“So watch out my dear, there’s danger around the corner” – Military Dictatorship, SPI and the Indigenous Peoples of Rondônia in the Figueiredo Report

Abstract

The Figueiredo Report (RF) is a document resulting from an investigation into violations committed specifically against Brazilian Indigenous Peoples by the Indigenous Protection Service (SPI) during the military dictatorship. It has contributed to understanding how the military forces in power materialized routine relations with indigenous populations at this time. These premises mobilized the present research agenda whose purpose was to analyze the human rights violations against the Indigenous Peoples of the Federal Territory of Rondônia in the years 1965 and 1966 through the actions of the 9th Regional Inspectorate located in Porto Velho. The methodology adopted was descriptive and analytical documentary research that made it possible to reexamine the Figueiredo Report, a set of 30 (thirty) volumes systematized at the end of the 1960s. The conclusion of the research showed that the RF archives made possible the knowledge of the historical memory that made explicit the prejudices against the Indigenous Peoples produced by the SPI during the military regime in Rondônia. It explained that the expectation of protection of this indigenist organ turned into dilapidation, appropriation, and exploitation of the indigenous patrimony by means of dubious public-private relations. The effects of these actions have translated into a series of violations of the human rights of the original communities in this part of the Brazilian Amazon, elements that can drive further studies in the search for reparation and social justice.