Bolsonaro Sends Farm Equipment to Indigenous Peoples After They Accuse Him of Genocide

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced sending agricultural equipment worth over $480,000 to the communes of indigenous peoples in Cuiaba in eastern Brazil, in an attempt to allay the withering criticism of his presidency by human rights and indigenous groups.

"The President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, sent 42 agricultural equipment on August 19, including tractors and plows to indigenous peoples of Cuiaba to foster agricultural activities in villages," the government stated on Thursday.

The equipment sent include 14 tractors, 14 plows, 14 agricultural carts in an initiative marking the Day of Field, the government added.

On 10 August, the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples from Brazil turned to the International Criminal Court for help in investigating Bolsonaro for crimes perpetrated against indigenous peoples since the beginning of his tenure, which they classified as "crimes against humanity, genocide and ecocide."

Bolsonaro has long been criticized by human rights activists for violating indigenous peoples’ rights. On August 4, Brazil’s Congress passed a bill, facilitating the legalization of occupied land by businesses, including Amazonia territories. The lands in question are mostly inhabited by indigenous people, who will have to prove that they occupied the territory before the 1988 Constitution entered in force. Otherwise a loophole in Brazilian legislation, called Marco Temporal ("Time frame"), allows legalization of squatters’ occupied lands.

Indigenous people, which make up about 0.5% of Brazil’s population, hold 13% of its land, mostly in the Amazon region. Indigenous tribes are regarded as the guardians of Brazil’s diverse culture and forests. In the first two years of Bolsonaro's government, deforestation rose by 48%, hitting record rate since 2008, with over 1 million hectares disappearing.