Scandal: Under Bolsonaro, Funai is now attacking its own indigenous people.

247 - Mockery. This is one of the words that best defines the position of Funai (National Indian Foundation) in favor of Jair Bolsonaro, who harshly attacks the rights of indigenous peoples, in addition to having already positioned himself against the demarcation of lands and also accusing natives of starting fires in the Amazon. 

While Bolsonaro defends the expansion of agribusiness and mining at any cost, Funai, which suffers interference from the government, now says that his election "represented a rupture and the rejection by the Brazilian people of the socialist public policies that had been implemented by the Federal Government since 2003."

"The result of these years of socialist indigenous policy in Brazil, with all its explicit welfare and paternalism, can be summarized in the situation of poverty, dependence, and exclusion in which the Brazilian indigenous peoples currently find themselves," the text says. "We must give a vote of confidence to new ideas and successful projects for the ethno-development of the Brazilian indigenous people, a fundamental element of the Brazilian people."

Regarding Bolsonaro's interference in Funai, it is worth noting that the Federal Court suspended the appointment of career military officer José Magalhães Pinto to the position of regional coordinator of the institution in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. Positions of this nature have always been free from interference, but this news already reflects the attempts at political manipulation imposed by a government marked by aversion to human rights.  

Read full from the statement issued by Funai:

It is public knowledge that the victory of President Jair Messias Bolsonaro in the 2018 presidential elections represented a break with and rejection by the Brazilian people of the socialist public policies that had been implemented by the Federal Government since 2003.

In these almost 20 years of socialist administration in the Federal Government, Brazilian indigenous policy has been restricted to subservient welfare and explicit paternalism, with the applause, complacency, and participation of NGOs and religious groups linked to Liberation Theology, of Marxist origin, led by the Mexican Bishop Samuel Ruiz. The result of these years of socialist indigenous policy in Brazil, with all its explicit welfare and paternalism, can be summarized in the situation of poverty, dependence, and exclusion in which the Brazilian indigenous peoples currently find themselves.

For all these reasons, FUNAI publicly repudiates the words of the Executive Secretary of the Indigenous Missionary Council – CIMI, Mr. Antônio Eduardo de Oliveira, whose speech, laden with political rancor over the 2018 electoral defeat and involving his political-ideological establishment, attacks the Federal Government, legitimately and democratically elected by almost 58 million Brazilians. His speech attempts to discredit FUNAI, INCRA, IBAMA, and the AGU, all in the name of the old socialist, welfare-oriented, and paternalistic indigenous policy, which has already caused so much misfortune to Brazilian indigenous peoples.

It is worth noting that the evidence gathered during the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into FUNAI and INCRA, conducted by the Chamber of Deputies, in addition to the indictment of members of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), indicated the suspicion that the entity has received substantial international funds that, in theory, would be used to induce, incite, and foment conflict in the countryside, through coordinated actions aimed at the practice of invading properties, endangering the lives of indigenous and non-indigenous people, as already recognized by the Honorable Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region: "The case at hand concerns an organized movement of land invasion, coordinated and fostered by non-governmental organizations, which normally presents itself with the following modus operandi: possessory dispossession characterized by violent acts such as burning buildings, destroying crops, fences, and machinery, in order to make the continuation of agricultural activity unfeasible, followed by the arrival of women, the elderly, and children in order to create a social contingency of indigenous occupation, on the margins of the land." of the law, which, in the end, serves as a basis for denying the reinstatement of possession" (SLAT 0016216-60.2013.4.03.0000/MS – TRF of the 3rd Region).

The Brazilian people chose a new indigenous policy with the election of President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, and in respect for this legitimate and democratic choice, it should be emphasized that we must all give a vote of confidence to the new ideas and successful projects for the ethno-development of the Brazilian indigenous people, a fundamental element of the Brazilian people.