Increased missionary contact poses risk

AN American missionary in Brazil has exposed an isolated indigenous tribe to disease and possibly death, the Brazilian government’s Indigenous Affairs Department (Funai) said last week.

Steve Campbell, an American Christian missionary, entered the area occupied by the HiMerima tribe last month, one of the few dozen tribes in Brazil that has had no contact with the outside world.

‘‘It’s a case of rights violation and exposure to risk of death to isolated indigenous population,’’ a Funai spokesman said.

‘‘Even if direct contact has not occurred, the probability of transmission of diseases to the isolated is high.’’

Missionaries are moore likely to try to contact isolated tribes in Brazil after the appointment by President Jair Bolsonaro of an evangelical preacher as the new minister in charge of indigenous affairs, experts said.

During his campaign, Bolsonaro pledged to open up protected land and demarcate ‘‘not one centimetre’’ for indigenous people or quilombolas, descendants of runaway slaves.

Campbell camped in the area the HiMerima occupy and invaded one of the isolated tribe’s recently abandoned camping grounds, Funai said.

Attempts to reach Campbell were unsuccessful.

Little is known about of the HiMerima tribe, who live in the state of Amazonas.

They became known for rejecting contact with the outside world and maintaining hostile relations even with other indigenous communities.

According to reports from Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, Campbell claimed to have entered the area by mistake, while teaching members of the neighbouring Jamamadi tribe to use a GPS device.

Campbell has been living among the Jamamadi for years, but received no authorisation to do so, according to Funai.

About two months ago another Christian missionary tried to contact an isolated tribe on an island in the Bay of Bengal. He was killed by the indigenous people. — Thomson Reuters Foundation