Brazil President Visits Indigenous Lands In Amazon Despite Protests

Jair Bolsonaro, flanked by army officers and wearing a feather head-dress, watched members of the local Tukano community perform a ritual dance at the Balaio reservation, where he inaugurated a bridge.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro visited two indigenous reservations in the Amazon on Thursday for the first time as head of state, despite protests from some tribal leaders against his drive to open up their protected lands to commercial mining. Bolsonaro, flanked by army officers and wearing a feather head-dress, watched members of the local Tukano community perform a ritual dance at the Balaio reservation, where he inaugurated a bridge. Regional indigenous leaders from the upper reaches of the Rio Negro river said they were not invited to see Bolsonaro and that he only met with unrepresentative chiefs in a photo opportunity for his re-election campaign next year. "Our institution is three decades old but we were not included in the president's agenda or any dialogue on public polices for the region," the Federation of Rio Negro Indigenous Organizations said in a statement. "He met with self-proclaimed leaders to produce fake news."