Govt sacks indigenous agency chief after attack on tribe

pulse

May 5, 2017 9:24 PM

The justice ministry told AFP in a statement that the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) needed "agile and efficient management".

An indigenous Gamela man receives medical attention at a hospital in Viana, Brazil, on April 30, 2017, after being attacked by farmers

The justice ministry told AFP in a statement that the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) needed "agile and efficient management" and it hadn't had that under its ousted president, Antonio Fernandes Toninho Costa.

But Costa, who had taken the helm of FUNAI only in January, said he believed he was being booted because he went against the interests of a powerful lobby in Brazil's Congress linked to big landowners and neo-Pentecostal churches.

The dismissal was "because I'm honest and I defend the Indian cause against the agrobusiness lobby," he told the G1 news website.

The sacking came after the attack Sunday on members of the Gamela tribe in northeastern Maranhao state.

Police are investigating the clash, involving machetes and firearms, between 200 men sent by ranchers and the smaller Gamela group.

The UN office in Brazil said it viewed violence against indigenous people in the country with "concern."

The confrontation highlighted tensions and often deadly violence in several regions between native Brazilians defending land they consider theirs and encroaching ranchers and farmers.

Brazil's government has vowed to have indigenous land boundaries clearly demarcated.

But Costa said earlier this week that task, given to FUNAI, was undermined by a 44 percent cut in the agency's budget, severely limiting manpower and resources.

Cleber Buzzatto, member of the Indigenist Missionary Council supported by the Catholic Church, told AFP he saw the forced exit of Costa, a 66-year-old dentist and indigenous health specialist, as "a political decision."

"He rejected having FUNAI subjugated to the interests of agrobusiness and religious fundamentalists," Buzzatto said.

"I'm afraid the situation will keep getting worse."

His council says that, in 2015, at least 137 indigenous people were murdered in Brazil. Since 2003, the total is 891, it says.

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