The appointment comes amid broader concerns about the future of Brazil’s Indigenous communities. President Jair Bolsonaro has long been critical of the policy of setting aside vast territories for Indigenous groups, calling it an impediment to economic growth. He has also compared indigenous communities living in remote areas to animals in a zoo. The most vulnerable of Brazil’s Indigenous communities are the groups — which by some estimates number more than 100 — that have had little or no contact with the outside world. The agency, known as FUNAI, has been hit with budget cuts that have sharply limited its ability to monitor indigenous territories that have been invaded by wildcat miners, farmers and loggers.

Source: New York Times February 06, 2020 00:11 UTC