Brazil Indigenous fear Flavio Bolsonaro runoff win

Amazonian Indigenous leaders in Brazil say a possible Flavio Bolsonaro victory in the October 25 presidential runoff raises fears for Indigenous rights and the rainforest.

Inara Waty, leader of the Satere-Mawe people in Manaus, told AFP the Bolsonaro name “represents everything bad for us” and “mainly means fear.” Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator and the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, is described in the item as the favorite against leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after beating him by two percentage points in the first round on October 4.

Jair Bolsonaro governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022, a period the item says was marked by record Amazon deforestation and backsliding in Indigenous rights. Official figures cited in the item show the Amazon lost about 11,600 square kilometers of rainforest per year during his administration, nearly 60 percent more than in the previous four years.

Flavio Bolsonaro has said he would run a “Bolsonaro 2.0” presidency. He has defended his father’s approach, saying the previous administration was the “greatest way” to address environmental issues and that his father fought a “radical environmental agenda.” The item says he has also described extreme weather events that scientists attribute to human-made global warming as “cyclical.”

The candidate has proposed treating the environment as a “strategic asset” and pledged to end “illegal deforestation” by 2029. Adriana Ramos of the Instituto Socioambiental said that goal is incompatible with his environmental policy. His campaign did not respond to AFP requests for information about his environmental program or for comment on Indigenous and environmental concerns.

Lula’s government halved the annual deforestation figure in 2025 and expanded Indigenous land limits, according to the item, though it also faces criticism for backing oil exploration off the Amazonian coast.