Forced evictions of indigenous groups in republican Brazil

Abstract

In 2017, 50 years have passed since the conclusion of the Figueiredo Report, an extensive set of documents produced during the military regime (1964-1985) by attorney Jader Figueiredo Correia, in response to the request of the Minister of the Interior, General Afonso Augusto de Albuquerque Lima. In this very important source for various types of research, there are, rawly exposed, several reports of genocidal actions promoted against indigenous communities. These are activities that deeply mark Brazil's recent history, especially the official indigenous policy in part of the republican period. All volumes of the Report exceed 7 thousand pages, in which reports of massacres, seizures, illicit land leasing, intimidation, threats, torture, poisoning, rape, murder, slave labor, fraud and theft of indigenous heritage, among other forms of violence promoted against indigenous peoples. The crimes took place across the national territory, from North to South, and the facts reveal much about the origin of private land ownership over vast expanses of Brazil and the enrichment of certain local elites.