But we felt we had nothing to celebrate. When the Portuguese arrived there were more than six million native people in Brazil. After centuries of genocide and forced evictions, there are just 350,000. We organised a peaceful demonstration asking for the rights to live on our own land. Military police broke up the march very violently.
Many people are still in hospital.
During his visit to England, Nailton met representatives from aid agencies and the Foreign Office, and is asking for their support in calling on the Brazilian government to honour treaties, give back land illegally taken and join most other countries in the world who have signed a convention respecting the rights of the indigenous people.