RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - (AFP) A former missionary tapped to head the Brazilian government's programs to protect uncontacted indigenous peoples in the Amazon rainforest was fired Friday, November 27th, after the appointment sparked outrage among rights activists.
Evangelical pastor Ricardo Lopes Dias, who was controversially named in February to head the department for Isolated and Recently Contacted Peoples at the National Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI), was removed by order of the Justice Ministry after a campaign to oust him.
His appointment was one on a long list of controversial decisions on the world's biggest rainforest by the government of. . .