Sam Cowie

In the Brazilian Amazon, Indigenous People Deal with a Violent New World

An increase in attacks on Indigenous people has been matched by a rise in deforestation in protected areas.

Sam Cowie
By Sam Cowie
Indigenous protesters from various ethnic groups carry fake coffins representing indians killed over the demarcation of land, as they demand the demarcation of indigenous lands, outside the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil. In May, Congress passed two measures that convert around 1.4 million acres of protected land, the vast majority of it in the Amazon, into areas open to logging, mining and agricultural use. (AP/Eraldo Peres)

With worn single barrel shotguns slung over their shoulders, two Indigenous men tread quietly through the thick Amazon forest of their land, checking for illegal activity. They say that since 2015, their territory – where they live with around 40 other fellow Karipuna in Brazil’s north-western state of Rondônia – has been increasingly targeted

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Killings Of Indigenous People, Environmental Activists Increase In Temer’s Brazil

“Given all the political instability in Brazil since last year, those who are looking for accumulating land, in whatever way they can, have found an opportunity to accelerate the process and apparently they feel quite convinced of impunity.”

Joe Sandler Clarke
Sam Cowie
By Joe Sandler Clarke
And Sam Cowie
A Pataxo indigenous woman performs in front of police during the Indigenous Peoples Ritual March outside the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, April 27, 2017. (AP/Eraldo Peres)

There has been a significant increase in the number of indigenous people and environmental activists killed over land disputes in Brazil, as human rights experts warn of a dangerous political mood in the nation. New research shared with Energydesk by Brazilian human rights NGO Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT), shows that 37 people have been

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