Brazil's indigenous people continue to face the threat of violent attacks and discrimination, according to a human rights report released Wednesday.

International human rights watchdog Amnesty International said that while there have been some advances in respect for their rights over the years, Brazil's native population continues to suffer from unfair treatment by the federal government, private land owners and agro-business interests in the Amazon.

The continuous failure of Brazilian governments to act effectively to protect indigenous communities has exposed them to human rights violations and has laid the foundations for the violence of the present, the report said.

Among the incidents of violence cited was the January beating death of 72-year-old Marcos Veron, a leader of the Guarani Kaiowa people, during a reported attempt to remove him from ancestral land.

The Brazilian government has said it would not comment on the 32-page report until it has had a chance to read it.

(From Big News Network, March 31, 2005)
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