports that a group of heavily armed miners, known as garimpeiros, on Friday overran a village in the same area of the northern state of Amapa controlled by the Waiapi tribe -- three days after the indigenous leader's body was found in a river. Rich in gold, manganese, iron and copper, the Waiapi's territory is deep inside the Amazon, which has faced growing pressure from miners, ranchers and loggers under far-right Bolsonaro. On Saturday he called for the "first world" to help exploit the "absurd quantity of minerals" in the rainforest. After reports of the violence emerged Saturday, members of the federal police and a military police special forces unit were dispatched, the Amapa attorney general's office said, arriving in the village some 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the state capital Macapa on Sunday. "We are working with several theories (on the murder). It is possible that the crime was carried out by garimpeiros, by hunters or even by other indigenous people," Amapa chief prosecutor Rodolfo Soares Ribeiro Lopes told Brazil's National Radio. But Bolsonaro told reporters Monday "the information so far shows no strong evidence that this Indian was murdered." He also said small-scale mining, or garimpo, should be legalized and indigenous people allowed to mine their own land, instead of being "jailed like a zoo animal." "NGOs from other countries don't want that. They want Indians to remain jailed like a zoo animal, as if they were a pre-historic human," Bolsonaro said. The Waiapi's territory is one of hundreds Brazil's government demarcated in the 1980s for the exclusive use of its 800,000 indigenous inhabitants. Access by outsiders is strictly regulated. Since taking office in January, Bolsonaro has been accused of harming the Amazon and indigenous tribes in order to benefit his supporters in the logging, mining and farming industries. "We are experiencing a real environmental psychosis," Bolsonaro said recently. He has attacked environmental agencies and pledged to crack down on what he's called radical activism, and also questioned the latest official figures showing deforestation increasing by 88 percent in June compared with the same period last year.
Study offers improved estimate of forest gains, losses in Brazilian Amazon The Brazilian Amazon is home to the largest rain forest in the world, but every year it gets a little bit smaller. Over the last few years, it has been shrinking at an accelerating rate as trees are cleared for development and farms. "Monitoring, verification and reporting of tropical forest dynamics in the Brazilian Amazon have been a critical but challenging task for the research community and society-at-large. Available maps of tropical forest cover in the region have large uncertainty," Xiangming Xiao, plant biologist and a research professor at the University of Oklahoma, said in a news release. "In 2015, we assembled an international team from the United States, Brazil and China to tackle the challenging problem." Researchers used a combination of optical and microwave images collected by Earth-monitoring satellites, as well as a series of advanced algorithms, to more accurately characterize the forest losses and gains in the region over the last two decades. Scientists successfully produced annual forest health maps for the years 2000 through 2017. The data -- published Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability -- suggests Brazil's Amazonian rain forest is as much as 15 percent bigger than previous estimates. Unfortunately, the forest has been losing acreage at an accelerated pace since 2013. The new research blames the forest loses on land uses changes. Between 2013 and 2015, a significant El Nino pattern in the Pacific made things worse.
Brazil police probe tribal leader's killing, village invasion Rio De Janeiro (AFP) July 28, 2019 Brazil deployed police to a remote Amazon village on Sunday after reports it had been overrun by armed miners following the murder of an indigenous leader, officials and tribal chiefs said. The violence in an area of the northern Amapa state controlled by the Waiapi tribe comes as Brazil's indigenous people face growing pressures from miners, ranchers and loggers under pro-business President Jair Bolsonaro, who on Saturday called for the "first world" to help exploit the "absurd quantity of minerals ... read more
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