The Genocide Policies of Brazil

"There is a fabulous Indian heritage and it is well-managed. They do not require a penny of government assistance to live a rich and healthy life in their vast dominions"


A newly re-discovered report points out that the Brasilian authorities operated with impunity to deny Indians what should have been a life of plenty.

In 1967 the public prosecutor Jader de Figueiredo Correia, produced the document detailing horrific abuse by the Indian Protection Service (widely known as the SPI), which was set up to improve the livelihoods of indigenous communities but often ended up as a mechanism to rob them of land or wipe them out with guns or poison. However, the revelations failed to jail a single person despite initial charges against 134 officials alleged to be involved in more than 1,000 crimes.

"The Indian Protection Service has degenerated to the point of chasing Indians to extinction," the prosecutor writes in an introduction.

Figueiredo describes how officials and landowners lethally introduced smallpox into isolated villages and donated sugar mixed with strychnine, dropped dynamite from planes on small villages. Torture was common. People were traded like animals.

The report was highly embarrassing for the military regime and a censored press ensured it was rarely mentioned again. Powerful vested interests are already trying to undermine the report because they fear they may appear in it. The SPI was replaced by another agency, Funai, but tribes continue to struggle against illegal loggers, miners, government dam-builders and ranchers. This is particularly true in Mato Grosso do Sul, which has the highest rate of murders of Indians in Brazil. The estimated 31,000 Guarani-Kaiowá Indians in the area are now confined to tiny areas, completely surrounded by fields of soy or sugar cane.

Survival International's director, Stephen Corry, said nothing has changed when it comes to the impunity regarding the murder of Indians. "Gunmen routinely kill tribespeople in the knowledge that there's little risk of being brought to justice – none of the assassins responsible for shooting Guarani and Makuxi tribal leaders have been jailed for their crimes. It's hard not to suspect that racism and greed are at the root of Brazil's failure to defend its indigenous citizens' lives," he said.

Lawyers, politicians and NGOs warn the influence of the "ruralista" landowners' lobby is once again on the rise.