Indigenous Peoples in Brazil

In his book "Tristes Tropiques" the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss records that just before leaving for Brazil in 1934 to teach at the University of São Paulo, he met the Brazilian ambassador in France. Lévi-Strauss asked him about the Indians and how he should go about visiting an Indigenous community. The ambassador replied: “My dear sir, the Indians are all gone since many a year. [...] You’ll find many things of interest in Brazil – but as for the Indians, you’d better forget about them, you won’t find a single one.”

Ângelo Kretã died in a car accident, marked by strong suspicions of an ambush. The Kaingang leader was fighting the invasion of logging companies in the Mangueirinha Indigenous lands, State of Paraná

Álvaro Sampaio Tukano, at the 2nd Assembly of the Indigenous Peoples of the Rio Negro in São Gabriel da Cachoeira (State of Amazonas), presents the poster for the Indigenous rights campaign in the Constituent Assembly.

People from various Indigenous groups were on constant alert at the Congress, in Brasília, seeking to secure the inclusion of their rights in the final text of the Constitution.

Krumare and other Kayapó leaders visit the reservoir of the Tucuruí Hydroelectric Dam (PA), at the invitation of Eletronorte.

Sixteen Yanomami were killed by illegal garimpeiros in the Haximu massacre in 1993. In the image, survivors carry the ashes of the cremated bodies of their relatives. The massacre was characterized as genocide in 2006, in an unprecedented decision of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).

Paturi, filmmaker from the Panará people, filming chief Akẽ for the video ‘The agouti’s peanut,’ in the Panará Indigenous Land, State of Pará.

President Lula takes part in the commemorations for the homologation of the Raposa-Serra do Sol Indigenous Land (RR), a campaign led by the Indigenous Council of Roraima that lasted 30 years.

Sônia Guajajara, coordinator of APIB (Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil) and other leaders take part in a hearing of the Constitution and Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies in Brasília.

Txiparamanxa’á, accompanied by his son Kiripí, with a howler monkey hunted in the forest of the Caru Indigenous Land, northwest Maranhão State. The Guajá, one of the last hunter-gatherer peoples in the country, consist of 420 people and three still ‘isolated’ groups. Under pressure from loggers, farmers and drug traffickers, their territory is among the most deforested in the Brazilian Amazon.

Indigenous leaders participating in the 11th Free Land Camp (ATL) in front of the Supreme Court against decisions of the Judiciary that attack the indigenous right to land.