This article aims to characterize the particular place and status acquired by indigenous peoples in the discourse of World Bank's fight against poverty. From a corpus of available reports, guidelines and public domain statements, we characterize the discourse promoted by this suprastatal institution since the 70s and 80s of the 20th century and, then, the particular emergence and visibility acquired by indigenous peoples and indigenous poverty in that discursive framework. The analysis and discussion focuses on three persistent vectors of the World Bank's discourse on indigenous peoples: their vulnerable and lagging condition to development, their naturalization and subordination to environmental conservation policies, and the need to empower them and make them participants in development projects.