THE BOLSONARO EFFECT: STATE VIOLENCE ON INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN BRAZIL

Abstract

Jair Bolsonaro was the President of Brazil from 2019-2022. During the course of his presidency, he reduced Indigenous people’s rights over land by dismantling health and environmental policies. I propose the Bolsonaro effect as an increase in state violence against Indigenous people as the outcome of the following: the furthering of economic ventures aimed at extracting natural resources from the Amazon (home of most Indigenous communities in Brazil); invasions on Indigenous territories increasing as a result of the economic initiatives in the tropical forest due to the Bolsonaro administration’s negligent actions to prevent targeted violence from occurring. The failure of the Brazilian State to protect Indigenous people was demonstrated once more during the global pandemic of 2020. I use forest fires and the COVID19 pandemic as my case studies to analyze Bolsonaro’s political narratives and executive decisions against Indigenous people. By the end of his term in office, Bolsonaro was accused of human rights violations.