Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's pledge to open up the Amazon to mining companies was tantamount to "genocide", indigenous leaders said Friday at a meeting to oppose the government's environmental policies.

Hundreds of elders gathered this week at Pairacu, deep in the rainforest, to form a united front against Bolsonaro's environmental policies, which have seen deforestation in the jungle nearly double since the Brazilian leader came to power a year ago.

"Our aim was to join forces and denounce the fact that the Brazilian government's political policy of genocide, ethnocide and ecocide is under way," the group said in a draft manifesto drawn up at the end of the summit.

"We do not accept mining on our lands, loggers, illegal fishermen or hydroelectricity. We are opposed to anything that destroys the forest," the text said.

They also said that "government threats and hate speech" had encouraged violence against Amazon communities and demanded punishment for the murder of indigenous leaders.

At least eight indigenous leaders were killed last year.

Brazil's leading indigenous chief, Raoni Metuktire, said Thursday he would personally travel to the capital Brasilia to present the meeting's demands to Congress.

"Over there, I'm going to ask Bolsonaro why he speaks so badly about the indigenous peoples," said the 89-year-old leader of the Kayapo tribe.

Preliminary data collected by the National Institute for Space Research showed an 85 percent increase in Amazon deforestation last year when compared to 2018.

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Amazon tribes meet to counter Bolsonaro environmental threats
Piaracu, Bresil (AFP) Jan 16, 2020
Dozens of Amazon indigenous leaders have gathered in the heart of the threatened rainforest to form an alliance against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's environmental policy and his threats to throw their homelands open to mining concerns. The main objective of the meeting is to present a united front against Bolsonaro's plans, which they say pose a threat to the Amazon and their way of life, as well as threaten open conflict over land rights. "I don't want anyone to die in front of me. I do ... read more