Rieli Franciscato, 56, a government official and leading expert on isolated Amazon tribes is seen in the forest near the Uru Eu Wau Wau reservation in the state of Rondonia, Brazil, April 21, 2019. Rieli Franciscato, 56, had spent his career as an official in the government's indigenous affairs agency Funai, working to set up reservations to protect Brazil's tribes. On Wednesday, as he moved close to a hitherto uncontacted indigenous group, he was hit by an arrow above the heart in the forest near the Uru Eu Wau Wau reservation in the western Brazilian state of Rondonia near the border with Bolivia. Possuelo said the government had defunded Funai and left it without staff needed for security at its isolated posts just as increasing land invasions increase the risk of violent clashes. Bolsonaro has repeatedly proposed the need to integrate the indigenous, who he has described as living “like cave men,” into broader Brazilian society.

Source: The Hindu September 12, 2020 03:45 UTC