This week, Joenia Wapichana, head of Brazil’s federal indigenous agency Funai, made an urgent plea to House lawmakers for increased funding.
“We’ve gone through a very vulnerable situation,” said Ms. Wapichana, who previously served one term as the first indigenous woman elected to Congress, during a public hearing. “We lacked investments for both human and financial resources. For instance, in 2023, our discretionary budget was only BRL 225 million (USD 41 million) for the entire country.”
Public data shows that Funai spent a total of BRL 577 million last year, with more than half allocated to salaries, benefits, and pensions for both active and retired employees.
Funai’s largest recent discretionary expense is a BRL 68 million contract with government-owned company Infraero, which manages several airports in the country. This contract is to renovate and improve five airstrips located in the Yanomami indigenous land in northern Brazil.
Funai’s other main expenses include renting aircraft and...
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