Amazonas, Roraima and Mato Grosso do Sul lead in murders of indigenous people, says Cimi

Ana Cláudia Leocádio – From Cenarium

BRASILIA (DF) – The states of Amazonas, Mato Grosso do Sul and Roraima showed an increase in the number of murders of indigenous people in 2023, compared to 2022, and also had the highest suicide rate among this population last year, according to the report “Violence against indigenous peoples in Brazil – data for 2023” presented on Monday afternoon, 22, by the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) in Brasilia.

Linked to the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), CIMI has been producing this report since 1986 and has released it annually since 2003. According to the 2023 data, 404 cases of “Violence against the Person” were recorded, 208 of which were murders.

In Roraima, 47 deaths were recorded, in Mato Grosso do Sul, 43, and in Amazonas, 36. In 2022, Roraima recorded 41 murders, Mato Grosso do Sul, 38, and Amazonas, 30, numbers still considered high by Cimi. The data was compiled from the Mortality Information System (SIM) and information obtained from Sesai via the Access to Information Act (LAI).

Also according to the report, “attacks by miners against Yanomami indigenous people in Roraima and Amazonas were recorded throughout 2023, despite the operations carried out in the first half of the year in the Yanomami Indigenous Land. Murders, armed attacks, sexual violence and the recruitment of indigenous people for mining, with the fomenting of internal conflicts, were part of the tragic picture of the continuity of violence in this territory.”

In 2023, CIMI recorded 180 suicides compared to 115 in 2022. “The highest rates, as in previous years, were recorded in Amazonas (66), Mato Grosso do Sul (37) and Roraima (19).”

CIMI’s figures were presented at a time when the country is seeing a rise in conflicts between indigenous peoples, especially in Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) and Paraná (PR). Representatives of the Guarani Kaiowá went to CIMI to ask for support to stop the conflicts in Mato Grosso do Sul, as did Vilma Vera, from the Guaçú Guavira Indigenous Land (PR), which are in conflict in the municipalities of Guaíra and Terra Roxa.

The data is also a compilation of the first year of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government, which was inaugurated promising a new indigenous policy for the country, as opposed to the previous government, which was considered anti-indigenous.

The president of CIMI, the archbishop of Manaus, Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, said he was sad to release a report in the face of the reports and cries of the indigenous people who were present at the CNBB conference, reporting the escalation of violence. Steiner promises to distribute the report to the Brazilian authorities and to Pope Francis to raise support for the indigenous cause in Brazil.

For the leader, the scenario is a reflection of the dispute over the rights of indigenous peoples by the National Congress, which is trying to impose laws that harm these populations, such as Law 14.701/2023, which stipulated 1988 as the time frame for the demarcation of indigenous lands and is being challenged in the Federal Supreme Court (STF). “It takes a lot of resistance and a lot of mysticism to endure so much pain and so much death,” he said.

Violence against property

With regard to “violence against property”, which covers categories such as omission and delay in regularizing land, conflicts relating to territorial rights, and possessory invasions, illegal exploitation of natural resources and various types of damage to property, in 2023 there were 1,276 cases, compared to 1,334 in 2022.

Among the records on Amazonian soil is the one that took place in the Baixo Seruini/Baixo Tumiã Indigenous Land, of the Apurinã people, when the company Nemus Brasil Participações S/A disregarded the recommendations of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) to “sell, negotiate or otherwise commercialize titles over indigenous or traditional territories”.

The company specializes in trading NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). The indigenous people fear the expropriation of their territory since the demarcation process has not yet been completed, according to CIMI.

Another conflict concerns the indigenous people of Soares/Urucurituba, of the Mura ethnic group, who are under pressure to support the exploitation of sylvinite for the production of fertilizers by Potássio do Brasil. In addition to disrespecting ILO Convention 169, which requires prior consultation with indigenous people, the Mura also complain about the total disregard for their rights during the licensing process carried out by the company with the licensing bodies. They are also awaiting a decision on the request for identification and demarcation of their territory.

Deaths of indigenous children increase by almost 20%

Another topic presented by CIMI in the report is cases of “Violence by Omission of Public Power”, organized into seven categories. The data is collected from SIM and Sesai and shows that 1,040 deaths of indigenous children aged 0 to 4 were recorded in 2023, compared to 835 deaths in 2022. An increase of around 19.7%.

Read more: Yanomami leader blames illegal mining for murder of indigenous woman in Roraima

Amazonas leads the number of deaths, with 295, followed by Roraima, with 179 cases, and Mato Grosso, with 124. Compared to 2022, all three states showed a worsening in the number of deaths of indigenous children last year.

According to CIMI, most of the deaths had causes considered preventable “through health care, immunization, diagnosis and adequate treatment”. Among the causes recorded are: influenza and pneumonia (141), diarrhea, gastroenteritis and infectious intestinal diseases (88) and malnutrition (57).

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