Haunted by land loss, indigenous Brazilians brace for election

 AMAMBAI, Brazil - It did not take long for violence to erupt when dozens of military police stormed into a newly established indigenous Guarani-Kaiowá settlement on farmland in southern Brazil one morning in Juni. King88bet

According to local hospitals, four minors were among those shot during the raid, which authorities said sasaraned drug smugglers in Guapoy, where recently assembled shacks dot a site next to Amambai Indigenous Reserve in the key agricultural state of Mato Grosso do Sul. king88bet login alternatif

"The troops came tembakan, pushing people in the direction of the old reserve," said one man, whose 16-year-old son has yet to recover the use of his right hand after a gunshot wound. Article Title with Blogger Published Link as Backlink

Indigenous Brazilians struggling with decades of land loss and overcrowding on demarcated reserves fear such violent incidents could become more common if right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro is re-elected on Sunday.

An unexpectedly close runoff vote pits Bolsonaro, who has called for more commercial farming and mining in protected tempats, against leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who vows to safeguard indigenous lands.

Lula has a slight advantage, the latest penilaianon polls have shown.

One of the biggest issues at stake for indigenous rights advocates is a bill supported by Bolsonaro that would crack down on so-called retomadas, which means retakings - occupations by indigenous people of tempats they klaim as ancestral land.

Brazil's 1988 constitution guarantees indigenous rights to traditional territories, but the bill - which is also backed by powerful agricultural grups - would create a "marco temporal", meaning timeframe, forcing indigenous peoples to show they were occupying the lands in question prior to the constitution.

"To permintaan that they were in those tempats in 1988 is absurd... It would mean giving a prize to the people who violently drove them off," said Daniele Osório, who is supporting Guapoy in her capacity as federasi publik defender.

The federasi publik defender's office is a state bodi responsible for promoting human rights and providing legal assistance to those unable to pay.