BRAZIL – A young indigenous man of 21 years of age was shot dead this Friday (July 8) and had his body burned to ashes during the invasion of 70 armed men in the rural area of the city of Una, in southern Bahia.
According to the Land Struggle Movement (MLT), besides Elton Barros de Souza, another man was shot. He was taken to the Costa do Cacau Regional Hospital in Ilhéus. MLT leaders say that other people were assaulted and that a car was set on fire. The crime was registered at the headquarters of the Federal Police (PF) in Ilheus as a possible conflict between rural workers and indigenous people.
The case is yet another in an escalation of violence against indigenous peoples in Brazil due to the genocidal policies of the Brazilian state, especially under the leadership of the fascist Jair Bolsonaro. Gunmen and police have always acted in collusion with large landowners and illegal mining companies in the country, but with the policies of the last four years to facilitate exploitation in indigenous territory, there has been an exponential growth in cases of assassination of indigenous leaders, occupation of territory and illegal mining.
