The dark legacy of the dictatorship: genocide and territorial escapade against indigenous peoples in Brazil and the urgency of reparation
In Mato Grosso, the Kajkwakhratxi-tapayuna were almost decimated by poisoning and diseases. The Panará and Cinta Larga were victims of forced removals and extreme violence.
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The deep marks of the military dictatorship (1964-1985) in Brazil cruelly affected indigenous peoples. The document “Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Military Dictatorship in Brazil”, prepared by Operation Native Amazon (OPAN) in partnership with Amigos da Terra – Brazilian Amazon (ADT), makes contributions to this dark period of our history to the Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of non-repetition of the United Nations, Bernard Duhaime.
On a visit to Brazil, Duhaime evaluated the measures adopted by Brazil to deal with the serious human rights violations committed during the dictatorship and requested information on actions already implemented or planned by the country in search of the truth for the disappeared, investigation of responsibilities, justice and Accountability in criminal proceedings and accountability, reparation to victims, memorialization and guarantees of non-repetition.
The history of the Kajkwakhratxi-tapayuna people, who traditionally inhabited the banks of the Arinos River in Mato Grosso, illustrates this tragedy, marked by violent attempts to ‘pacification’ by the Indian Protection Service (SPI) and, later, by the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai).
The records show mass poisonings in 1953 and again in the 1960s, in addition to the spread of influenza after Funai’s expedition in 1969, resulting in numerous deaths. The unbridled colonization of the region, driven by state and federal policies aimed at development at any cost, fostered the invasion of their territories by farmers, miners and loggers, intensifying conflicts and violence.
In the 1970s, Kajkwakhratxi-Tapayuna who survived this wave of violence were compulsorily transferred to the Xingu Indigenous Park, an act that culminated in the formal extinction of their original reserve in 1976. Demographic impact was overwhelming: Of the approximately 1,200 members estimated in 1968, only 41 individuals arrived in the new territory.
In this sense, the document prepared by OPAN and ADT reinforces the urgency of creating truth commissions (national and state, with indigenous participation), the immediate demarcation of land, the adoption of full remedial measures and the guarantee that the conciliation chamber Respect the constitutional and international rights of indigenous peoples.
Yaiku Suya Tapayuna, people’s leadership, recalls the impact of that period: ‘many deaths took place during the journey to go to another location. They only survived 41. Today we are 445’.
The current struggle of the Kajkwakhratxi-Tapayuna people is for the recovery of their lands, lost due to the action of the dictatorship and the omission of Funai itself, which extinguished its demarcation decree.
Almost half a century after the events, there was still no conclusion of the demarcation process or any form of reparation for the Kajkwakhratxi-Tapayuna people.
National Truth Commission and Figueiredo Report: documents that show violations of rights in Brazil
The document prepared by OPAN and ADT brings data from the report of the National Truth Commission (CNV), established by Law No. fundamental rights in an even broader period, between 1946 and 1988, as in the case of crimes committed against the Xavante people of Marãiwatsédé, detailed by the Bo’u Association in 2013.
Another important source is the Figueiredo report, which investigated the abuses committed against indigenous people throughout the 20th century. In the reports it was clear the actions and omissions of agents of the Brazilian State: a vision of development that neglected the existence and rights of these communities and resulted in 8,350 indigenous people killed – a number that the CNV itself emphasizes is possibly underestimated due to the limitations in the analysis of all the affected people.
In the Figueiredo report, the information showed that public and private servants used conventional and biological weapons for the deliberate extermination of entire communities. The document exposed a scenario of terror and systematic violence, where the life and physical integrity of the indigenous people were disrespected.
The investigations of the Figueiredo Report also brought to light the way the SPI itself, theoretically responsible for protecting indigenous peoples, legitimized the invasion of their territories. Fraudulent lease contracts were used to favor the interests of landowners, politicians and public agents, while false documents were issued with the aim of denying the indigenous presence in areas of economic interest. The list of documented atrocities is extensive and criminal: physical and psychological torture, systematic sexual violence, kidnapping of children, and the intentional dissemination of diseases as a weapon to dismantle and eliminate the original populations.
The severity of the cases documented by both the CNV and the Figueiredo report is undeniable, pointing to practices that fit the definitions of genocide and ethnocide by the Brazilian State.
In Mato Grosso, the consequences of these policies were felt in a devastating way by the Kajkwakhratxi-tapayuna, but also by different ethnicities. The Panará people suffered forced removals from their ancestral lands, in addition to embittering the destructive impacts of large infrastructure works implemented without due respect for their rights and ways of life.
The Cinta Larga people faced a cycle of brutal violence, marked by poisonings, epidemics that decimated their population, summary executions and the systematic destruction of their villages, all in a context of connivance or, at the very least, omission by the Funai, the organ that should protect them.
Faced with the clarity of the facts and the intentional behavior of Funai, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) did not hesitate to classify these events as genocide, in relation to the Kajkwakhratxi-Tapayuna. Although there is a vast set of evidence gathered by the CNV, including the detailed Figueiredo Report, the Brazilian State demonstrates an alarming slowness in instituting effective mechanisms of reparation, such as a National Indigenous Commission of Truth. Violations persist due to a vision of development that violates original rights, with obstacles in the three powers to land regularization, such as the approval of Law 14,701/2023, of the time frame.