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Ethnos360, an evangelical Christian missionary group, is embarking on a controversial new project, just as the coronavirus begins spreading widely in Brazil.

The , formerly known internationally as the New Tribes Mission, and based in Sanford, Florida, plans to use a newly purchased aircraft to contact and convert isolated Amazon Indigenous groups鈥攅ven though such contact is banned explicitly by FUNAI, Brazil鈥檚 Indigenous agency, and implicitly under the nation鈥檚 1988 Constitution.

The fundamentalist Christian group鈥檚 venture could also spread dangerous infectious diseases, including COVID-19, to isolated tribes utterly lacking resistance and immunity.

At the end of January, Edward Luz, president of New Tribes Mission of Brazil, announced the acquisition of the 鈥�,鈥� able to operate in the remote rainforests of Western Brazil, and he a small group of Christian evangelicals assembled in Rio de Janeiro, that: 鈥淕od will do anything to see to it that mankind hears His Word. If a helicopter becomes necessary, He provides it.鈥�

The 鈥渕ankind鈥� to whom Luz referred includes isolated Amazon Indigenous groups. Brazil has 115 confirmed indications of such groups鈥攎ore than any country in the world. All but two are in the Amazon biome. Many are concentrated in the west of Brazil near the frontier with Peru, which is the area targeted by Ethnos360Aviation.

Spreading the Word of God, and disease

Over the next two years, evangelicals made several forays toward the Zo鈥櫭� villages, making sporadic contact with the tribe, who, according to the missionaries, remained 鈥渞estless鈥� and 鈥渨ithdrawn.鈥� The came in November 1987, when a group of about 100 Zo鈥櫭� appeared at the base camp. Communicating through gestures, the missionaries offered gifts, but in turn were handed broken arrows鈥攁 clear message that the Indigenous delegation wanted the missionaries to leave.

New Tribes Mission, established in 1942, has a long, checkered history in Brazil. One case concerns its contact with the Zo鈥櫭�, an isolated Indigenous group living in the remote Amazon rainforest of northern Par谩 state. By 1980, small-scale gold miners and Brazil nut collectors were already gradually penetrating their territory, but the Zo鈥櫭� fled contact. Then, in 1982, New Tribes Mission learned of the group鈥檚 existence and started dropping 鈥減resents鈥� from the air on their villages. In 1987, the missionaries established a base camp and airstrip on the edge of the Zo鈥櫭� territory.

FUNAI learned of these events and forbade the missionaries from installing themselves in the Indigenous villages. Instead, missionaries tried to attract the Zo鈥櫭� to their base outside of Indigenous land. According to the , a Brazilian NGO, the missionaries鈥� objective was to learn the Zo鈥櫭� language so they could begin the literacy process, translating the Bible and thereby conveying the Word of the Lord to the group.

The Zo鈥櫭� began to die rapidly from malaria and influenza鈥攄iseases to which they lacked Westerners鈥� resistance. In 1989, FUNAI visited the missionary base and was shocked at the poor state of Indigenous health. Relations with the missionaries deteriorated and in 1991 FUNAI took over, forcing New Tribes Mission to leave.

An 45 Zo鈥櫭� died between 1987 and 1991. Their population, which fell to 133 in 1991, is recovering and is estimated at 250 today. But they remain vulnerable as a people to disease and the loss of their ancestral land to invading cattle ranchers and soy growers.

Another notorious outcome of New Tribes Mission鈥檚 work in Brazil includes the case of , who served as one of their missionaries between 2008 and 2011, living with the Katukina in western Amazonas state. Over several years, he built a trusting relationship with girls as young as 12, then sexually abused them. Tipped off about these crimes, U.S. Homeland Security stopped Kennell at the Orlando, Florida, airport and found he possessed more than 940 images of child pornography.

According to prosecutors, Kennell identified himself in one of the photos as the man performing a sex act on a prepubescent girl. 鈥淜ennell represents the worst kind of criminal; one that preys on innocent children,鈥� Shane Folden, deputy special agent in charge of the Tampa office of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. In 2014, Kennell was to 58 years in prison.

A plan whose time has come?

The boldness of Ethnos360鈥檚 helicopter-contact and conversion plan may not be as brazen as it first seems. In February, Brazil鈥檚 Jair Bolsonaro administration made a putting Ricardo Lopes Dias in charge of the Coordination of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indians, FUNAI鈥檚 most sensitive department. Dias, an anthropologist and evangelical, was a missionary for New Tribes Mission for more than a decade, doing conversion work.

In 2020, Epoca, the Brazilian news magazine, that, starting in 2017, New Tribes Mission began circulating promotional videos, raising donations to pay for the R66 helicopter. In clip, pilot Jeremiah Diedrich explains why New Tribes Mission wants the aircraft: 鈥淭his part of western Brazil is listed by Survival International, [an NGO], as having the highest concentration of uncontacted people-groups in the world 鈥� It is the darkest, densest, hardest-to-reach place in the whole of South America. This is why we need a helicopter.鈥�

is vehemently opposed to the Ethnos360 initiative. Fiona Watson, Advocacy Director of Survival, told Mongabay: 鈥淭he New Tribes Mission鈥檚 plan to use a helicopter to locate uncontacted tribes is dangerous and irresponsible. They clearly have no intention of respecting these Indigenous peoples鈥� clear desire to be left alone. Any attempt to force contact risks infecting them with deadly diseases. The NTM鈥檚 appalling history of forced contacts in South America in the last 60 years resulted in the death and destruction of many uncontacted peoples and should serve as a stark warning not to let them anywhere near these vulnerable tribes. The Brazilian government must act now to stop the NTM鈥檚 genocidal plans.鈥�

Violating FUNAI policy and international law

If the New Tribes Mission plan goes forward, it will be in open defiance of an official Brazilian policy established three decades ago to respect the wishes of isolated Indians not wanting to be contacted. That policy was adopted by FUNAI after various instances of serious harm brought by forced contact, including the Zo鈥櫭� case.

New Tribes Mission must certainly know that they will be violating Brazilian policy by using their helicopter to make unsolicited contact. In , Ethnos360 Program Manager Joel Rich refers indirectly to the measures taken by the Brazilian authorities to prevent outsiders moving onto land inhabited by uncontacted Indians: 鈥淯nfortunately, only a small fraction of travel trips are able to take advantage of [plane travel]. The remainder [of the villages] do not have an air strip because of government restrictions 鈥� We need a helicopter.鈥�

FUNAI鈥檚 policies do not have the force of law in Brazil. But experts note that the New Tribes Mission contact and conversion plan likely violates the 1988 Brazilian Constitution, which discarded an earlier policy adopted under the nation鈥檚 military dictatorship that Indigenous people be 鈥渁ssimilated.鈥� Instead, the document gave native peoples the right to be Indigenous forever.

The contact plan also violates international treaties to which Brazil is a signatory. The only international instrument to refer specifically to uncontacted Indigenous groups is the , adopted in 2016, of which Brazil is a signatory. It states in Article XXVI:

1. Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation or initial contact have the right to remain in that condition and to live freely and in accordance with their cultures.

2. States shall, with the knowledge and participation of Indigenous peoples and organizations, adopt appropriate policies and measures to recognize, respect, and protect the lands, territories, environment, and cultures of these peoples as well as their life, and individual and collective integrity.

Brazil also voted in favor of the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. Although not legally binding, it is a landmark document which sets out some of the highest standards to which governments should adhere to uphold Indigenous rights. Self-determination and territorial rights are at its core, while emphasizing that Indigenous peoples have the right not to suffer forced assimilation and destruction of their culture.

An uncertain future

Despite the law, it remains questionable as to whether government action against Ethnos360鈥檚 activities will be forthcoming. With Bolsonaro鈥檚 election, New Tribes Mission may feel that, after years of hostility from anthropologists, the tide has now turned hard in their favor. Bolsonaro is notorious for speaking of Indigenous people living in the remote Amazon as , and even that 鈥淚t鈥檚 a shame the Brazilian cavalry [wasn鈥檛] as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians.鈥� Bolsonaro won office with overwhelming backing from Christian evangelicals and has since in positions of power.

The appointment of Dias to FUNAI, say some experts, sends a signal that Brazil could be about to change its long-held policy on noncontact, even though Dias has repeatedly claimed that his past missionary work does not disqualify him from his new duties. 鈥淚 understand there is a lot of apprehension regarding what the work of missionaries entails,鈥� he . 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see this as a mission or an opportunity to find new converts. I have no interest in going there with a Bible in hand.鈥�

But Indigenous associations and advocates fear that Dias鈥� record suggests he might not act to stop missionary contact. Dias spent 10 years (1997-2007) among the Mats茅s Indigenous group in the Javari Valley of Amazonas state, working as a missionary for New Tribes Mission.

The primary Mats茅 leader, cacique Waki, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, that he doesn鈥檛 want Dias to have a powerful job within FUNAI. 鈥淲e know Ricardo well. He learnt our language. We don鈥檛 want his church here because he doesn鈥檛 let me paint my face, he doesn鈥檛 let me sniff rap茅 [a kind of tobacco smoked collectively by men], he doesn鈥檛 let me use frog poison [in hunting]. That鈥檚 why I don鈥檛 want him.鈥�

The Union of the Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley, that they fear 鈥渢he evil actions of religious proselytism in Indigenous land [in the Javari Valley].鈥�

FUNAI鈥檚 career employees association recoiled at Dias鈥� appointment, calling it in an open , a dangerous move that will potentially result in 鈥渋rreparable damage鈥� to vulnerable isolated Indigenous groups.

Even though New Tribes Mission recently changed their name, possibly to make a break with their controversial past, the group openly admits that . Contacting isolated Indigenous communities has been the organization鈥檚 prime raison d鈥櫭猼re since its founding in 1942, when it to the world鈥檚 most isolated communities, however difficult or dangerous it is to reach them.

The first issue of NTM鈥檚 official magazine, Brown Gold, published in May 1943, summarized their mission: 鈥淏y unflinching determination we [will] hazard our lives and gamble all for Christ until we have reached the last tribe regardless of where that tribe might be.鈥� Ethnos360 did not respond to Mongabay鈥檚 request for an interview.

In its statement, the Union of the Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley fear that, under Dias鈥檚 leadership, FUNAI鈥檚 Coordination of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indians could become the 鈥渟pearhead鈥� of an 鈥渆thnocidal and genocidal attack.鈥� Ethnocide is defined as the destruction of a people鈥檚 culture. Indigenous groups in Brazil report that New Tribes Mission is already on the move; they say that Ethnos360 missionaries arrived in the Deni Indigenous Territory in Acre state in late February.

Human rights organizations warn that the threat to Brazil鈥檚 isolated peoples is now escalating. Laura Greenhalgh, executive director of the Arns Commssion, speaking at a March 2020 meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, said that Bolsonaro鈥檚 aggressive socio-environmental policies are already

And the dangers are likely only becoming greater as the coronavirus pandemic takes hold in Brazil; the nation currently has . Bolsonaro, who until recently dismissed the pandemic as a 鈥�,鈥� was reported last week to have while several of his staff, including his , have either contracted COVID-19 or are under observation.

Douglas Rodrigues, with the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Federal University of S茫o Paulo, who works with Indigenous populations, has  of the dangers of coronavirus to isolated Indians: 鈥淢easles and chicken pox have killed Indians, but the great villains of this story have been respiratory illnesses and coronavirus is one more of these.鈥�

With the rapid spread of COVID-19, Brazil鈥檚 underfunded health system will certainly struggle to cope鈥攅specially among remote Amazon by the public health service under Bolsonaro. Isolated Indigenous groups, vulnerable to Western diseases, if contacted by Ethnos360, will be at extreme risk.

This article was originally published on . It has been published here with permission.