Devastated by malnutrition and preventable diseases like flu, pneumonia, anemia, malaria and diarrhea, the Yanomami people have been called victims of a contemporary genocide by government authorities.

“This has no place in democratic coexistence,” Cardinal Odilo Scherer tweeted on the day of the riots.

After four years of the far-right government of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, Brazilians peacefully welcomed—for the third time—the inauguration of the popular center-left leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on New Year’s Day.

Priorities for Mr. Lula as he becomes president include addressing the food insecurity that affects more than half of the Brazilian population, as well as the restoration of the economy and democratic normalcy after Mr. Bolonaro’s populist rule.

South America’s largest democracy will hold presidential elections on Oct. 2 with two iconic Latin American populists as competing candidates: Mr. Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who served as president from 2003 until 2010.

Cardinal Claudio Hummes was one of Brazil’s main religious leaders and a strong advocate for the poor.