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Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

Brazil's indigenous peoples have long battled to protect their ancestral lands and native cultures -- but the election of far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has sparked concerns that hard-won rights could be eroded.

Both before and since his election just over two weeks ago, Bolsonaro has drawn ire by making inflammatory remarks about women, black people and the LGBT community.

But when it comes to Brazil's indigenous population, he's made actual threats.

"Today, many people are afraid," Luiz Eloy Terena, a legal advisor to the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), told AFP.

"We're worried because he (Bolsonaro) has already stated that he will reduce indigenous lands."

According to Brazil's national indigenous foundation (FUNAI) there are over 800,000 indigenous people and more than 300 different tribes in the country.

They are fighting to preserve a way of life imperiled since European colonialists arrived in South America more than 500 years ago.

There are 426 demarcated territories in Brazil, established in the 1980s for the exclusive use of their indigenous inhabitants. Access by outsiders is strictly regulated.

Posing a particular threat are those looking to make money from farming, mining and logging -- and Bolsonaro is their champion.

Speaking to the television program Brasil Urgente last week, Bolsonaro said that "if it were up to me, there would be no more indigenous land demarcation."

- 'There is intent' -

While he was talking about potential new demarcations, Fiona Watson, a director at tribal rights group Survival International, says indigenous people should be worried about Bolsonaro's plans.

"Judging by his history, he's always opposed demarcation and recognition of indigenous territories," London-based Watson told AFP by telephone.

Indigenous land rights are protected by Brazil's constitution -- but Bolsonaro has previously suggested he has no intention of respecting that.

In a January 2016 video taken in Congress, Bolsonaro warned the indigenous people of the Raposa Serra do Sol reserve, in northern Brazil's Roraima state, that he would "rip up" their demarcated territory and "give guns to the ranchers."

"Some people might say these are just threats but I'm sure there's intent there," said Watson.

"He's very anti-indigenous people. He wants to integrate them."

Integration is a controversial issue as it was a policy enforced by Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-85), under which Bolsonaro served as an army captain.

"It's kind of like beating the Indian out of the Indian," said Watson.

"It's like a land-grab... by integrating them you're taking them off the land. You're drawing them into the towns or cities."

- 'A zoo animal' -

Bolsonaro has shown an acute lack of understanding of indigenous peoples, claiming "the Indian is a human being like us" who wants "the internet, to play football, a car, air travel" -- all elements of modern life many tribes explicitly reject.

"The Indian cannot continue to be trapped within a demarcated area as if he were a zoo animal," he once said.

The president-elect draws a lot of his support within Congress from lobbies known collectively as BBB -- beef, bible, bullet -- that have a vested interest in indigenous lands.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) this week blasted Brazil for its failure to properly fund FUNAI, leaving it powerless against wealthy business groups making claims on indigenous lands they hope to exploit.

"One of the methods they use is investing in the weakening of FUNAI. With a weak FUNAI, the indigenous community is left exposed," Terena explained.

IACHR commissioner Francisco Eguiguren said the body is "not against projects using natural resources," but added they "must take into account the people living there."

"You cannot have policies that treat these people as if they don't exist," he said at the end of a week-long IACHR visit to Brazil.

However, while the odds may be stacked against them, Watson insists there is hope for the descendants of Brazil's native inhabitants.

"The encouraging thing in the midst of all this really bleak news coming out of Brazil and Bolsonaro's election, is the indigenous peoples are very organized now," she said.

"They're going to fight, there's no question about that."

© 2018 AFP