Dear friend
The clock is ticking – there are just two weeks to go until Jair Bolsonaro becomes Brazil’s next President. (He’s the far-right politician who’s made a whole series of racist, anti-indigenous statements.)
We have some good news and some bad news:
The good news is that last week, Brazil launched a ground operation to evict illegal ranchers from the uncontacted Kawahiva tribe’s territory! This fantastic progress would not have happened without your pressure.
We’re now pushing for the next steps in the land protection process to happen as quickly as possible –because if they don’t, there’s a good chance they won’t happen at all.
The bad news is that Bolsonaro is planning to weaken FUNAI, the government’s Indian affairs department.
He wants to take it away from the Ministry of Justice and place it under the control of Damares Alves, an evangelical preacher under investigation for inciting racial hatred against indigenous peoples.
This move would be disastrous for Brazil’s tribal peoples and their lands. And it could spell extinction for dozens of uncontacted tribes.
In a letter to Bolsonaro, the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil – APIB – has called for FUNAI to remain in the Justice Ministry, stating: “The Ministry of Justice is the only Ministry able to house FUNAI and to continue to handle the land conflicts and the genocide against us, Brazil's indigenous peoples.”
Please join Brazil’s Indians today, by emailing and tweeting to President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, Minister Onyx Lorenzoni – the head of Bolsonaro’s transition team – and Judge Sergio Moro, soon to be Minister of Justice.
Many thanks,
Stephen Corry
Director
Please retweet Survival, or tweet your own message to @jairbolsonaro, @onyxlorenzoni and #SergioMoro.
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