Rights group urges probe into missing indigenous Brazilians

[Judi Lynn]

Last edited Mon Apr 9, 2012, 07:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Agence France-Presse

Rights group urges probe into missing indigenous Brazilians
Tuesday, 10 April 2012 00:22

BRASILIA: A rights group has called on Brazil's truth commission to investigate the alleged disappearance of 2,000 members of the indigenous Waimiri Atroari community during the (1964-85) military dictatorship.

Egydio Schawde, a former missionary and coordinator of the House of the Urubui Culture, told AFP Monday that his group wanted the panel to focus on "the disappearance of many indigenous people under the dictatorship."
He specifically referred to the "attack against and the disappearance of 2,000 Waimiri Atroari people," which are alleged to have occurred between 1968 and 1975 in the northern states of Amazonas and Roraima.

"There are survivors of these attacks, but their testimonies were not known because of the language barrier and because there has been no interest on the part of successive governments, during the dictatorship or after, in listening to the victims," Schawde said.

The Waimiri Atroari "too were victims" of the military due to their resistance to hydroelectric projects and roads in the state of Amazon, added the activist, who has published several stories on the issue on the urubui.blogspot.com.br blog.

Read more: http://www.brecorder.com/world/south-america/52551-rights-group-urges-probe-into-missing-indigenous-brazilians-.html

[radhika]

1. A rock has just been lifted, perhaps......n/t