Brazil’s government starts expelling thousands of people from two Amazon Indigenous territories

By MAURICIO SAVARESE
Associated Press

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government has started removing people from two Indigenous territories in a move likely to affect thousands who live in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. The South American nation’s intelligence agency said in a statement that the goal is to return the Apyterewa and Trincheira Bacajá in Para state to original peoples. It did not say whether or not the expulsion of non-Indigenous people has been entirely peaceful. Indigenous groups estimate more than 10,000 non-Indigenous people living inside the two territories. ABIN said as many as 2,500 Indigenous people live in 51 villages within.