Brazil’s Indigenous chief fighting to save Amazon urges President Lula to defend people’s rights

By CARLA BRIDI
Associated Press

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — An Indigenous leader who became a symbol of the fight for the preservation of the Amazon has called upon Brazil’s president to defend the rights of Indigenous people, including removing “invaders” from their territories and ending ongoing negotiations on carbon credits. Chief Raoni Metuktire demanded in a letter to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that the government respond to 11 specific requests by Aug. 9. The manifest was handed over on Friday to the minister of the Indigenous peoples, Sonia Guajajara, at an event attended by 1,000 members of the community in the town of Sao Jose do Xingu in the state of Mato Grosso. Raoni has long campaigned for protection of Indigenous territories in the Amazon.