Brazil's indigenous to sue Bolsonaro for saying they're 'evolving'

The main organization representing Brazil’s 300 indigenous tribes said on Friday it would sue far-right President Jair Bolsonaro for racism after he said indigenous people were “evolving” and becoming more human.

“We need to put a stop to this perverse man,” Sonia Guajajara, leader of the Association of Indigenous Peoples (APIB), wrote on Twitter. “APIB will go to court against Jair Bolsonaro for the crime of racism.”

Racism is considered a serious crime in Brazil and can carry a sentence of up to five years.

The controversial comments, the latest in a series of presidential outbursts on Brazil’s tribes, came in a video posted on social media on Thursday.

The presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the potential lawsuit.

APIB lawyer Eloy Terena said the organization was preparing to make its case before the Supreme Court, the only court that can judge a president. APIB also asked Brazil’s public prosecutor to investigate Bolsonaro for the crime of racism.

Bolsonaro has previously said indigenous reserves are too large and his government wants to allow commercial mining and agriculture on these reservations.

He has said the indigenous live in poverty like “animals in zoos” and wants to assimilate them into Brazilian society and the economy. Tribal leaders decry this as planned ethnocide aimed at eliminating their cultures.

(Source: Reuters)

MG