Brazil's indigenous people still victims of abuse- report

BRASILIA, July 9 (AFP) - Brazil's indigenous are still dealt abuse by police and landowners, crowded out of their homelands by vast public works and lack proper nutrition and health care, a religious group reported Friday.

In 2009, 60 indigenous people were murdered across the country, more than half in southwestern Mato Grosso do Sul state, which since 2005 tops the list in this category and where "institutional racism" and "land occupation" prevail, the report said.

The Missionary Indigenous Council, in its report, found that large public works such as the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam going up in the jungles of Para state, have "disastrous and irreversible consequences for the environment and communities in the region."

The world's third-largest dam, once completed, will displace entire indigenous communities in the area, "including those who have little or no contact" with the outside world, added the council, which is part of the National Bishops Confederation.Finally, the report mentions the "alarming" rate of malnutrition and infant death among indigenous communities, and the "growing criminalization" of their leaders for their struggle in favor of native rights across the country.

In particular, the report mentions the arrest a year ago in northeastern Bahia state of five Tupinamba leaders who "were handcuffed, immobilized, pepper sprayed in the eyes... and three of them got electric shocks in their backs and genitals."