“Almost 30% of Brazil could become an indigenous reserve”, says governor

With the resumption of the time frame judgment regarding the demarcation of indigenous lands in Brazil scheduled by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) for next Wednesday (20), authorities such as the governor of Mato Grosso (MT), Mauro Mendes, appeal so that the STF waits for the National Congress to decide on the issue.

According to the statesman, Brazil currently has 14% of its territory as indigenous land, and maintaining the date of promulgation of the Federal Constitution as a limit for the demarcation of new reserves prevents this territory from doubling in size, destabilizing the economy. “If we overturn this, Brazil could reach almost 30% of its territory being an indigenous reserve”, warned the governor in a post on his social networks.

In the publication, he states that this change could significantly alter the map of agricultural production in the country, “the largest and most important sector of the Brazilian economy, which is agribusiness”, he stated, citing that this would leave thousands of people homeless, it would increase the price of food and generate unemployment. “A gigantic insecurity”, he added.

In light of the alert, he informs that the state of Mato Grosso sent a request to the STF for Minister Rosa Weber to hold the vote on the time frame in the Supreme Court until the senators vote on the topic. He also congratulated the Chamber of Deputies for its agility in voting on the matter and asked for the same action in the Senate to put “an end to this tragedy that could become the overthrow of the time frame”.

Processing of the time frame in Congress

The topic – PL 2,903/2023 – is being processed in the Senate, where it has already been discussed and approved by the Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Commission (CRA) and went to the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ). There, the text must be analyzed this Wednesday (20), the same date on which the STF intends to resume its vote.

In an interview with Gazeta do Povo, senator Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM) reported that “there is pressure” for the time frame agenda to be voted on in the Senate plenary before the Supreme Court does so. After all, “if the Supreme Court judges wanted to interfere with the Constitution, they would have to be politicians, not judges, as only Congress can change the Constitution”, pointed out the senator.

Government tries to delay the vote in the Senate

Furthermore, he states that about 30 senators have already signaled that they want to maintain the time frame, as this would have already been approved in 1988 by dozens of environmentalist deputies and “demarcating land is only of interest to those who want to demarcate the Amazon”, he pointed out.

According to him, “the Indians’ problem is not a lack of land, but of public policies” that improve their living conditions. “Today, they demarcate his land and then abandon him in poverty.”

Meanwhile, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is carrying out maneuvers to delay the discussion of the matter in the Senate so that the Supreme Court can decide to end the time frame and facilitate the demarcation of more indigenous lands in Brazil.

Today, each Brazilian indigenous person already has the right to an area equivalent to 99 football fields and there are about 500 new land claims awaiting approval.