Bolsonaro, the Last Colonizer

• Author: Manuel Domingos Neto,Luis Gustavo Guerreiro Moreira
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221147598
• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Date: 01 January 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221147598

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 248, Vol. 50 No. 1, January 2023, 47–63

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221147598

© 2023 Latin American Perspectives

47

Bolsonaro, the Last Colonizer

by

Manuel Domingos Neto and Luis Gustavo Guerreiro Moreira

Translated by

Nick Ortiz

The traditional relationship between the Brazilian state and indigenous peoples is

based on the state’s “protection.” Under the ultraconservative Bolsonaro government, the

state has been taken over by elites with rural and extractive capital who plan on exploiting

the Amazon rain forest at any cost and see indigenous peoples as an obstacle to their goal.

The military also has a noteworthy position in this offensive, which strikes at the heart of

what are considered human rights. The legislative and judiciary branches continue to

confront this ambiguous policy, which is accompanied by laws, statutes, national agree-

ments, and international conventions that lack clarity and precision. If Bolsonaro were to

be reelected it might mean the extinction of surviving indigenous ethnicities.

A relação tradicional entre o Estado brasileiro e os povos originários é baseada na

“tutela” do Estado. O governo ultraconservador de Bolsonaro reflete a captura do Estado

pelas elites do capital agrário e extrativista que pretendem dispor da floresta amazônica a

qualquer custo, considerando os povos originários como obstáculo à sua agenda. Os mili-

tares têm posição de destaque nesta ofensiva que afronta as noções elementares de direitos

humanos. Ora, os poderes Legislativo e Judiciário lidam com essa política de maneira

ambígua, acompanhando leis, estatutos e convenções nacionais e internacionais de forma

pouco precisa e pouco clara. Se Bolsonaro for reeleito, isso poderá acelerar a extinção das

etnias indígenas sobreviventes.

Keywords: Indigeneity, Indigenous peoples, Colonialism, Tutelary state, Bolsonaro

regime

One of the main tenets of President Jair Bolsonaro’s electoral campaign was

a radical change in the Brazilian government’s policy toward indigenous peo-

ples. Now it is part of a neoconservative ideology supported by a large part of

Brazilian society. With the backing of ruralists, the military, and evangelicals,

Bolsonaro has put in place racist, ethnocentric, and anti-indigenous policies

that threaten the very survival of indigenous peoples. He is the head of a state

that has declared war against indigenous rights. This radical break with past

Manuel Domingos Neto is a retired professor from the Universidade Federal de Ceará and the

Universidade Federal Fluminense and a former president of the Associação Brasileira de Estudos

de Defesa and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico. Luís Gustavo

Guerreiro Moreira has Ph.D. in public policy from the Universidade Estadual de Ceará and is an

indigenist at the Fundação Nacional do Índio, a researcher at the Observatório das Nacionalidades,

and the editor of Tensões Mundiais. Nick Ortiz is a writer, researcher, linguist, and translator with

experience in translation relating to Latin American history and politics.

1147598LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X221147598Latin American PerspectivesNeto and Moreira/BOLSONARO, THE LAST COLONIZER

research-article2023

48 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

policies supports the interests of farmers, loggers, and miners who see existing

groups as a nuisance that must be eliminated.

A complex institutional arrangement has been established to curtail the pow-

ers of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and social movements. The

Government Secretariat, which has the task of maintaining a dialogue and inter-

action with civil society organizations, has become an institution that supervises,

coordinates, and monitors the activities of international bodies and NGOs. The

role of these organizations in defending indigenous groups has long been

denounced by the military as a threat to national sovereignty, and the same has

occurred with various public agencies that are tasked with defending the envi-

ronment. Government directives have a military orientation because of the num-

ber of military officers chosen to fill important positions in the state apparatus.

Soon after assuming the presidency, Bolsonaro signed Provisional Measure

870,1 which transferred power from the Fundação Nacional do Índio (National

Indian Foundation—FUNAI), the institution responsible for enforcing Brazilian

policies toward indigenous peoples, to the Instituto Nacional de Colonização

(National Institute for Land Settlement and Agrarian Reform—INCRA), a body

subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture that is charged with demarcating

indigenous lands. The measure weakened FUNAI’s ability to fulfill its primary

goal, which was overseeing the demarcation process for indigenous lands.

This initiative was challenged in court, and in August 2019 the plenum of the

Supreme Court terminated the provisional measure, citing Article 231 of the 1988

Constitution and International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169, of

which Brazil is a signatory. Article 6 of the Convention requires that the govern-

ment “consult the peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in

particular through their representative institutions, whenever consideration is

being given to legislative or administrative measures which may affect them

directly,” and Article 14 recognizes “the rights of ownership and possession of the

peoples concerned over the lands which they traditionally occupy” (ILO, 1989).

The obsession of the current government with imposing a ruralist agenda on

Brazilian policy with regard to indigenous peoples and the haste with which it

did so generated a climate of political instability. The three branches of the

Republic (executive, legislative, and judiciary) are the setting for disputes on a

wide range of issues that end up judicializing politics and, in some cases, polit-

icizing the judicial system. Many of these issues fall beyond the jurisdiction of

the congressional courts and cabinet and therefore go to the Supreme Court

and overload its docket. The rural sector connected with agribusiness is intent

on halting the demarcation of indigenous lands.2 According to FUNAI, 440

demarcation processes have so far been completed. These areas make up 12.6

percent of Brazil’s territory, mainly in the Amazon, and are subject to strict

environmental and social protection laws backed by international treaties and

agreements.

Policies with regard to indigenous peoples are strategic actions taken by

nation-states to impose their will on the way the cultures of these peoples are

identified. Generally, their form and content are the product of demands made

by indigenous peoples. Despite Brazilian legislation’s having been updated

since redemocratization (the product of years of struggle by indigenous move-

ments), the institutions that enforce policies with regard to indigenous peoples