Brazil Logs 189 Post-Vote Violence Reports as Indigenous Communities Face Lula-Linked Threats
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 15
Brazil Logs 189 Post-Vote Violence Reports as Indigenous Communities Face Lula-Linked Threats
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 15
Summary
189 reports of violence reached Brazil’s Human Rights Ministry in the first five days after Lula’s Oct. 25 reelection, with authorities and Indigenous leaders saying some communities were targeted for backing him.
In Mato Grosso do Sul, two municipal employees were suspended after police linked them to audio messages threatening to poison water used by Sassoró, a Guarani Kaiowá community of about 3,000 people.
A similar recording surfaced in Avaí, São Paulo state, where a retired municipal employee threatened the roughly 700 residents of the Araribá Indigenous Territory before later apologizing.
Officials say the election gave longstanding anti-Indigenous hostility a new political outlet, layering retaliation over disputes tied to land, ranching, mining and agribusiness; Mato Grosso do Sul alone recorded 37 Indigenous killings in 2025.
Lula has ordered a federal delegation to investigate in Mato Grosso do Sul, underscoring how a small electorate of 287,157 Indigenous voters has become a flashpoint in Brazil’s broader post-election tensions.