BRAZIL: Indigenous defenders under attack

Brazil’s activists for environmental and Indigenous rights could expect little protection from their climate-denying government. In June, two Indigenous Yanomami people of the Xaruma community were killed by illegal goldminers. Movement of illegal goldminers into Indigenous communities also helped spread COVID-19 in those communities. As the pandemic swept through Indigenous communities, and with little government support, older people were vulnerable, raising the fear that a generation of Indigenous leaders would be lost.